What Is Nietzsche And The Superman?

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The philosopher Nietzsche has been scrutinized for most of his work because he stood against the Christian faith. He believed that Christianity held people back from achieving a full life because it countered all the wants and needs of the human. He believed that slaves made up Christianity to replace the things that they could not receive. Sex, power and revenge were all out of range for a slaves so in return they made up Christianity to follow. Nietzsche’s greatest works however is what he describes as Übermensch or Superman. This “superman” is someone that has evolved even greater than any of today’s humans. He compares evolution from apes to humans and believes that the human isn’t done with evolution yet, instead is still growing and …show more content…

He believed that the human body wasn’t done with evolving and we aren’t fully developed into what we are fully capable of. He says, “The death of God must be followed by a long twilight of piety and nihilism. Zarathustra 's gift of the overman is given to a mankind not aware of the problem to which the overman is the solution” (Nietzsche). People aren’t aware of the superman because they are too caught up in religion and democracy. This prevents people from thinking above the “herd” that Nietzsche talked about when describing the Christian faith. The superman is one who has complete free will and thinking, he does not look for what other find enjoyable instead seeks for what he or she wants. Nietzsche compares apes to men and asked the question of whether we are a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. “What is ape to man? A laughing stock or painful embarrassment. And man shall be that to overman: a laughingstock or painful embarrassment” (Nietzsche). He is saying that we might be just as underdeveloped as an ape to what we are today as compared to us as the superman. This way of thinking shows that he felt that the human body could achieve so much more that what people think it is capable of, that art and culture are needed to continue development of the

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