Nietzsche’s Transformative Philosophy: Reimagining Humanity and Values
The Superman and Human Evolution
The artist is presented as the sole savior of human existence, thereby transforming lives for the very reason that life is threatened. Nietzsche’s new morality is founded on the passionate desire to live in the exaltation of life’s primary forces. We must assess the morality of the “Lords” against that of the “slaves.” Nietzsche understands why modern humanity is a bridge to the Superman. Humanity is something intermediate between animal and Superman. For this to become a Superman, one must overcome traditional morality and expel one’s interior god.
This Superman possesses three distinctive features:
- Supreme Value of Life: Life becomes a continuous, supreme value.
- Love of the World: The Superman does not seek to transform the world but rather loves the world and life as they are, accepting and embracing one’s destiny.
- Aesthetic and Recreational Perspective: Life and existence are viewed from an aesthetic and recreational perspective. This is an aesthetic perspective because it involves creating beauty in the sense of the will to power.
The Three Metamorphoses of the Spirit
In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche sets out three metamorphoses of the spirit:
- The Camel: This stage depicts humans who are content to blindly obey social norms.
- The Lion: After the camel, the spirit passes into the lion, which exposes its strength and cunning. The lion is destructive of outdated, traditional values.
- The Child: Finally, the spirit transforms into an egocentric, innocent child, who possesses only a future.
After the child, the Superman is born, giving rise to a new, free, and creative humanity.
Critique of Language
Nietzsche argues that there is no way to remove the belief in “the world” as long as we accept logical-rational language. Language is often believed to have the power to construct facts or phenomena with a maximum degree of fidelity. Nietzsche sharply criticized this conception of language and referred to his own vision regarding its origin.
He states that words originated as metaphors, as an expression of appearances. Language is linked to an instinctive need to create new ways of expressing one’s experience. In concepts, a double transposition, a double metaphor, has been made:
- The first is the transposition of an external impression to a mental image.
- The second is the transposition of that mental image into a verbal sound.
One of the most important consequences of this view is that human beings cannot achieve absolute truth. Only one language can truly “live,” and that is artistic language.
Constructive Alternative: Nihilism and the Will to Power
Nihilism, derived from ‘nihil’ (nothing), is described in The Will to Power as the loss of validity of supreme values. In criticizing the accidental values of culture and tradition, the core values that have served as points of orientation are eliminated and destroyed. One can no longer believe in the Christian religion.
“God is dead” signifies that the supersensible world (Socratic-Platonic-Parmenidean) has revealed itself as false, losing all capacity for orientation and binding for humanity. The pillars supporting the cultural tradition and history of the West have crumbled. There is no room for God in modern culture. All the old values of humanity have been subverted for the birth of the Superman.
Nihilism has two sides: a negative side, which is the reason behind the criticism of the West, and a positive side, which involves reflection on the conditions that led to it.
This outcome is solely the Will to Power, that is, life as a creative force for victory. This story ends, and a new, real story begins. What Nietzsche intends to secure is pluralism versus monotheism, discovering that there is not just one way or one truth, but many realities. Nietzsche advocates for the Will to Power against the will to truth, through the affirmation of life. This is what Nietzsche called the “transvaluation of values,” revealing joy as the single main driving force of his philosophy.
The Superman and Culture
If culture serves state power, then counter-culture seeks to destroy the social order. Nietzsche envisions a culture that opposes decadent art, where life is creation, and only the artist can invent joy, giving life its meaning.