00:00:00
check out the horses store at horses.
00:00:02
land there's a sword some T-shirts and a
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notebook that are all shipping now thank
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you I hope you enjoy this
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video when we destroy everything what do
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we
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have this is one of the many ideas
00:00:18
explored within the works of Friedrich n
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the answer he once supplied to this
00:00:24
question was the Uber mench the man who
00:00:26
is greater than mankind the next
00:00:29
evolution of the human race the concept
00:00:33
of the Uber mench has been studied
00:00:34
interpreted and manipulated over and
00:00:37
over it is almost impossible to distill
00:00:39
effectively into a single sentence the
00:00:42
Uber mench is both apocalyptic and
00:00:44
aspirational both dangerous and
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comforting if nothing else it is
00:00:50
powerful for those feeling like they are
00:00:52
lost in the forest of Life n's uberman
00:00:55
can provide if not an Escape Route some
00:00:58
direction that direction is to be
00:01:00
fiercely belligerently violently
00:01:04
independent to truly be your own
00:01:06
individual in a world so ready to
00:01:08
crudely thrust every human being into
00:01:10
some pre-existing
00:01:13
classification but this description
00:01:15
defies the totality of the Uber MCH it
00:01:18
is reductive so let's explore the idea
00:01:21
more
00:01:26
meaningfully a biographical work on N
00:01:29
would be its own Pursuit for our
00:01:31
purposes we will just say that he was a
00:01:33
german-born philosopher active in the
00:01:35
latter half of the 19th century during
00:01:38
this time he developed the concept at
00:01:40
hand that of the Uber mench but for its
00:01:44
most true Genesis we can look to the
00:01:46
ancient work of the Syrian writer Lucian
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who discussed a hyper
00:01:51
anthropos this was a satirical version
00:01:53
of some superhuman figure which is not
00:01:56
entirely irrelevant to n even more
00:01:59
direct is the link to Ralph Waldo
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Emerson's 1841 essay called the over
00:02:04
soul in this work he presents the idea
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that the unified soul of humanity could
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Ascend beyond the highest reaches of
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mankind Emerson and N are diametrically
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opposed in many ways which has led
00:02:17
researchers to often skip over this
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connection but by N's own admission he
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saw Emerson as a spiritual brother when
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commenting on a series written by
00:02:26
Emerson n once said I have never felt so
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much at home in a book while we can't
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really credit n with the core idea of
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man surpassing mankind his version is
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certainly the most significant
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Incarnation and of course it is the one
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we are discussing here to do this we can
00:02:45
first try to dissect the word itself the
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latter part of the word mench translates
00:02:51
into English pretty easily it is a
00:02:54
person a human but the prefix Uber
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creates issues in this context Uber
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translates as over above or Beyond so we
00:03:03
would have above human or something to
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that effect but n's Uber mench is human
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he is in a way
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superhuman so many scholars have chosen
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to translate the word as Superman this
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worked reasonably well for a time it
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describes a human who has transcended
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the existent version of
00:03:22
humankind but the Superman comic book
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character eventually became immensely
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popular to avoid confusion academics
00:03:30
switched the English translation to
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Overman which works but really doesn't
00:03:34
say much in itself as a word to native
00:03:38
English speakers it just isn't very
00:03:40
helpful ultimately the word Uber mench
00:03:42
is a German word and I think we should
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just accept that certainly I see no
00:03:47
reason why it needs to be translatable
00:03:49
or translated into English n's earliest
00:03:53
incarnation of this concept seems to be
00:03:55
found in an essay he wrote called on
00:03:58
moods in 187 74 in this essay he
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discusses the idea of elevated moods to
00:04:04
be very reductive a sort of natural high
00:04:07
something beyond our contemporary
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understanding of a good mood certainly
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in this work he says that most people
00:04:13
encounter these moods in durations of
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minutes and exist in a Perpetual
