thus spoke zarathustra the superman friedrich nietzsche

The lion is the next transformation, he is one who wants to take on freedom and must utter the “sacred No” to all tradition and rules that previously kept it “fettered”. In other words, Nietzsche suggests that when we feel proud of ourselves, we are to take on even more weight to show that we are not that great after all, we need to humble ourselves. To debase oneself in order to injure one’s pride, to let one’s folly shine out in order to mock one’s wisdom. One must first become a free spirit and be willing to step outside of one’s comfort zone to carry heavy weights and sacrifice oneself. Not everyone, however, can become a camel. Nietzsche tells us that there are three metamorphoses for self-overcoming: the camel, the lion and the child. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the overman is linked with the final metamorphosis of the child. The free spirit challenges the conventional ways of living and promotes the growth of society. He spent time with these imagined “free spirits” to be of good cheer in the midst of illness, isolation and inactivity, to chat and laugh with. In one of his early books, Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits, Nietzsche dedicates it to the “free spirits” who did not exist yet, but he saw them coming slowly.

However, he had spoken of “free spirits”, which is to evolve in his later works into the sage Zarathustra, who paves the way for the overman. Nietzsche had not come up with the concept of the overman until his later period in life. Nietzsche had translated the original English word of “over-soul” as “the higher soul”, which also may have influenced his phrase, “the higher man.” – Never have I felt so much at home in a book and in my home, as – I may not praise it, it is too close to me”Įmerson had coined the term “The Over-soul” (the title of one of his essays), which may have influenced Nietzsche’s choice of the term übermensch, making the translation “overman” doubly appropriate. Nietzsche was a profound admirer of Emerson. We will be using this term, although it can also be used in its original German form as well.

Walter Kaufmann, one of the most important Nietzschean scholars, explains that the closest to the German translation is “overman”.

It has also been called the “Super-human” and “Über-man”. The first English translation rendered it as “Beyond-Man”, and later it was named “Superman”, however this promoted its misidentification with the comic-book character Superman. Let’s first start with the word itself, “ubermensch”. Now we will be doing the same here with the übermensch. We have explored the ideas of the will to power and the eternal recurrence in-depth in previous posts. In Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, there are three major teachings that the sage Zarathustra has to offer: the will to power, the eternal recurrence and the übermensch.

Thus spoke zarathustra the superman friedrich nietzsche