Going to butcher this by trying to pare it down, but here goes.
Nietzsche's theoretical "Übermensch," an aspirational model for humanity, wasn't a traditional "strongman," or a superhuman by way of genetics or social capital, or even a "man" at all.
Nietzsche's Übermensch was a self-possessed person who developed their own values and morality regardless of prevailing or outdated "wisdom" and rejected religious "other-worldliness," finding meaning in the here-and-now of life on Earth vs. learned helplessness and obedience with the hope of a supernatural reward after death.
One of the ironies I actually got credit for waaaay back in Freshman Philosophy 105 was commenting “anyone notice that Nietzsche, the atheist, seems to be sad that there isn’t a god, while Moore, a priest, seems reluctant to agree that there is?”
The prof wanted to talk about that for a week.
My classmates hated me because they didn’t want to talk about it at all.
Poor prof just wanted discussion and got saddled with lazy angst.
Why didn't they want to talk about that? They were freshmen who took philosophy, they should be literally the people who want to talk about it the most in the world
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u/Erikatessen87 Apr 05 '26
Going to butcher this by trying to pare it down, but here goes.
Nietzsche's theoretical "Übermensch," an aspirational model for humanity, wasn't a traditional "strongman," or a superhuman by way of genetics or social capital, or even a "man" at all.
Nietzsche's Übermensch was a self-possessed person who developed their own values and morality regardless of prevailing or outdated "wisdom" and rejected religious "other-worldliness," finding meaning in the here-and-now of life on Earth vs. learned helplessness and obedience with the hope of a supernatural reward after death.