00:04:18
oscillation between high and low but
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there exists a possibility that one
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could live entirely and permanently in
00:04:24
this elevated State history n ultimately
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admits provides no actual ex examples of
00:04:30
this and it is just a fantasy nche
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reached the conclusion of the Uber mench
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with his work Thus Spoke
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zarathustra this is written in the
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firsters perspective of its titular
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character who is an allseeing Prophet
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against nich's belief that religion was
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dead as Humanity's moral compass
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zarathustra provided a new road map for
00:04:53
Humanity
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within Thus Spoke zarathustra n
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expresses that mankind has great
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untapped potential he says man in his
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present State weighed down by his bad
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conscience is truly a sick animal but
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perhaps this condition is like pregnancy
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a sickness heavy with future
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possibilities man is such incomplete
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transitional creature that it almost
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seems as if nature had some future plans
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for him as if man were not an end but
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only a way an episode a bridge a great
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promise n himself never defines the Uber
00:05:34
mench but his framing does well to
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describe the concept it is a destination
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that Humanity can reach by collectively
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reassessing morals methodology and our
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definition of progress Mankind in its
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present form is an obstacle that we must
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all overcome history's mightiest figures
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Caesar Da Vinci Napoleon all fell short
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of the Uber mench according to n while
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admirable they too were to be destroyed
00:06:01
and left in their proper place of
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obsolescence in his time there were a
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few sensibilities that n rejected one
00:06:10
was nihilism the belief that basically
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life has no inherent meaning this is an
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interesting point because n once
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described himself as a nihilist and
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surface level understanding of his work
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also points to that
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conclusion this is one of the great
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unfortunate and probably unintentional
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tricks that n per formed it is easy to
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read his work and find only negativity
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and hopelessness in fact the opposite is
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true n declared that the only way to
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destroy nihilism was to go through it to
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embrace it in some sense he could use
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nihilism to move past nihilism by doing
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so we can make life into a beautiful
00:06:50
blank space in this space we could find
00:06:53
and insert true fulfillment an
00:06:56
individualistic unique happiness that
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was not bound to the IDE as of others in
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his time then modern thinking sought
00:07:03
happiness for All People based on
00:07:05
Christian ideas of right and wrong n
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rejected this idea as well he believed
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that the church had their chance to
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unify and improve Humanity but had
00:07:14
spoiled it entirely so Christianity
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along with its dogmas must also be
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rejected any and all isms were just
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boundaries to the radical
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individualistic nature of the Uber MCH
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this higher version of man had broken
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free of rigid moral codes and societal
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expectations he was perfectly free to be
