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Friedrich NietzscheThus Spoke ZarathustraReading Guide
Prologue
1. In the opening section of the Prologue, Zarathustra steps to the mouth of the cave
where he has been living for the last ten years, and he speaks to the sun as it rises
in the morning. He says, “You great star, what would your happiness be had you
not those for whom you shine.”
a. In order to understand this opening section, it will help to compare it to the
allegory of the cave that Plato gives in the Republic. In Plato’s great
work, human beings are chained in a cave under the ground. The only
light they are able to see is one that flickers on the wall from fire in the
back of the cave. They are unable to see the light of the fire directly
because they are chained so tightly to the ground by their hands and feet
that they are unable to turn their heads in that direction. Instead, their gaze
is fixed on a wall where shadow images move before their eyes. Having
seen nothing but these shadow images for many years, they taken the
images to be what is real.
b. One question that surfaces in Plato allegory is about the meaning of the
shadow images. Socrates has pointed out that human beings often take
thing such as money, wealth and power to be the most important aims in
their lives. He argues that this is entirely an illusion. Wealth, power and
fame are desires that tend to grow out of control and, as a result, there is
no way to satisfy the thirst for such aims. One way of understanding the
flickering images on the wall of the cave is to think of them as the
illusions that people have about what is most important in life. As are
result of fastening their attention and their efforts on these illusory aims,
human beings are enslaved by their passions.
c. In Plato’s story, one person is able to break his bonds and see that there is
a fire in the back of the cave and that the images on the way are shadows
cast by puppeteers who are manipulating a set of puppets. When he
climbs up and out of the cave, this person is unable to see because the light
of the sun is so bright. As a result, he is only able to stumble around in
this new world by bumping into the things around him. Over time,
however, he comes to see things in this new light and he comes to
understand that the sun shines down on what is most real in this world,
and it makes it possible for his to see the truth.
2. In many respects, Nietzsche’s image is an inversion of Plato’s allegory. In the
case of Zarathustra, his cave is high on the side of the mountain. During the last
ten years, he has not been chained in this cave with a group of other human
beings. Rather, he went to the cave because he decided that the isolation was
something he needed. The sun is not something that is obscured from his sight.
Instead, it is something that he is able to see each day from the heights of this
cave, and he greets is each morning as a friend and companion. The sun has made
it possible for Zarathustra to gather much wisdom. It is not clear, however, that
the sun is being portrayed in this story as the source of light that shines down on
all that is real in the world. Rather, it is an overrich star that sustains all that
living. Like Zarathustra, the happiness of this great star would seem to have no
point without someone one whom the light is able to shine.
a. Zarathustra says that, like the star, he too must go down from his cave. In
going down, he must “go under.” He asks the star to bless him as he heads
to the forest and then towards the other people he left ten years ago. Like
a cup that is overfull with wisdom, he wants to carry the golden waters
and then empty it again by going under.
3. When Zarathustra arrives in the forest at the base of the mountain, he seeks an old
hermit who lives in a cottage. This hermit is not a stranger. Rather, Zarathustra
recognizes him as the same person who lived there ten years ago when he passed
by on the way to the mountain. Zarathustra refers to his old hermit as a “saint.”
Many years ago, the hermit lived among the men in town. He realized, however,
that he loved God and not man. The hermit realized that men were corrupt
sinners, and he left the town in order to avoid being corrupted himself.
a. The hermit greets Zarathustra and advises him not to take any precious
gifts to the people in town. Instead, he suggests that it is proper to give
them alms—like one would give a penny to a beggar.
b. After some banter back and forth, the hermit suggests that Zarathustra
should join him in the woods and live amongst the innocent bears and
birds. Zarathustra leaves the hermit and asks himself: “Could it be
possible? This old saint in the forest has not yet heard anything of this,
that God is dead!”
c. It is worth noting that Zarathustra does not offer any argument for thinking
that there is no God. Rather, he is suggesting that God once lived, but that
he has died. If we focus for a moment on the idea of God, we can ask
what it would be for an idea like this to have and then to lose its power.
At one time, in early Christian church, people actively sought a new
relationship to the divine. For the sake of their faith, they were willing to
die as martyrs. Over the course of time, the Christian idea of God rose to
ascendancy across much of the Western world and, by the high points of
the medieval era, it was a dominant idea that serve to guide the lives of
virtually all people. What happened to this idea as time passed?
Zarathustra appears be making a simple point that, in the modern period,
the idea of God no longer serves as a powerful and guiding light in the
lives of most people.
4. In section 3 of the Prologue, Zarathustra enters a town that lies on the edge of the
forest. Having left the old saint in the forest, he walks to the market place where
a tightrope walker will give a performance. A crowd has gathered in the
marketplace, and he gives a speech to those who have gathered. He starts by
saying: “I teach you the overman.” He asks those who have gathered—and also
the reader—what they have done to overcome the way that human beings actually
are.
