Nietzsche: Philosophy, Science, Morality, and Superman
Nietzsche’s Radical Critique of Western Culture
Nietzsche made the most radical critique ever carried out against European culture. His work, which can be seen as “dynamite,” primarily targets the philosophy, science, and morality of the West.
Critique of Philosophy
Nietzsche’s critique stems from the conviction that reality, in its most profound being, is constantly changing, as Heraclitus believed. Reality is becoming; it appears differently to us at every moment. The deepest reality is not eternal and immutable, as the rationalists believed. The best tools available to capture true reality are the senses. The best resource for expressing such a reality is metaphor, not concept. Metaphor suggests; it does not make us give up the plurality and diversity of being.
Critique of Science
Nietzsche’s critique of science is a critique of the mathematization of reality. Scientists seek methods to reduce the qualities of all that exists to quantity, ignoring the many nuances of things and phenomena that occur in nature.
Critique of Morality
Nietzsche criticizes the morality introduced by Socrates and Plato, and continued by Christianity, because it is an unnatural morality that opposes life, a morality that sees death as the authentic liberation of man. He argues it is a morality for the weak and resentful, a slave morality. In contrast, he proposes a natural morality that promotes life, the morality of the strong. It is time to “kill God.” This necessitates a revaluation, reconsidering as good the creative moral values: despising the cowardly, the timid, the exploited, and those who allow abuse. It brings to the foreground a sense of fulfillment, happiness, wealth, generosity, and respect for elders and tradition. Conversely, it views as bad the morality that is wary of happiness, hates power and danger, protects the downtrodden and insecure, and fosters attitudes of compassion, patience, humility, and kindness.
The Superman and the Will to Power
The moral revaluation Nietzsche speaks of will bring with it the Superman. He calls for a period of nihilism that should not be passive, because then we would be pushed into nothingness. Instead, it should be active, negating all that has transpired and, from there, starting to create a new world. The Superman is Dionysian and not Apollonian. The Superman is the will to power.
The will to power is something like a constant will or desire for improvement that occurs throughout nature and in humanity. It is a kind of essential impulse that leads each being to try to impose itself on its surroundings. It is a kind of endless fighting. In this idea, we can see the influence of Heraclitus, who said that struggle and tension are the key and essence of everything, and also the influence of Darwin, as those beings that overcome adversity evolve. The will to power is the tendency of being to overcome itself. Nietzsche speaks of a triple transformation that a human being must undergo to become the Superman.