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great this new version of humanity was
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not something based in darwinian
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evolution it was not a flesh and blood
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new species but instead a new paradigm
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of existence it was also not any
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specific chosen one or even population
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the Uber mench is an idea the idea that
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mankind must can and should develop
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Beyond its current state that there is
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simply something more we can
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[Music]
00:08:05
achieve the values that created present
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Humanity n recognized would just create
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more of the same this is sound enough
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logic so instead Zorra says Humanity
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must develop an entire new system of
00:08:19
values with the end goal being the
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production of the Uber mench Friedrich
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nche was inspired by the Greeks who
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largely rejected the idea of equality n
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believed that nature had always and
00:08:31
would always create beings who were
00:08:33
greater than others some individuals
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were the dominant members of a species
00:08:37
While others were passive with this in
00:08:39
mind n strived for a society that
00:08:42
embraced
00:08:43
individuality he believed the rejection
00:08:45
of individuality was an existential
00:08:48
threat to the human race and he knew
00:08:50
that individuality inherently meant
00:08:53
inequality n rejected egalitarian ideas
00:08:56
like liberal democracy and socialism Rel
00:08:59
religions politics and ideologies were
00:09:01
an obstacle to the creation of perfectly
00:09:03
free Spirits likewise the Uber mench
00:09:06
would be himself detached from these
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herish ways of thinking he would be
00:09:11
violently radically free to Modern
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sensibilities and those of his time this
00:09:16
could be taken as relatively extreme but
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with zarathustra n approaches the
00:09:22
reordering of society with a degree of
00:09:25
practicality you see it's easy to think
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that n is saying we should swiftly and
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immediately cut down all that we know
00:09:32
but this is a misreading throughout his
00:09:35
life he expressed an understanding of
00:09:36
the slow nature of social change he
00:09:39
pointed to the French Revolution which
00:09:41
he said would have been entirely
00:09:42
different if cooler heads had prevailed
00:09:45
any societal problem n says is like a
00:09:48
chronic illness it develops from small
00:09:50
habits repeated Over and Over N believes
00:09:53
the Cure must also come in this way slow
00:09:57
and steady in thus zarathustra the
00:10:00
prophet proclaims that moderation and
00:10:02
courage are needed to achieve the Uber
00:10:04
MCH in developing changes we must avoid
00:10:07
violent sudden action and instead we
00:10:09
will live in the old way while slowly
00:10:11
taking in this new modality of
00:10:14
existence eventually these small drops
00:10:16
of newness will fill our cups and we
00:10:19
will exist peacefully as something novel
00:10:21
nche calls for deep meaningful change
00:10:24
not shallow boisterous proclamations
00:10:27
when one's life or Society at large is
00:10:29
filled with purpose we can walk slowly
00:10:32
and be fulfilled by each small step the
00:10:35
fact remains though this change must be
00:10:38
active it must be ushered in by some
00:10:40
people so who will be those people n
00:10:43
says that they must be both thinkers and
00:10:46
Men of action they do not have to be
00:10:49
enormously wealthy in n's new world
00:10:51
wealth will not be man's greatest Aim N
00:10:54
also rejects these men must be selected
00:10:56
on the basis of race and he further
00:10:58
discounts the idea of aristocratic
00:11:01
genealogy the rulers across Europe he
00:11:03
said were Rife with corruption and that
00:11:06
would only continue if anything as AR
00:11:09
Austra indicates the peasant class is
00:11:11
more suited to the role it is not where
00:11:13
one comes from but where one is going
00:11:15
that is of the most importance the quote
00:11:17
Aristocrats of intellect are also
00:11:19
incapable of enacting this change
00:11:22
studying is fine but the people we seek
00:11:24
must be capable of physical action the
00:11:27
true question is instead
00:11:29
how strong are you and not just
00:11:32
physically to bring about this new world
00:11:34
zarathustra demands people who are of
00:11:36
great mind body and soul these people
00:11:39
should accept responsibility Master
00:11:42
themselves and be prepared to master
00:11:45
others while enormous wealth is not
00:11:48
required and these men need not be the
00:11:50
richest in the world zarathustra says
00:11:52
they must have the resources to Grant
00:11:54
themselves Independence they must be
00:11:56
able to do what they want instead of
00:11:58
what other people want them to do this
00:12:01
seems to be the importance of money in
00:12:03
n's system the idea of Love is
00:12:06
strikingly relevant too zarathustra says
00:12:09
these men must seek love not only out of
00:12:11
passion or lust they must Master
00:12:14
