Nietzsche's Superman: A Philosophical Critique of Freedom and Morality

The Nietzschean Superman and Moral Critique

I agree that creative values, pride of self-worth (that is not vanity), tireless energy, and love of life are driving forces that enhance the individual and the company. Conversely, gloom, wavering, lack of sacrifice for personal fulfillment, and self-pity are endemic to the individual and ruinous to society.

Fernando Savater, in an attempt to justify the Nietzschean superman, says that the superman is not harsher to others than to himself, that he is not responsible for the weakness of the weak or for their misery or unhappiness, and that he is entitled to be happy.

But Nietzsche clearly stated in his Genealogy of Morals that, by their natural strength and power, noble men behave toward those who are not like birds of prey, justifying the pain, misery, exploitation, and anguish of the crushed in the fact that this world is as it is. He justifies the necessity of strength and weakness, joy and suffering.

I consider that we cannot blame the bird of prey that feeds on lambs, but we can blame the man who fails to use his freedom to deter conduct that creates prejudice against others. For me, the Nietzschean superman would not be truly free. Just as the slaves are prisoners of hatred and resentment toward their rulers and claim revenge, the superman of Nietzsche is not truly free and self-sufficient if he requires the existence of weakness to channel his energy and appease his appetites, rather than acting with hatred and indifference toward all that is different.

Raskolnikov and the Concept of True Freedom

Raskolnikov, the central character in Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment, was not a superman. This is not because he repented of killing the old lender to fund medical studies that would benefit many others, but because I believe that the real superman should not use anyone to achieve his aims.

For me, the real superman would be that pure spirit who:

• Takes himself as a reference.
• Is glad for the accomplishments of others.
• Does not despise anyone.
• Does not need to build the castle of his happiness upon the unhappiness of others.

It may be an unattainable goal, but nevertheless, this concept of the Superman should be regarded as a regulative idea for our conduct.

I am not so sure that Nietzsche's slave morality has triumphed, because daily experience constantly shows that there are many who possess the ring of Gyges (or the belief of its possession) without the supposedly triumphant moral act appearing publicly to restrain them. I can accept that some moral virtues can be harmful to human progress and lead to its downfall, but I cannot accept that the actions of the famous Nietzsche's "blond beast" are preferable or cause admiration.

The Origin of Bad Conscience

The following passage describes the origin of bad conscience:

The bad conscience is a condition experienced by the man who submitted resignation to social peace regulators to follow their instincts. Inhibited instincts of the wild man—free, vagabond enmity, cruelty, pleasure from persecution, aggression, destruction—turned against its owner. This caged animal that strikes furiously against the bars of its cage is the inventor of a bad conscience. A condition of mankind has not healed to this day. All instincts.