Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche was born on October 15, 1844, in Röcken near Lützen, and died on August 25, 1900, in Weimar. He studied theology for one semester and then classical philology. At the age of 24, he became a professor in Basel and was strongly influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer and Richard Wagner. After ten years, he resigned from his position and traveled as a freelance author throughout Europe. In January 1889, he suffered a complete mental breakdown and spent his last years with his mother and sister.
The most important themes of his works were morality, especially Christian morality, and the overcoming of it through the "Übermensch" (superman), an aggressive and combative atheism, but not a direct atheist because he had to believe that God existed in order to think that God is dead. Nietzsche believed that God was an invention of weak and sick people who could not cope with life. He was against things like charity, morality, and compassion, which he saw as opposing the concept of "life." He believed that faith was strongest where the right will was lacking and that people sought someone to command them, with more commands being better.
Nietzsche criticized religion, saying that it destroyed humanity and that it should not be romanticized. He believed that where the will to power was lacking, there was decline. Unlike Feuerbach, who believed that humans could take God's place, Nietzsche believed that the Übermensch would take God's place. The Übermensch would be ruthless and disregard others, and would be the true god. Nietzsche criticized chastity, the suppression of truth, the focus on the afterlife, and Christianity in general, due to its "slave morality."
The Übermensch was the only true thing for Nietzsche. He believed that humans had to become better and more evil to achieve the Übermensch's best. The Übermensch was the ideal type who freed himself from the constraints of the ruling religions and ethics. Nietzsche's view of humanity was that the Übermensch was the highest form, followed by humans, and then the "Lykeion" (a term he used to describe the connection between humans and animals).
Nietzsche believed that the ruling religion and ethics were there to benefit the weaker and to keep the powerful and strong in check. He believed that humans should be guided by themselves and not by religion or ethics. The prerequisite for this goal was the eradication of humanity and the rise of a new race (Übermensch). Nietzsche said, "Man is something that must be overcome. The Übermensch is the meaning of the earth!"
Nietzsche was a representative of nihilism, which teaches the meaninglessness of everything that exists. He believed that everything in the universe repeats itself and that everything that humans have experienced has already been experienced and will be experienced infinitely. Only the Übermensch can endure this state.
In "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," Nietzsche describes three transformations of the spirit: from the camel to the lion to the child. The camel represents the "humble spirit" of humility, self-denial, contentment, obedience, and adaptability to adverse circumstances, i.e., the ability to endure suffering. The lion represents the desire for power through a hierarchical order that is fought for, freedom in the sense of sovereignty of the strongest, and self-determination. The lion distances itself from the dragon ("thou shalt!") and becomes the "I will!" The child represents a new beginning in original innocence, and the individual becomes a creator after overcoming the old values. The image of the child is the starting and ending point of the individual's eternal development.