themselves and their urges they must not
00:12:16
seek to create children out of
00:12:18
loneliness or discontent with oneself
00:12:20
instead the individual should wish to
00:12:22
create people even greater than himself
00:12:25
meanwhile those who cannot be utilized
00:12:27
for the advancement of human ity towards
00:12:29
the Uber mench must be allowed to
00:12:31
basically die out you should be clear
00:12:35
here the men that n is discussing are
00:12:37
not themselves The Uber mench they are
00:12:39
instead the individuals who will lead
00:12:41
Society forward in a way that will
00:12:43
eventually result in the realization of
00:12:46
this concept this new version of
00:12:49
civilization will also require
00:12:51
significant social conditions to exist
00:12:54
according to
00:12:55
zarathustra the prophet declares that
00:12:57
unfavorable conditions are deal for
00:12:59
eventually achieving the Uber MCH n says
00:13:02
that these humans of the future must
00:13:04
have great spiritual and moral power
00:13:06
which can only be proven by opposition
00:13:09
insecurity and danger n argued would
00:13:11
bring out the most elite qualities of
00:13:13
these future individuals people did not
00:13:15
become great after all because
00:13:17
everything was easy no they needed to
00:13:20
overcome challenges broadly speaking n
00:13:23
supports hardship and believes struggle
00:13:25
will force the greatest of humankind to
00:13:28
the top it should be noted though he
00:13:30
does not provide much in the way of
00:13:32
specifics on these hardships each
00:13:35
remarks that the modern society seeks
00:13:37
safety for everyone but when danger
00:13:40
disappears so does the capability to
00:13:42
deal with it so does the capacity for
00:13:44
greatness n categorized Wars and
00:13:47
revolutions as clumsy ways to remedy
00:13:50
this situation but admitted they are the
00:13:52
greatest stimulants available the church
00:13:55
again had their chance to serve this
00:13:56
role but had missed it could read as an
00:13:59
endorsement of violence and perhaps it
00:14:01
was in a way but ordinary gunpowder Wars
00:14:05
would be almost irrelevant to this
00:14:06
future civilization n notes that they
00:14:09
usually concern trade or money rather
00:14:12
than the advancement of humanity these
00:14:15
could be the training grounds for future
00:14:17
great men but only incidentally and
00:14:19
without any uniquely important purpose
00:14:21
to nich's New World the blades and guns
00:14:25
type of warfare was not nich's focus he
00:14:28
was not a warmonger nor does he Express
00:14:31
this idea as
00:14:33
zarathustra instead he believes in Wars
00:14:35
between ideas most often when nche
00:14:38
praises the concept of War this is the
00:14:40
type of conflict he is referring to by
00:14:43
living in opposition to those around
00:14:45
oneself in engaging in this spiritual
00:14:48
war man is hardened without need for
00:14:51
guns or
00:14:52
ammunition And Thus Spoke zarathustra
00:14:55
nche offers the parable of the camel the
00:14:58
lion and the child this concept strikes
00:15:01
at the core of the book and much of n's
00:15:03
philosophy the camel is burdened by the
00:15:06
expectations hopes and sensibilities of
00:15:08
those around him those who are
00:15:10
essentially exploiting him in time the
00:15:13
camel eventually evolves into the lion
00:15:15
the lion tears apart the camel in its
00:15:17
burdens leaving only an empty space
00:15:19
behind the lion has the courage to
00:15:22
explore this space and within it the
00:15:24
nihilistic idea of Life having no
00:15:26
meaning this is where we can be reborn
00:15:29
this is where we become the child we can
00:15:31
begin a new and find our own ideals and
00:15:34
aspirations those things which make us
00:15:36
unique and which bring us authentic
00:15:39
individual
00:15:41
fulfillment although evocative to the
00:15:43
point of provocation Nicha reflects a
00:15:45
profound optimism and a hope for the
00:15:48
future his ideas are Fierce aggressive
00:15:51
and immensely stimulating but still
00:15:54
there is one key that will allow us to
00:15:56
unlock them entirely
00:16:03
to really understand the Uber MCH we
00:16:05
must examine the context in which it was
00:16:08
written that context is a thought
00:16:10
experiment known as Eternal recurrence
00:16:14
in thus spok zarathustra n explores the
00:16:17
idea that everything in the universe is
00:16:19
faded to happen again and again into
00:16:21
eternity you will repeat every moment of
00:16:24
the life you now live forever n never
00:16:27
expressed that he believed this this as
00:16:29
a scientific fact but it is presented
00:16:31
rather as a philosophical framework by
00:16:34
which we should live it is in this
00:16:37
backdrop that we can ourselves strive to
00:16:40
become the Uber MCH is your life worth
00:16:43
repeating are the choices you make
00:16:45
worthy of Eternity when was the last
00:16:47
time you did something that you would do
00:16:51
forever the road to this success to
00:16:54
having desire for nothing except your
00:16:56
own existence is the Uber MCH
00:16:59
reject the ideals of those who hold you
00:17:02
Shackled reject all that which comes
00:17:04
before you and cast off those things
00:17:06
which burden you with
00:17:08
obligation embrace the apocalypse and
00:17:11
thrive in the chaos you will undoubtedly
00:17:13
create do not create From the Ashes but
00:17:16
create in place of the ashes become what
00:17:19
you and you alone deem worthy of the
00:17:23
infinite most importantly of all and
00:17:26
most paradoxically of all reject people
00:17:29
like me reject those who wish to tell
00:17:32
you how to
00:17:34
live create something
00:17:40
new n throughout his work seemed to
00:17:43
extol the importance of hardness a
00:17:47
spiritual and intellectual belligerent
00:17:49
hardness a hardness of being but this
00:17:52
was seemingly not a quality that n
00:17:54
himself possessed quite the contrary
00:17:57
from a young age n had had a tremendous
00:17:59
gift for understanding and feeling human
00:18:02