5. Drawing on the evolutionary ideas of Darwin and others in the 19th century,
Nietzsche describes a comparison between the biological and the spiritual
evolution of mankind. In the biological evolution of living organisms, there has
been a development from simpler forms of life such as worms, to more complex
forms of life, like the higher apes.
a. Biological evolution: from plant and worm, to ape and human
b. Spiritual Evolution: from a rudimentary sensitivity to the environment to
creatures with some degree of rationality, developed languages and self
awareness.
6. Nietzsche’s point is that human beings have not reached the pinnacle of their
biological or spiritual potential. Evolution continues on both fronts. Just as the
biological evolution of living forms continues, so too does the evolution of spirit.
Where is the evolution of spirit heading? Zarathustra considers two possibilities:
a. Either, human beings can strive for something higher than the state of
existence they have attained at the present time in history.
b. Or, human beings can be an ebb in this great flood of historical
development. An ebb in the tide is the point where the high water mark
has been reached and, from that point, it continues to recede.
7. Drawing on this analogy between our biological and spiritual evolution,
Zarathustra poses the following key question: what is necessary for the human
spirit to continue to grow and develop in a healthy manner?
a. He asks: are humans more ape than any ape? He points out that, given
our evolutionary roots, there is much in us that is still worm. If we
interpret this point metaphorically, then he is asking: are we the kinds of
creatures that will continue simply to ape each other? That is, will we
only imitate one another? Will we stay low to the ground, like the worm,
crawling on our bellies? Or, we will stand up and learn to walk on the
tightrope?
b. Whatever the overman stands for, it appears to be something more than a
mere imitation of others. It is a higher aspiration. It may require greater
effort on our part. It may also require greater risks and sacrifices.
8. He compares the image of the overman to the image of the Christian God.
a. In the past (e.g., the high point of Medieval European Culture), the
greatest sin a human being could commit was a sin against God. The
image of God stood in the minds of these men as the origin of all meaning
in their lives. Their lives were dominated by the idea that, if they obeyed
God’s commands, then they would receive an eternal reward in heaven.
b. As Zarathustra has said to himself earlier, the Christian God has died as a
dominant image—at least as a grounding idea in modern Western culture.
At one point, it did serve as the dominant ideal in the culture. That time
has passed, however. For many people, it no longer serves as the ground
of all meaning and guidance in their lives.
c. Zarathustra suggests that the image of the Overman can be the meaning of
life on this earth. Instead of searching for meaning by thinking about
future rewards in heaven, the meaning of our human existence can be
found here and now in the way we choose to live our lives on this earth.
9. Looking up at the tightrope stretched high above the marketplace, Zarathustra
says: “Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman—a rope over an abyss.”
a. On the one hand, Zarathustra is making a negative claim about what man
is not. He is not the kind of being that has a determinate and fixed end.
Human beings will not be able to say, at some point in their development
as individuals or as a species, that they have achieved the end that gives
purpose to human life. The end isn’t fixed, and it isn’t achievable at any
given point in time.
b. On the other hand, he is making an affirmative claim about what man is.
Mankind is a bridge over an abyss. For better or for worse, there is no end
to this bridge. We must walk on the tightrope—and there is no options
other than to learn to walk on the tightrope or fall into the abyss.
10. After Zarathustra gives his speech, the tightrope walker steps out from a door at
the top of a tower and begins his performance. When he reaches the mid-point of
the rope, a jester jumps out from the door, starts down the rope behind him and
starts to mock the tightrope walker by saying, “Forward, lamefoot!” After
threatening to kick him in the behind, the jester jumps over the tightrope walker
and reaches the other tower first. Seeing that the jester has beaten him, the
tightrope walker tosses his balancing pole to the side, falls to the ground and lands
next to Zarathustra. Lying there, maimed and disfigured, the jester speaks to
Zarathustra. He says that the devil will come and drag his soul away to hell.
a. Zarathustra states that there is no such thing as heaven or hell. The
tightrope walker says that, if this is true, then human beings are nothing
more than beasts that have been trained by a system of rewards and
punishments. The tightrope walker is pointing out that, unless we were
made in the image of a divine creature such as the Christian God, then
there is no real difference between the meaning of a human life and the
meaning of the life of an animal that has been trained—such as a dog or
horse. As such, the idea that our lives can be guided by higher values is
just an illusion. In the words of the 19th century poet: if God is dead, then
all things are permitted. Or to put this in the terms of the tightrope walker:
if God is dead, then the values that seem most noble—such as truth,
freedom and justice—are really just illusions.
b. Zarathustra responds to the tightrope walker’s concerns by saying that this
is not true. The fact that the tightrope walker made confronting danger his
vocation is something that Zarathustra holds in high esteem. As such, he
promises to bury the body of the dying man with his own hands. By the
end of the Prologue, Zarathustra keeps to his word, but only barely. He
sees that he needs the company of the living and not the dead.
