Nietzsche’s Philosophy: Zarathustra, Nihilism, and Superman
Positivism and Critical Rationality
Positivism, illustrated by the sleep that wakes dogmatic veneration in Schopenhauer and Wagner, contrasts with critical rationality and the Socratic ideals of Western culture.
Maturity and Zarathustra’s Revelation
Thus Spake Zarathustra presents an original expression, full of images of a revelation. It aims to liberate individuals from the oppressive burdens of morality and return them to an existence of freedom, ease, and daring. The work operates on the level of thought and poetry, using pictures rather than concepts. The mythical Persian Zarathustra appears as a moralistic alter ego of Nietzsche, preaching immorality, the reversal of values, and the need for transvaluation. The starting point of Zarathustra is the death of God.
Monotheism, Polytheism, and the Death of God
Monotheism and polytheism represent singular and plural discourses, respectively. Platonism, Christianity, and science reflect a singular truth. Nietzsche argues for the destruction of God, the enemy of man. The death of God signifies the death of absolute values, leading to nihilism: the affirmation of nothing.
Nihilism, the Last Man, and the Superman
Nihilism leads to the emergence of the last man (passive nihilism, impoverished, believing in nothing, and losing the sense of life) and the Superman, who establishes new values. The Superman is a doctrine to cure man, transmuting and restoring a sense of the earth through the three transformations of the essence of man, ranging from alienation to self-creative freedom.
- The Last Man: Content with mere pragmatism, scientism, or technocracy. Replaces God with comfort, becoming a miserable, defective animal.
- The Superman: Embraces a new way of valuing (saying ‘yes’ to life). Having faced the full impact of the death of God without replacing it with other values, the Superman embraces life. This figure is a genius or artist, open to the rule of the Dionysian, a free spirit, a bold experimenter, and a child capable of creating new values. They possess a positive attitude and a hunger for life.
The Superman’s Superiority
The Superman is superior and noble, rejecting egalitarianism. Faithful to the earth, the Superman lives the will to power as a result of the desire to live and experience the eternal recurrence of the same. Wanting the future to be the same is equivalent to wanting to return to the past.
The Three Transformations
The doctrine to cure man involves transmutation and finding meaning on earth. It is effective through three transformations:
- Camel: Represents ‘you must,’ enduring the heavy moral burden.
- Lion: Represents ‘I will,’ embodying the spirit of gravity and freeing oneself from the moral burden.
- Child: Represents Zarathustra, where creation occurs. It’s the arrogance of life, acting on instinct, without considering consequences or prejudices, embracing the essence of life and the plurality of perspectives.
Will to Power and Eternal Recurrence
The “will to power” signifies our will to become more and more powerful. Its origin lies in the “will to live,” and before that, in Spinoza’s “conatus” (the essence of being human is the desire to persevere in one’s being, shared with all living things). Will to Power is the life essence, the primary force looking forward, not backward. It involves the indefinite repetition of similar events. This desperate thinking, which loves life, is the ascent to the spirit of heaviness. The past repeats everything that has happened; the past is the possibility of the future, and the future is the stability of the past. There is no contradiction between them because the infinite is not behind or beyond things, but within them. Nietzsche breaks the linear time of Christianity and proposes a cyclical time.