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Nietzsche - The Key Ideas: The Superman

by Dr Roy Jackson

In the prologue to Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885), the proclamation is made that the Superman is on his way. In The Gay Science (1882), Nietzsche talks of the Superman with reference to gods and heroes. The word in German is Übermensch, which more literally means ‘Overman’. The notion of the Superman is seen as a key teaching of Nietzsche, although, in actual fact, he makes few references to it in his works, preferring the term ‘higher men’, which does not seem to mean quite the same thing. ‘Higher men’ are still, for Nietzsche, ‘human, all-too-human’, and he has in mind such historical individuals as Wagner, Zarathustra and Goethe. These are exceptional people, they express a strong will to power, but they nonetheless possess serious flaws. The notion of the Superman, then, is something of an ideal – rather like Plato’s Philosopher-Kings – perhaps never truly attainable, but something to strive for. The Superman, therefore, represents various qualities that we should strive for, such as strength, courage, style and refinement. The Higher Men, for their part, are concrete examples that are provided to inspire us towards something better and stronger. They are symbols of non-conformity, who are prepared to challenge current values and beliefs.

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