Nietzsche's Vision of the Overhuman

We are going to examine the problem of the Overhuman [Übermensch] in the work of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. TheOverhuman is a subject the notoriety of which far exceeds its careful treatment by Nietzsche's commentators. Nietzsche's mistreatment by theNazis, the simplistic association of the term with Hollywood phantasies, as well as the large number of issues that the term covers, are some of thereasons for the relative obscurity of the term. On our part, we are going to investigate our subject by examining a broad array of issues and problemsthat Nietzsche wishes to address through the use of the term Overhuman. We are going to argue that, following the demise of various humanist ideologies in the West (all united under the all-powerful signifier of a transcendent God), man faces the challenge of having to justify his existence on earth solely by the utilization of immanent reasons, an event perhaps unprecedented in human history. Nietzsche tries partly to exemplify and partly imagine an earth that is going to be man-made and the various challenges and problems that this process is going to entail. We will argue that the term Overhuman refers to a process whereby man rediscovers an immanent culture and the new rules according to which life on earth is to take place; we are also going to examine the new political order which is going to replace the old one, which for the most part produced man as a docile animal, unable to stand up for his own rights and demands.