In our discussion of Nietzsche, two points have stood out to me. These points are the idea of an ubermensch and the no-saying slavish mode of thinking.
The ubermensch or super man was Nietzsche's way of showing us how to become who we really are. One assertion that Nietzsche makes is that we should own up to our envy. When I first thought about it, I disagreed because I thought that nothing good would come out of doing something like that. However, upon reconsideration I saw that good does in fact come out of it. By owning up to our envy, We set a sort of goal for ourselves and aim to not only achieve said goal but to do so better than the person who has already achieved what is was that we are trying to attain. For example, if you are the studious type who finds yourself short the person who stands at the top of the class, then you may become envious of that person. But by Nietzsche's standards, you should own up to that envy and use it as a means to get yourself to a higher standard. It's all about self-overcoming. The ubermensch "rises over circumstances and difficulties to embrace what life throws at them".
The slavish mode of valuation determines evil first and by way of elimination, good is the opposite.
"For, in just the same way as people separate
lightning from its flash and take the latter as an action, as the effect
of a subject, which is called lightning, so popular morality separates strength
from the manifestations of strength, as if behind the strong person there were
an indifferent substrate, which is free to express strength or not."
Nietzsche packs a lot into this statement. He is saying that in the same
way people say "a flash of lightning" as if lightning wasn't the flash,
the popular morality makes the distinction such that strength should not
be shown as strength and that weakness should be shown as strength. In
other words, if you were in a confrontational situation, you should be
the "better person" and walk away. I find this to be a particularly profound statement and something that takes a moment in order to grasp.
The blog author’s statement about owning up to our own envy is a thought that I didn’t take into consideration, but I think they’re exactly right. By realizing when we want to be better than the next person that creates a motivation and a drive to move forward and do things better than the person who did them before you. If the whole world adopted this way of thinking, I think a lot of people would be happy with the results. However, the other side to that coin is if everyone is constantly trying to “out rank” the last person, when does it stop? When can someone sit down and say, “I’m happy with my life?”
ReplyDeleteThis way of thinking might also create a mad, unhappy, jealous world. While I agree with this idea to an extent, I don’t think it would provide a very happy and just world in the long run. I do think everyone who wants to be better should rise to the occasion instead of waiting on it to be handed to them. Sometimes people just are more fortunate and that’s okay. Some must work extremely hard to reach the bliss and happiness they’ve always sought out, but isn’t the hard work the part that makes the reaching of the goal the best part?
Just like you, I found Nietzsche's essay an eye opener. At first, I also thought that it was wrong of him to say that envy was a good thing. But as he goes on to explain that being envious can help us elevate ourselves to higher standards, I realized that indeed it was good because it pushes us to aim for better. Also, I was a little shocked when I realized that humans make "weakness" a strength, and that morality is nothing but a lie to make the weak seem as strong. I must admit that his philosophy makes me question the validity of morality.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you both. I think that to an extent that owning up to our envy can be good, but like you said there is another side to that coin that could result in many negative consequences. That have the exact opposite effect of what we would want it to be.
ReplyDeleteAlso coming to the realization of humans making weakness strength definitely puts things in a whole new perspective, to the point of questioning the validity of morality as a whole. It seems in some way like Plato's "Noble Lie"