First Part
1. In the opening chapter, Zarathustra describes three metamorphoses of spirit. He
suggests that the human spirit much undergo all three. As readers, the challenge
we face is making sense of the underlying meaning of each of these three
symbols. If we look at the processes of change that he is trying describe, we’ll
see that each is necessary to make sense of the transformation of spirit involved in
moving from the accepted values of one’s culture to a newly created set of values.
In order to meet the challenge of properly interpreting each of the symbols, let us
try to understanding their meaning in this light.
2. Zarathustra provides a number of descriptions of the camel, and some (e.g., the
reference to hot toads and cold frogs) are quite puzzling. If we start with the first
few points, however, we can see that the camel takes on a great burden, that he is
willing to be satisfied with very little, and that he does all of this in the pursuit of
truth.
a. As such, it is reasonable to think that the camel represents a spirit that is
willing to take on the burden of trying to understand the accepted values
of the culture. In addition to making this effort, the camel strives to
question those values. This can be difficult, especially where the values
that are being questioned are those that are held dear. If you have lived
your life up to this point by a set of values, then it may be difficult to raise
hard questions about the commitments embodied in those values. After
all, the very act of raising the questions can undermine the way one has
lived up to this point.
3. The lion represents the strength needed to fight the great dragon and say no. If,
after questioning the accepted values, it appears that some can’t stand up to the
questions, then the lion represents the strength of spirit needed to challenge those
values. The dragon carries all of the traditional values on its back, like a set of
scales that protect it from any threat. Many of these values have been handed
down from one generation to the next and are now thousands of years old. The
camel stands for all of those values that speak in the language of commands and
obligations. They say: “thou shalt.” The camel is able to admit, at least to
himself, that all values were created at some point in the past. At the present,
however, he says that there will not more creating of values.
a. In the language of Kant, every moral obligation seems to issue an absolute
requirement of duty. If the requirement is absolute, then the obligation
seems to issue a necessary requirement that applies to all rational beings
and is the same at all times.
b. Unlike Kant, the dragon admits that all values were created at some time
or another. They have all evolved from spontaneous acts of creation.
Once the obligations have been established, however, there appears to be
no further room for questioning or criticizing the values embodied in those
obligations. Zarathustra, disagrees, however. In order to criticize and
challenge the accepted values, the lion needs great courage because the
larger society will pressure the individual to conform to its accepted
standards.
4. The child represents a sacred yes. It is spontaneous and playful. The child
embodies the freedom involved in created new values. The necessary
requirement of having such freedom is innocence.
a. In his description of these three stages of spirit, Nietzsche is drawing on
prior work by poets and philosophers on aesthetics. The child is a figure
of the creative spirit. The kind of freedom that matters most for the sake
of creating is not what Kant calls rational autonomy. Rather, it is a
freedom of the imagination to explore and create. Kant explores the
autonomy of the imagination in his main work on aesthetics—the Critique
of Judgment. Nietzsche is drawing on Kant’s work and that of a poet
named Friedrich Schiller who explored the role of creativity in the moral
and political dimensions of our lives. The symbols of the camel, lion and
child are found in Schiller’s discussion of the artistic will in his Letters on
the Aesthetic Education of Man.
5. Before moving to the next chapters, let us try to restate the questions that have
surfaced in the discussion of the three metamorphoses of spirit. The key
questions are: What aspects of spirit are needed in order to honestly question the
accepted values, to challenge those values that can’t stand up to these questions,
and to create new values that might prove to be better than the old? Gaining the
traits of character that are embodied in each of the three metamorphoses is
necessary for the healthy growth of our values and commitments. On
Zarathustra’s account, it is not the case that we should think of each stage as
something we need to pass through only once. Rather, each of these three stages
is something that we must continue to develop over the course of our lives. As
such, we can think of the processes involved in each of the metamorphoses as a
cycle that we must repeat endlessly as we aspire to live by richer and more
meaningful system of values that is capable of continued growth.
6. In the next few chapters of Part I, Nietzsche considers some of the causes of ill-
health in the human soul. On his account, anything that retards the soul’s ability
to grow and thrive can be considered a disease. The teachers of virtue, for
instance, instruct others in the art of sleeping well. That is, the teach others how
to accept the ways things are. As such, they instruct others how to ignore the
impulses that lead us question and challenge the accepted values. The
afterworldly teach others this virtue of good sleep by seeking refuge from the
challenges of this world in an otherworldly heaven.
7. Zarathustra says that he want to speak to those who despiser of the body.
Philosophers ranging from Plato, Aquinas and Kant have argued that reason is the
source of all that is good and right. The animal body, on the other hand, is the
source of temptation and error. Zarathustra suggests that this is a mistake.
