He or she understands the realities of this world and consumes them with relish, including the suffering. The Übermensch, on the other hand, gives meaning to life on earth. It’s an ascetic philosophy that shuns the physical, rejects the worldly, abnegates the tangible, and mortifies the body. This has also required the invention of an immortal soul that transcends the death of our disease-ridden bodies. The afterlife is a way for us to get retribution for the wrongs we experience in this life. It turned away from the brutal realities of this world and invented heaven as consolation. Nietzsche introduces the idea of the Übermensch (literally, the “over”-man, the “beyond”-man, the superior man) as the one whose will gives meaning to life on earth.ĭissatisfied with life on earth, Christianity blessed the meek. We can see this will at work in the sexual drive and the will to life that we can observe in nature.
Prior to Nietzsche, Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860) had spoken about the will as a blind, irrational, insatiable, and incessant force that accounts for the dynamic essence of the world. We strive to achieve the highest possible position in life, to gain power, be that biological or psychological. It is an irrational force found in all individuals. The main driving force in humans in the will. What does it take for us to engage in a master morality? The will to power and the Übermensch This happens not when we follow someone else’s moral code, (if we were to follow someone else’s master moral system we would still be acting as slaves), but when we engage in creating a system of morality for ourselves. To go beyond good and evil is to become a master. Evil actions are those of the upper classes. Slave morality, on the other hand, is a reactionary morality that judges according to good versus evil. Instead, the master judges actions according to strength. A master is a creator of morality, strong enough to transcend ideas of good versus evil.
It’s a morality that seeks action and is not afraid to forge ahead and determine itself. Master morality is an actionary type of morality. In On the Genealogy of Morality, Nietzsche argued that there are two types of morality: master morality and slave morality. Going beyond good and evil means we are in territory not covered by traditional morality. If we are to see the truth, we need to go beyond good and evil. Reality is brutal enough, so we supplement it with an invented, ideal world of fairness, justice, and beauty.
Therefore, to speak of good and evil is to speak of human illusions, of false concepts according to which we find it necessary to live. Nothing in nature has intrinsic value, or value for its own sake. “God is dead, and we have killed him.” Along with God died our immutable, perfect source of morality.
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