WICKES
08-19-2009, 12:44 PM
What did Nietzsche mean? No-one seems sure. How would you define the Ubermensch?
Here is my attempt:
The Ubermensch is first and foremost an individual who will not follow. He cherishes and cultivates whatever is unusual or unique in his character. He lives without any false consolation and does not believe in any other worlds- whether a Christian Heaven or a Platonic Realm of perfect Forms. He is quite aware that all morality/ ethics/ personal codes of honour are entirely subjective and no truer than any other. Thus he never judges anyone's conduct, knowing he hasn't the right. The only people he despises are those who are indistinguishable from the crowd. Indeed for him there is no 'Truth' and human life has no innate purpose, meaning or justification; he is psychologically strong enough to live with this knowledge though.
He lives his own life as if he is a character in a Shakespearean tragedy: boldly, dramatically, defiantly, unapologetically and without self-pity. His own life and the cultivation of his own personality are to him like works of art and he grasps every experience possible as a means of further self-exploration and self- growth/ self-perfection. Even his death has a dramatic/ artistic quality and he is careful to die bravely- hopefully stylishly. A model for him would be King Charles I, who put two shirts on on the day of his beheading "so that, should I shivver from the cold, my enemies will not think it is from fear" or Walter Raleigh, who dressed himself in his best clothes for his execution.
There is no division within his psyche and no repression. He is open to all his darkest drives and desires and, though he may deny them physical expression, he does not dissociate from them but accepts them as part of his character.
Here is my attempt:
The Ubermensch is first and foremost an individual who will not follow. He cherishes and cultivates whatever is unusual or unique in his character. He lives without any false consolation and does not believe in any other worlds- whether a Christian Heaven or a Platonic Realm of perfect Forms. He is quite aware that all morality/ ethics/ personal codes of honour are entirely subjective and no truer than any other. Thus he never judges anyone's conduct, knowing he hasn't the right. The only people he despises are those who are indistinguishable from the crowd. Indeed for him there is no 'Truth' and human life has no innate purpose, meaning or justification; he is psychologically strong enough to live with this knowledge though.
He lives his own life as if he is a character in a Shakespearean tragedy: boldly, dramatically, defiantly, unapologetically and without self-pity. His own life and the cultivation of his own personality are to him like works of art and he grasps every experience possible as a means of further self-exploration and self- growth/ self-perfection. Even his death has a dramatic/ artistic quality and he is careful to die bravely- hopefully stylishly. A model for him would be King Charles I, who put two shirts on on the day of his beheading "so that, should I shivver from the cold, my enemies will not think it is from fear" or Walter Raleigh, who dressed himself in his best clothes for his execution.
There is no division within his psyche and no repression. He is open to all his darkest drives and desires and, though he may deny them physical expression, he does not dissociate from them but accepts them as part of his character.