Instead of assuming that reason is the essence of the human soul, we should, like
a camel, question the values that are represented in this assumption. Like a child,
we should say that, at the root of our being, we are both body and soul. The body
is the creative spirit that the child needs in order to give rise to new values.
8. In “On the Pale Criminal” Zarathustra describes a person who once questioned the
accepted values, and who then violated the moral rules of his society. This pale
criminal is being prosecuted for this crime by a red judge. Zarathustra is quick to
point out that the mistake was not the crime itself—but the guilt that the criminal
feels after the deed. We are told that the criminal has committed murder. It
seems clear from the discussion, however, that the pale criminal didn’t kill
another person. Rather, by his deed of questioning and challenging the traditional
values, he has killed something that is held dear by the rest of the society in which
he lives. This act is crime in the minds of those, like the red judge, who take it
upon themselves to defend the traditional values.
a. Zarathustra claims that the red judge has no right to claim that the pale
criminal is a villain, scoundrel or sinner. After all, the people who defend
the traditional values have no right to assume that the criminal was wrong
we he questioned and challenged what they hold dear. They can say that
he is an enemy, or that he is sick, or that he is a fool.
b. The idea that a person who questions the traditional values is sick was
articulated in Zarathustra’s account of the three metamorphoses of spirit.
It might help if you return to this section and see what was said about
those who are sick. What should we do with those who have this illness?
Should we comfort them? Should they accept our attempts to provide
such comfort?
c. Reminder: each time we see a reference to earlier symbols and images,
we should try to clarify what Zarathustra was saying when he tried to
explain what it means. Zarathustra’s account of the origins of our values
is constructed out of a set of symbols, images, metaphors, analogies, and
allegories. As the discussion continues from one chapter to the next, he is
refining the meaning of these ideas by offering additional symbols,
images, metaphors, analogies, and allegories. The proper way to read this
philosophical story is to interpret it like a literary work—like a play by
Shakespeare or a poem by Goethe.
9. In the middle and later sections of Part I, Zarathustra develops an account of the
causes of good health in the human soul. In “The Tree on the Mountainside,” he
talks with a young person who is sitting beside a tree on a mountain that stands
above the town down in the valley. Zarathustra notes that a tree that grows high
on the side of the mountain is slowly and steadily shaped and by the winds.
a. In fact, the highest trees typically lose the branches on the side of the tree
that faces away from the mountainside. The winds and snow pelt the small
growths at the tips of the branches that the often die off. As such, the trees
have branches only on one side. These branches are twisted as the seek
the sunlight during the warmest months of the summer and are then
“pruned” by the winds during the harshest months of the winter.
b. Zarathustra uses the literal shape of such trees as a metaphor for the
growth of the human spirit. Like the tree, our character is shape by the
invisible force of the pressure to conform to the social rules accepted in a
society. We often fail to see that the extent to which our character is
twisted and tortured by these pressures because the forces work invisibly
and slowly over many years.
c. In order to resist these pressures, Zarathustra suggests that, like the tree,
we must send our roots down deep into the rock and soil. This soil is
called “evil,” at least according to the accepted values of the society. As
we have seen, philosophers such as Plato, Aquinas and Kant all claim that
our bodily passions and emotions are the source of temptation and the root
of error. Nietzsche seems to suggest that these feelings and emotions are
the very soil from which new value smight grow. The soil provides the
nutrients that, when taken up by the body, are converted into living tissue.
d. Zarathusra looks that the youth and sees that, above all, he is still
searching for freedom. All that is in him, from his soul to his wicked
instincts, searches for freedom. Key question: how can we gain the
freedom that is needed to grow to new heights and, in doing so, resist the
pressures to conform to the accepted values?” He suggests that, no matter
what difficulties we might face in life, we must not lose our highest hope.
For Zarathustra, aspiring to the overman is his highest hope.
10. In “On the Thousand and One Goals,” Zarathustra says that he has traveled to
many lands and visited many peoples. What he has seen is that all of the different
peoples that he has visited have their own sense of what is good and evil. Each
society has a tablet that that articulates what is held to be right and wrong. The
tablet represents each society’s attempt to overcome the shortcomings seen in
their past and to hold some things in the highest esteem. He says that the tablet is
a record of their past overcomings, and a voice of their “will to power.” He
compares four different peoples:
a. The ancient Greeks esteemed being first and always trying to excel over
others. The ancient Persians esteemed speaking the truth and handling the
bow and arrow well. The ancient Jewish peoples esteemed honoring
father and mother and searching for the root of their soul in their history.
