Friedrich Nietzsche · Philosophy
Nietzsche’s vision of the Übermensch (‘overman’) - the human being who overcomes themselves, creates their own values, and affirms life - as the answer to nihilism and the meaning of human existence.
In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche presented his most famous and provocative ideal: the Übermensch - the ‘overman’ or ‘superman.’ The Übermensch is Nietzsche’s vision of a higher type of human being - one who overcomes the human as it currently is, rises above the herd and its conventional values, creates their own values, and affirms life. ‘I teach you the overman,’ declares Zarathustra. ‘Man is something that shall be overcome.’ The human being as it currently is - the conventional, herd-following, value-receiving human - is something to be overcome, surpassed, in the direction of the Übermensch: the self-overcoming, value-creating, life-affirming higher type. The Übermensch is Nietzsche’s answer to the death of God and nihilism - the higher human being who, in a world without God, creates their own values and affirms life, giving meaning to human existence through self-overcoming and the creation of values.
Central to Nietzsche’s ideal is self-overcoming - the continual process of mastering, surpassing, and transforming oneself, of becoming more than one currently is. The human being, for Nietzsche, is not a fixed, finished thing but something to be overcome - continually mastered, surpassed, and transformed in the direction of a higher state. Self-overcoming is the continual effort to master one’s lower impulses, to surpass one’s current limitations, to transform and elevate oneself, to become more than one currently is - a continual self-transformation and self-elevation toward a higher state. The Übermensch is the embodiment of this self-overcoming - the human being who continually overcomes and surpasses themselves, mastering their lower impulses, transcending their limitations, transforming and elevating themselves toward a higher state. And self-overcoming is, for Nietzsche, the meaning and task of human existence - the human being is a ‘bridge’ or ‘rope’ between the animal and the Übermensch, a being to be overcome and surpassed in the direction of the higher type. Human existence finds its meaning in self-overcoming - the continual effort to surpass and elevate oneself, to become more than one currently is, in the direction of the Übermensch.
At the heart of Nietzsche’s ideal of the Übermensch and self-overcoming is the creation of values - the human being becoming the creator of their own values, rather than passively receiving values from others. In a world without God - without the religious-metaphysical foundations that had grounded values - the human being is faced with the task and opportunity of creating their own values. The Übermensch is the human being who takes up this task - who becomes the creator and legislator of value, creating their own values out of themselves, giving meaning to their existence through the creation of values, rather than passively receiving values from religion, tradition, society, or the herd. To create values is the highest activity of the Übermensch - the godlike act of creating value and meaning in a world no longer grounded in God, of becoming the creator of one’s own values and the legislator of one’s own existence. This creation of values - the human being becoming the creator of their own values, giving meaning to their existence through self-creation - is Nietzsche’s answer to nihilism and the death of God: the overcoming of nihilism through the creation of new values, the human being becoming the creator of their own meaning and value in a world no longer grounded in God.
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You learned that Nietzsche’s Übermensch overcomes themselves and creates their own values, answering nihilism. Explain the Übermensch and self-overcoming in your own words.
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