Nietzsche’s Philosophy: Revaluation of All Values
Moral Values and Western Culture
Affection is reflected in the very conception of moral values, as is done from the feelings of the “gentlemen” or “slaves.”
Nietzsche considers the history of Western culture as a growing rise of plebeian values (slave morality) with the corresponding marginalization of aristocratic moral sentiment, culminating in the emancipation movements starting with the French Revolution.
Nietzsche concludes this opposition between “moral of lords” and “slave morality” by making the opposition between the atheistic “superman” and all forms of religious servitude.
The Crisis of Western Culture: The Death of God and Nihilism
Nietzsche seeks to determine the consequences of the historical significance of the death of God, primarily concerned with man’s moral behavior. God represents a certain way of viewing reality and a moral code hostile to what he calls “the sense of the earth.”
The “death of God” signifies a radical critique of religion, morality, and metaphysics. It involves the death of absolute values. Life and the “superman,” the creator of new values, will now take God’s place.
The Three Transformations of the Spirit
- The Camel: Represents the Christian burdened by traditional values (“excess life”), bowing to God and moral law. Responds to “thou shalt.”
- The Lion: Symbolizes the destruction of established values, creating conditions for the Superman’s emergence. This denial of values creates freedom. Man throws off tradition and says, “I want.”
- The Child: Represents the person capable of creating new values based on freedom’s authentic essence. Represents the Superman, existing purely in the present, with no past or future. Says, “I am.”
Nihilism
The immediate consequence of the “death of God” is Nihilism, a historical movement expressing Western culture’s destiny.
- Passive Nihilism: Designates the decline of Western culture, beginning with Socrates and Platonism and continuing through Judeo-Christian religion. Represents the fulfillment of decadent Western metaphysics.
- Active Nihilism: Highlights the need to reject old values and undertake revaluation. Values are destroyed by the will to power, saying “no” to them, creating space for new values aligned with the Superman. This active nihilism drives Nietzsche’s critique of Western culture.
Revaluation of All Values
Nietzsche’s critique of Western culture is a manifestation of this active nihilism. The revaluation of values affirms life as the ultimate criterion. Humanity has embraced values opposed to life, driven by a sick and decadent spirit. “Revaluation of all values, this is my formula.” Nietzsche calls himself “immoral” in this sense, advocating for a return to original innocence, beyond good and evil.
The Alternative to the Death of God: The Superman
The “death of God” presents two possibilities: the impoverished “last man” or the conscious projection of new ideals created by man: the “superman.”
The “Superman” acknowledges God’s death and renounces otherworldly dreams. Earth becomes the ultimate criterion, and man becomes the “creator.”
The Superman
The theme of man is central to Nietzsche’s philosophy. The “superman” is the future hero, the philosopher who grasps the truths of the “death of God” and the essence of life (the will to power). Nietzsche aims to prepare the world for the Superman’s arrival by creating values and ways of life that make this possible. This requires destroying existing values.
- The “Superman” is a goal for humanity.
- The “Superman” embodies the “sense of the earth” and accepts the “eternal return.”
- The “Superman” has not yet existed.
- Nietzsche is not racist and does not believe the Superman will arise from biological evolution.
- The Superman represents a new morality, creating a new table of values.
- Zarathustra symbolizes the Superman, the “sun,” the “light of the world.”
The Will to Power and Eternal Return
The will to power is the struggle of life to continually surpass itself, determining everything that exists. Life is constant struggle and antagonism.
The transmutation of all values affirms the “will to power.”
The “will to power” relates to the present and future, not the past.