The medieval European peoples esteemed loyalty and, for its sake, were
willing to risk their lives.
b. We can see that for each of these four peoples, we can understand what
they hold in highest esteem by considering the great figures of their
culture: Pericles the Greek, Abraham the Jew, Zoroaster the Persian, and
Arthur the Britain. Furthermore, we can interpret what they hold in the
highest esteem in light of the kinds of lives that each lead. In order to
understand many of Nietzsche’s allusions, it would be helpful to learn
more about the lives of these great people.
c. Instead of assuming that we first learn what has value by listening to a
voice speaking to us from heaven, Zarathustra insists that values are
created through human acts of esteeming. As such, man creates a human
meaning for things. Key claim: “Esteeming itself is of all esteemed
things the most estimable treasure.” Unlike Mill, who claims that
happiness is the highest good, and unlike Kant, who claims that our
rational nature is the only end with absolute worth, Nietzsche claims that
esteeming has the highest value. Esteeming is a creative act. It involves
the giving of a human meaning to all things. As such, “without esteeming,
the nut of existence would be hollow.”
d. Nietzsche ends this chapter with a dilemma. He asks if there is one goal
that is common for all peoples. If so, what is that goal. On the one hand,
he suggests that the very idea that there is one goal is a “yoke” for the
necks of a thousand different peoples. The yoke, of course, is a symbol of
the tool that is used to put the ox to work. On the other hand, he asks if
there is something lacking in humanity if it does not have a common goal.
Instead of assuming that Nietzsche is arguing that different people need to
have different highest goals, or that there is a common goal for all human
beings, it might help to take this as an unanswered question. That is, like a
camel, we should question the assumption that humanity needs a unitary
goal. At the same time, we should question the assumption that different
people might need diverse highest goals. What are the underlying values
behind a commitment to unity or to diversity with respect to our
understanding of the highest goals for any given culture?
Second Part
1. In the “The Child with the Mirror,” we find that Zarathustra has a dream that
startled him. In the dream, he look into a mirror and he sees, of all things an
image of the devil. Like any reader of this text, Zarathustra finds that he
needs to interpret the meaning of this image. His interpretation is that his
teaching is in danger. He offers several reasons for thinking that his teaching
of the overman might be in danger: he has enemies who have grown
powerful; he has lost his friends; he has become all mouth with no ears.
2. Zarathustra turns to the idea of God in “Upon the Blessed Isles. He claims
that the idea of God “is a conjecture.” In other words, it is akin to a
hypothesis.
a. This is consistent with positions taken by a number of other
philosophers. Kant, for instance, treats the idea of God as a kind of
hypothesis. In the special sciences, for instance, the idea of God
serves a totalizing function. It is a regulative principle that leads us to
search for larger overarching systems of ideas that can bring disparate
theories into greater unity. In our common understanding of morality,
the idea of God serves as a practical postulate that is needed for the
sake of understanding how it is possible for human beings, with all of
our natural limitations, to strive for the highest end within a world that,
at times, might seem to be at odds with our goals.
b. Zarathustra claims that the hypothesis of God is a conjecture that
reaches “beyond the creative will.” As an idea, God stands for a kind
of perfection that is beyond our abilities. As such, it may be a poor
hypothesis to choose as a basis for organizing and giving meaning to a
human life. He claims that “God is a thought that makes crooked all
that is straight, and makes turn whatever stands.” Zarathustra
recognizes that, even in a modern European culture where the idea of
God has repeatedly been called into question, that this might push the
limits with respect to the kinds of questions we are really willing to
entertain. Despite this fact, Zarathustra asks: “Should time be gone,
and all that is impermanent a mere lie.” In a world in which all things,
including our most cherished values, evolve, there is nothing that is
unchanging. But, in the Christian idea of God that is refined in the
medieval and modern eras, God is conceived as having an unchanging,
permanent, timeless nature. Zarathustra wants to praise an image of
perfection that lives in the world, and that changes over time as it
continues to evolve. As such, the being of this kind of perfection is of
something that is still becoming. The being is not something that is
fixed and timeless.
c. One of the dangers that Zarathustra detects in the Christian conception
of a timeless God, is explained in “On the Pitying.” One danger is
that, by living according to this conception of God, we are naturally
lead to pity ourselves. God is the source of all that is truly good. We
are imperfect creatures that are highly prone to error and sin.
Zarathustra suggests that he once spoke to the devil who told him that
“God died of pity for man.”
d. How can this be? One of the central messages that is embodied in the
Old and New Testaments is that God repeatedly gave us instructions
about how we ought to live our lives. Time after time, we ignored the
instructions that were communicated to us through the prophets. In the
story of Moses, for example, we learn that shortly after Moses went up
the mountain to receive the ten commandments the people strayed and
started worshipping a golden calf. Finally, God sends us his only
begotten son who has to die for our sins. Why does Jesus have to die
for our sins? One reason is that we are unable to learn the lessons for
ourselves. God sent us his only begotten son because he felt sorry for
us.
e. For some, this interpretation of the meaning of God sending his son to
die for our sins will seem entirely off the mark. Keep in mind,
however, that Zarathustra is trying to encourage us to question the
accepted values of our culture. At this point in the story, he is trying
to help us understand questions that have been asked, time and again,
about the Christian values that have been dominant in many European
societies through the medieval and into the modern period. You might
think that Zarathustra is asking the wrong questions. In order to show
that is the case, you would need to demonstrate that there are better
questions that could be asked.
