The original title for Nietzsche's essay is Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie für das leben. This is sometimes translated as the "Advantage and Disadvantage," but is often translated, as "Use and Misuse," which connotes the accusation of 'misuse' that Nietzsche articulates in the essay. Which English phrase best captures the intent of the title is unclear.
Nietzsche's essay has a specific and general application. Its particular goal is to criticize the nationalizing effects of historical studies following the Franco-Prussian war. Its broad application is to shift the paradigm of academia away from its focus on history and toward a detached, forward-oriented one.
This makes history as a literary art essentially flawed. He discusses the "plastic force" of memory, and its power by "reshaping and incorporating the past and the foreign, of healing wounds, compensating for what has been lost". Lowering man's confidence in his mind allows him to see the hidden assumptions in the historical narrative.
From a broad perspective, Nietzsche argues that man ought to "elevate himself to a super-historical standpoint." He reminds us how infinitely the same the present is to the past, calling the super-historian to do what is most progressive. If studying the history of a nation would help that nation progress into the future, the leaders ought to do that. If analyzing the present apart from history is most helpful, do so. Nietzsche then argues for how hurtful the first option is, through a series of philosophical systems.