pain he was described throughout his
00:18:04
life as intensely sensitive nche was
00:18:07
vulnerable shy and tender by his own
00:18:10
admission n's love of the Hardman
00:18:12
archetype was little more than a facade
00:18:16
he wrote in a letter to his friend as
00:18:18
for myself I have got into a state of
00:18:21
chronic vulnerability against which when
00:18:23
my condition is slightly improved I take
00:18:26
a sort of Revenge which is not of the
00:18:28
nicest description that is to say I
00:18:30
adopt an attitude of excessive
00:18:34
hardness n had an idealic childhood but
00:18:37
it was completely demolished by the
00:18:39
untimely death of his father his widowed
00:18:41
mother had two other children so she was
00:18:43
unable to provide the high amount of
00:18:45
attention that the young n would have
00:18:47
needed in his time of suffering as a
00:18:49
young man he was made to experience the
00:18:51
death of his father fully in solitude in
00:18:54
1878 he spoke of his childhood we are
00:18:58
devast ated by the sight of the scenes
00:19:00
of our childhood the garden house the
00:19:02
church with its Graves the pond in the
00:19:05
woods we always see them again as
00:19:08
sufferers we are gripped by
00:19:10
self-pity when he was just 29 n's
00:19:13
intellectual Idol was a composer named
00:19:15
Richard Vagner n worshiped him like
00:19:18
something close to a god even publishing
00:19:20
a work that praised the man publicly
00:19:23
This Man became n's de facto father
00:19:26
figure the work inflated vogner's ego
00:19:28
and he persuaded n to pen a hit piece on
00:19:31
a writer named David Strauss this was
00:19:34
vogner's Feud not n's at all n had
00:19:38
actually enjoyed strauss's work but from
00:19:40
loyalty to Vagner he went ahead with the
00:19:42
peace shortly after it was published
00:19:45
David Strauss died and N worried that
00:19:48
his peace contributed to strauss's
00:19:51
demise not long after this incident
00:19:53
Vagner began to spread rumors about n
00:19:56
being a chronic addicted sex fi who was
00:19:59
going blind from masturbation Vagner
00:20:01
further launched another ruthless
00:20:03
assault on the young n in the book
00:20:05
beuther blotter in 1876 n severed ties
00:20:10
with Vagner this incident broke his
00:20:12
heart and catapulted the sensitive young
00:20:15
man into an era of emotional distress in
00:20:18
the wake of this personal tragedy N
00:20:20
Found refuge in the love of a woman
00:20:22
named Lou salame their romantic Affair
00:20:25
was intense and passionate with n saying
00:20:28
she was a rude as an eagle and as Brave
00:20:30
as a lion he earnestly believed he had
00:20:33
found his soulmate as it turned out
00:20:35
Romancing with Geniuses of the day was a
00:20:38
pattern for Lou she ultimately rejected
00:20:40
n and the romance crumbled in a photo
00:20:43
she later flaunted around to other
00:20:45
lovers Lou was portrayed as a carriage
00:20:47
driver brandishing a whip Over N himself
00:20:51
at the end of this affair n wrote to his
00:20:53
friend this last morsel of life was the
00:20:56
hardest I have yet had to chew and it is
00:20:59
still possible that I shall choke on it
00:21:02
am now being broken as no other man
00:21:04
could be on the wheel of my own passions
00:21:07
unless I discover the alchemical trick
00:21:09
of turning this muck into gold I am
00:21:12
lost n would go on to live a life
00:21:14
plagued by psychological turmoil
00:21:17
eventually resulting in a complete
00:21:19
psychotic
00:21:20
breakdown in zarra N presents a Hardman
00:21:25
ideal who could endure suffering and use
00:21:27
it to find great sness it has been
00:21:30
argued that this was just a sort of
00:21:31
persona an aspirational abstract that n
00:21:34
used to cope with his own sensitivity an
00:21:37
ideal that n himself fell tremendously
00:21:40
short
00:21:41
of maybe but it seems to me that the
00:21:44
opposite could be true I think that to
00:21:47
be strong is not to forgo feelings or to
00:21:50
be immune to them it is instead to act
00:21:53
because of or in spite of those feelings
00:21:57
indeed n with his tremendous sensitivity
00:21:59
did just that when all was said and done
00:22:02
he did perform the alchemical trick of
00:22:04
turning muuk into gold maybe he didn't
00:22:07
live to see it but some century and a
00:22:09
half later he has emerged as one of the
00:22:12
most influential thinkers of all
00:22:19
time n's writing provides us with a
00:22:22
uniquely dangerous sort of knowledge
00:22:25
when stripped from its context or
00:22:27
presented in disperate p pieces can seem
00:22:29
to endorse some of Humanity's worst
00:22:32
qualities indeed that has happened after
00:22:35
his death n's sister Allied herself with
00:22:37
the Nazi party she then manipulated
00:22:40
edited and republished n's work to make
00:22:42
it extol the beliefs of the Nazis in
00:22:46
reality friedi nche rejected both
00:22:48
Fascism and anti-Semitism even cutting
00:22:50
ties with his own sister over the
00:22:53
issues but when approached with care and
00:22:55
given the thought that he deserves n
00:22:58
offered a euphoric hopeful optimism when
00:23:01
we destroy everything we are free life
00:23:04
is a beautiful void in which we can
00:23:07
Frolic and play and seek true
00:23:09
fulfillment if we are brave enough to do
00:23:12
so it may sound silly to say but n's
00:23:15
works are remarkably Nan they are
00:23:18
expressed abstractly and in ornamental
00:23:20
language he was not an author Who
00:23:22
provided us with a system by which to
00:23:24
live but rather his writing invites
00:23:27
requires interpret ation so as we read n
00:23:30
we are implored to reject any rigid
00:23:33
interpretations of the work and instead
00:23:35
create one for
00:23:37
ourselves Thus Spoke zarathustra is a
00:23:40
great snapshot of n's philosophy but it
00:23:43
is not comprehensive in this essay I
00:23:46
have not even scratched the surface of
00:23:48
n's Works nor the secondary
00:23:50
interpretations of them so in true Nan
00:23:54
spirit I suggest you discover them for
00:23:56
yourself
00:24:00
[Music]