3. In “On Self-Overcoming,” Zarathustra compares the will to truth with the will
to power. This is a theme that he develops in another book written a little
later that is titled Beyond Good and Evil. For now, let’s focus on what he says
here in Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
a. The will to truth is a “will to the thinkability of all beings.” It is
embodied in scientific inquiry where the search is animated by an
overriding interest in finding the truth about what is really the case.
The idea that there are is something beyond our understanding is
familiar enough. There are many things we don’t currently
understand. Scientific inquiry, however, is predicated on the idea that
if something is really the case, then we could in time discover the truth
about it. As such, when it comes to things that exist in this world,
there is nothing that, as a matter of principle, is beyond the limits of
what is thinkable.
b. Zarathustra suggests that the will to power is the application of this
basic attitude towards what is good and evil. When it comes to our
valuations, we seek to make them comprehensible. As a result, he
claims that there is “an experiment and hazard” in all commanding.
Every time we say to ourselves: “I must do this because it is the right
thing to do,” we are giving a moral command to ourselves. On
Zarathustra’s account, these commands express values that, at some
point in the past, were created in acts of esteeming. Every command is
an experiment and a hazard because the values that ground the moral
obligations were once ventured as conjectures. The will to power is
deeply connected with the idea that, when it comes to any value, we
may be fallible about what we hold to be good or evil.
c. This conception that what is good evolves over the course of history is
directly related to a conception that what is evil also evolves over
history. At and given time, we could be wrong about the nature of
each. Insofar as there are as-yet-to-be-detected errors in our
understanding of what has value, the highest good and the highest evil
are mixed with one another.
4. In “On Those Who are Sublime,” Nietzsche draws on ideas from aesthetics in
order to understand the nature of esteeming. Esteeming something is a matter
of judging its value. Nietzsche is trying to understand how all values have
evolved. As such, he is trying to understand how the most basic principles—
including the foundational principles of morality—hav evolved.
a. In the realm of aesthetics, a creative act of esteeming is called a
judgment of taste. Nietzsche uses this term to couch a key claim:
Taste—that is at the same time weight and scales and weigher; and
woe unto all the living that would live without disputes over weight
and scales and weighers!
b. Compare this claim to the one Socrates makes in the Apology. He says
that wealth, power and fame do not make virtue good. Rather, virtue
is what makes all things good for men, both individually and
collectively. It is the standard that we must use to measure the worth
of any other thing.
c. Nietzsche is trying to explain how the standards and the scales might
first have evolved from creative acts of esteeming where these acts are
modeled on judgments of taste.
Third Part
1. Zarathustra turns to the hardest questions that can be raised about his own
account of the origins of values in this part of the book. Having journeyed
across stormy seas aboard a ship, he has arrived at a blessed isle where he
must climb the greatest peak. At this stage in journey, peak and abyss are
now joined together.
2. In “On the Vision and the Riddle,” he starts by saying that this discussion is
addressed to “bold searchers, researchers, and whoever embarks with cunning
sails on terrible seas.” It is addressed to those who hate to deduce the answers
when they are able to guess (i.e., venture a bold conjecture).
3. We can better understand Zarathustra’s point in addressing this group of
readers if we compare his account of moral inquiry to Kant’s ethics. In the
Grounding, Kant argues that moral reasoning takes the form of demonstrating
what follows from basic laws of reason. In effect, we deduce from the
principles of morality what is required of us as a matter of duty. Nietzsche is
suggesting that, where we are questioning the accepted values, we are no
longer able to deduce the answers to the question of how we ought to act.
Instead, we have to venture hypotheses about what kinds of conduct might be
reasonable in the given circumstances. Given the fact that these hypotheses
are not deduced from the traditional values, they have the status of
conjectures.
a. Zarathustra describes his climb up this mountain. He feels the rocks
and pebbles under his feet as he struggles to go higher. His devil and
archenemy appears in the form of a dwarf. He is the spirit of gravity,
pulling Zarathustra down.
b. The dwarf mocks Zarathustra by saying that Zarathustra is trying to
throw himself—a philosopher’s stone—up to the stars. He is trying to
hit the ideals in the accepted values and, by striking them with enough
force, bring them down under the weight of his questioning and
criticism. Unfortunately, Zarathustra is just a human being so he lacks
the strength needed to throw a rock and hit a star. As such, the rocks
will only fall back to earth and hit him on the head. The dwarf seems
to be saying that Zarathustra is doomed to failure in his attempt to
esteem new values. He lacks the strength needed to displace the
establish ideals. He lacks the creativity needed to make something
better.
