The issue of education and upbringing is central to Nietzsche's early writings. In this text, the third from the collection of independent writings under the general title Untimely Meditations, Nietzsche presents Schopenhauer as the "untimely" thinker who embodies the ideal of the philosopher-educator.

In an era characterized by the submission of philosophy to foreign and hostile forces (state, economy, etc.) and the general decline of culture, Schopenhauer, thanks to a hard internal and external struggle, managed to maintain his spiritual autonomy and independent critical stance.

Thus, according to Nietzsche, he is a true educator and a model of a free philosophical thinker. This work by Nietzsche is interesting from many aspects. It serves as perhaps the most eloquent testimony to the profound influence that Nietzsche received from Schopenhauer; it additionally presents simply and vividly the fundamental aspects of the philosopher's thought during his early period of reflection, while also allowing insight into how the path that the later Nietzschean thought was to follow began and shaped itself.

Finally, it reveals Nietzsche's ambition to be the educator of the new, the spiritually free individual through his own thought.