This paper seeks to know what does Nietzsche means by the self-overcoming of morality and the role that de-divination of the world play in this project (to live in a world without God). Self-overcoming morality means the use of ‘will to power’ which must be controlling above the thinking about the consequences of one’s action bases on a concept of what is right and wrong. Nietzsche’s idea of “will to power” is innermost to the author’s philosophical beliefs when his book “Beyond Good and Evil. ” is subjected to analysis.
It is believed that his teaching was influenced by the writings of another philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer to be credited with the “will to live” concept as the highest motivational factor in living. Wanting to go further than Schopenhauer’s “will to live”, Nietzche theorized a greater concept which the needed humans to have a higher power in dealing with life’s problems. It would appear that life must have a motivation force in nature, which is the will to live was not enough. A higher will was indeed needed, that is the will to power.
Nietzsche’s theory about the deficiency for living beings to just be motivated by a survival instinct to live, has this view of “will to power” to make his concept distinct and worth looking into. Since will to power according to the author is the method by which people endeavour to grow and care for their creative energies world, he was seeing it was needed to work together humankind’s natural nature and creativity. In thinking also that this “will to power” was the true driving force of humankind, he postulated that there is a need for a living thing to seek above all to discharge its strength through the will to power.
This would therefore place self-preservation as only one of the “indirect and most frequent results” His theory then has the closest association to the concept of survival of the fittest and that man will always make it a way to be above all situation because he or she believes the power is within his or her reach. His theory on power produces domination and imposition of one’s will on others, thus it could only imply mankind’s life as one about the exploiting of other people, which according to the author has been existing when time hat set in which was even beyond what was recorded in history .
In seeing the possibility of taking the idea of such power further, he did described what have been moving societies and nations through out history . If he could be believed the author would seem to believe that it was will to power that has brought the rise of empires. But it would seem, author would lack the explanation on the fall of empires except the inevitable inference another nation or entity must have raised more to power, thus causing the defeat of the old.
In seeing the dominance of some individual over other individuals and nations over other nations, the author was seeing an exercise of power which was sustaining how the world has run. Nietzsche’s passion on his aphorisms could even be having the effect of finding some contradiction to the life of the person if subjected to many interpretations. One contradiction that could be drawn is the assumption about what could be the primary instinct than even willing to use violence. Could he be advocating the use of violence to justify one’s rise to power?
But a deeper analysis if his work may find the insight that he was talking of will to power in the context of self-motivation or rise above human weakness to succumb to hopelessness. Lest he could be interpreted to promoting chaos in all manners to justify rise to power, it may be asserted he may just want to improve the lot of the individual who may be beset by the feeling of human frailty. His work could then be considered a self-help psychology . Thus self-overcoming morality on Nietzsche’s work may actually mean to create an ant-thesis on what may be called slave or herd morality .
He therefore took time describing the slaves or herd as the great number of humans as written in history that have chosen to obeyed and follow than to rise to one’s capacity to power. The author noted the use of judgment and condemnations in other philosophies being used as way of revenge against the less limited , thus his concern for such herd morality depriving people their tendencies for creative drive. Nietzsche is therefore advocating an invention of own morality and value as alternative to those that follows under the herd slavery and even to the extend of having attracting other to said tailored philosophy .
Nietzsche’s view on the role that de-divination of the world play is one of the case of just living naturally without self denial. Such was his view about the power to overcome problems and issues because of the desire to be above every circumstance and challenges as human nature would allow it. This is of course based on the author’s view on religion, which he considered to a `neurosis’, as one causing a deviant self-denial and sacrifice. He therefore denies any good that religion contributed to human society. Instead he believed it to have debased human nature.
His theory is akin to that of Karl Marx which considers religion as the opium of the people. He believed religion thus instead caused a divided social order. Seeing an age to overcome religion, he sees it as just part of the process of human development. It may be concluded that the work of Nietzsche as a work on philosophy has its leading also on works on psychology, particularly on self-help theories. The book has the effect or message of influencing what people should do to overcome mental weakness as regards problems to life.
The author was teaching an attitude which could call the will to live despite what one may feel. In finding justification for the author’s theory it needed the author to attack some philosophers on the basis on the act of philosophizing not on their teachings. His work has however incidentally great relationships to the work of some philosophers like Marx particularly on religion. But it is indeed a work on individuality.
Work Cited:
Nietzsche, F. , Beyond Good and Evil (Great Books in Philosophy) (Paperback); Prometheus Books; New Ed edition, 1989