c. Zarathustra summons his courage in order to stand before the abyss
without being overcome by dizziness. He needs this courage in order
to slay his pity. At this point, he poses the following dichotomy. He
says: “Stop Dwarf!”, “It is I or you.” Gaining an appreciation of the
basis of this dichotomy appears to be crucial to understanding what
comes next.
d. Recall that, in Kant’s argument for the categorical imperative, he
claimed that the validity of all moral judgments depends on our ability
to act from respect for moral laws. Are we really able to act from
principles that we legislate to ourselves? Do we really have the ability
to legislate those principles to ourselves on the basis of rational
conditions that all can see are reasonable? The question is put in the
form of a dichotomy: either, we are able to act from moral principles
out of respect; or, all of our actions are determined by the inclinations
that happen to be the are strongest.
e. Zarathustra is posing a similar question. It is the key question of this
chapter: either, we are able to create new values through acts of
esteeming; or, we are creatures of habit through and through and there
is no basis for making new values that are, in any sense, better than
those we have received as a matter of tradition from our society.
Nietzsche seems to think the answer to this question hinges on whether
we are able to engage in acts of esteeming that are truly free. Like
Kant, Nietzsche is developing an argument for the autonomy of our
moral judgments that is predicated on our ability to make a free
evaluation of the worth of an end. Unlike Kant, however, these
judgments are being modeling on aesthetic judgments of taste.
Nietzsche needs to model these evaluations on judgments of taste
because he holds that the acts of judgment are not determined by given
principles.
4. The dwarf jumps down from Zarathustra’s shoulder when he poses this
dichotomy. A gateway stands before them. Zarathustra says that the word
‘Moment’ is inscribed above the gateway. In one direction, an eternity leads
backwards. In the other direction, and eternity leads forward. At his gateway
—call it the present moment—the past and the present are joined. Zarathustra
asks if these two paths contradict each other eternally. His point should be
clear. If we follow Zarathustra’s recommendations and aspire to the overman,
then we should question the accepted values, criticize and fight against those
that can’t stand up to the questioning, and seek to create new values that are
better than the old.
5. The dwarf notes that the old values that have been accepted in the past stand
in contradiction to the new values that are being advocated as a way to live in
the future. He says that “All that is straight lies,” and that “All truth is
crooked.” In effect, the dwarf is claiming there is no real difference between
the old values and the new values one might try to create. The reason is that,
at bottom, there is no basis for saying that one set of values—old or new—are
better or worse than the other. There is no basis for determining what is truly
good in this case. Truth in this matters is just and illusion.
a. As Zarathustra fully admits, there are no principles we can turn to as a
basis for settling this question. As such, we have no proper standard to
use that could serve as a weight in the scale of value. On Nietzsche’s
account, if there are no grounds for holding that one set of values is
true and that another set are false, then this is not merely a problem for
our understanding of morality. After all, religion, science,
mathematics, politics, and any other area of inquiry or practice you
might care to list, are grounded on values. In science, for example, the
activity of engaging in inquiry is grounded on a commitment to the
idea that truth is something we ought to seek.
6. Zarathustra says that the dwarf is making things too easy for himself.
Zarathustra intends to pose a significantly harder challenge for his own
position. He frames the challenge in terms of a riddle.
a. The riddle is stated in terms of a series of questions about how we
should understand the relationship between the past, present and
future. He says: “Must not whatever can walk have walked on this
lane before? . . . And are not all things knotted together so firmly that
this moment draws after it all that is to come?” This is puzzling. How
does the present moment draw the future after it?
b. In order to appreciate the challenge Zarathustra is posing, we need to
understand the point of the challenge. In “On the Three
Metamorphoses of Spirit,” he described the lion as have the power to
create the freedom that is necessary for the child to create new values:
“The creation of freedom for oneself and a sacred “No” even to duty—
for that, my brothers, the lion is needed. To assume the right to new
values—that is the most terrifying assumption. . . .”
c. How does the riddle help Zarathustra understand how it is possible for
the lion to create the freedom that is necessary for the child to create
new values. In Kant’s argument for the freedom of the rational will,
the first step was to show that our actions are not causally determined
by the strongest given inclinations. Nietzsche is trying to construct an
argument, of sorts, for the aesthetic freedom of the creative will. The
main opponent is not the deterministic view of human action.
