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"He who attains his ideal by that very fact transcends it."
This is one of a few different translations from Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil Part Four - Aphorisms and Interludes.
1.) What do you think is the most accureate translation and why?
2.) What do you think Nietzsche meant by the statement?
I know the german text, although my english is not very good, in my point of view this translation is acceptable.
I think, Nietzsche wanted to say, that every human being has aims/ideals to reach. And if you really can get to this ideal, life doesn't end - human beings are never satisfied, so they go further, looking for or "create" new aims and ideals they would like to reach - and this goes on and on.
In other words, maybe you can say - everything is relativ. There is no absolut ideal, there is always something more.
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In other words, if you attain your ideal, you have transcended them - therefore become greater than your ideal.
If such is the case, your ideal was not an ideal, after-all it was rather an attainable goal, because by the very definition and nature of an ideal, one can not be greater than one's own ideal.
That was first interpretation that hit me, but I was unsure because I am unsure of the meaning of "ideal" in German and it very well could have meant that once you have attained your ideal, you have grown as a person and it is now time to define a new ideal.
This is why I think the translation is crucial - especially because there is no context to view the quote in.
So, the question then, boils down to whether or not Nietzsche felt that ideals were attainable.
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Originally Posted by loe
A good way of seeing the things.
Mr Oscar Wilde suggested, "There are only two tragedies in life. One is not getting what one wants, the other is getting it."
So, we make Ideals of People, we become them one day.
The only True Ideal one can have is an Idol he can't become, God may be? and in other words Nietzche may have suggested that It is only God who is worthy being held as an Ideal and He is the only Being that can't be transcended.
But Nietzsche said "God is dead", therefore in my opinion he destroys every absolut idol/ideal - he reduces everything to the human being itself.
Maybe we are looking for something that is "more" than ourselves, but in the end we can only find ourselves.
I think, the great sympathie in reference to Nietzsch is, that he raises the human being to the individual person that is independend of an absolut ideal.
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