Zarathustra has argued that many things in this world are due to
chance. It is the most ancient nobility that stands above all things.
d. The main problem that Zarathustra faces is something that is grounded
in his own view—and not that of the dwarf. On Zarathustra’s view,
there are many options open to us every time we act. If our choices
affirm the acts of esteeming--where we creatively posit new values--
then the choices were not determined by any given principle. Over
time, the values expressed in our acts of esteeming might be affirmed
by one’s self and by others over the course of many actions. By a slow
process of articulation and affirmation, these newly created values may
be strengthened and then added to the accepted values. On
Nietzsche’s view, all of the affirmative values we hold dear originated
in such acts of esteeming.
e. Nietzsche is asking if there is any basis for thinking that we can stand
before this process and accept the challenges that come with it. Every
time we affirm a set of values, we explicitly take a stand on those that
have been accepted in the past. We affirm some and deny others. As
such, the choices we make today have a direct effect on the values that
will be accepted in the future. Can we accept the responsibility of
shaping the values that will govern future choices? What is more,
every time we affirm a set of values, we shape the very choices that
will be available in the future. Can we accept this weighty
responsibility?
f. Nietzsche appears to be saying that we can accept this terrible
responsibility only if, as human beings, we are capable of standing
before and image of past, present and future coming together—without
being overwhelmed by this image. How can we face this image
without being overwhelmed? It appears to be a god’s-eye perspective
on the way things are in time. Is it beautiful or is it sublime?
g. At the end of this chapter, Zarathustra stands before a young shepherd
who is lying on the ground. A snake has bitten the young man in the
back of the throat, and he is trying to tear it out of his mouth—but to
no avail. Zarathustra cries out to the shepherd to bite the head off the
snake—to bite down hard into his dread, hatred, nausea and pity. The
shepherd does as he is advised and, having bitten down hard on the
head of that snake, he jumps up and is radiant and laughing.
Zarathustra longs for this laughter.
7. In “On Involuntary Bliss,” Zarathustra says that he is trying to perfect himself
for the sake of his children. In this case, his children are the newly created
values that he holds in high esteem. His hope is that, in the actions of those
who live in the future, these values will contribute to “the greater perfection of
all things.” As such, he hopes that the acts of esteeming will contribute to the
perfection of character that is necessary to aspire to the overman.
8. In “Before Sunrise,” Zarathustra calls the heaven above him an abyss of light.
In a sense, then, human beings walk on tightrope between two abysses: an
abyss of darkness in which we are crushed by the unbearable weight of our
responsibilities and an abyss of lightness in which we float away without any
responsibilities. For those who are interested in seeing the way these ideas are
explored by writers in the 20th century, the metaphor of the abyss of lightness
is developed in the novel titled “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” by the
Czech writer Milan Kundera.
9. Zarathustra suggests that the heaven Accident, Innocence and Chance stands
over all things. By restoring Chance to its proper place—which is akin to the
place it held in the mythology of the ancient Greeks—Nietzsche is trying to
deliver all things—human beings included—from their “bondage under
Purpose.” In doing so, he is picturing a world in there are many small reasons
at work in things. There is, however, no great rationality that governs all
things.
Fourth Part
1. In this last part of the book, Zarathustra responds to a cry. He hears that someone
is in distress, and he goes in search of the person in the hope of providing some
help. In his search, he finds a number of higher men. Instead of thinking of these
people as actual individuals, it may help to think of them as representatives of
what Zarathustra thinks is higher in the spirit of mankind in the modern period.
Each of the figures represents something from a past time that no longer retains its
previous prominence in the culture: three kings, a leech, a magician, a retired
pope, a beggar. In each case, he sees something in the representative that holds in
high esteem. For example, in the case of the kings he admires the willingness to
rule—and also the willingness on the part of some kings to step down when the
time has come (i.e., when they are only showpiece).
2. During this search for the source of the cry, Zarathustra meets the ugliest man.
Once again, it will help to think of this person as a representative of what is
ugliest in the modern man. Zarathustra is seized by pity at the mere sight of this
man. He calls him the “murderer of God.” This man says that everyone in the
world—Zarathustra included—feels nothing by pity for him. Instead of accepting
the pity, however, the ugliest man flees from it. He is not low enough to be such
a beggar.
3. After meeting all of these representatives of what is higher in modern man,
Zarathustra meets his own shadow. Literally speaking, the shadow is the figure
cast on the ground by the sun. It’s shape varies depending on the time of day.
Zarathustra speaks with this shadow, who has been with him every step of the
way from the beginning. Along with Zarathustra, he has unlearned his faith in
given values and great names. He suggests that the devil is perhaps, only skin.
He says: “Nothing is true, all is permitted.” Time and again, he was in the
pursuit of truth, but she only “kicked him in the face.” This shadow has lost the
sense that anything is alive for him anymore. Everything has lost its meaning.
4. During this meeting with his shadow, the sun reaches its high points and it stands
directly overhead at noon. At this point in time, his shadow is directly beneath
his feet. Zarathustra brings the highest men back to his cave. They eat, drink,
dance and, in the morning he finds them building a golden calf. Like the
followers of Moses, they worship a false idol. Zarathustra leaves them in the
cave, walks to the mouth, sees the sunrise and takes it as a sign. We are back to
where the story began. What does this sign signify?