Overman and such

The internal contradiction of Nietzsche: Nietzsche’s contradiction comes at the moment of achieving status of the overman. There seems to be no way to ‘become’ in such a way to achieve the overman, as the constraints on the will come from two contradictory sources. First, the overman must become greater than the herd. They must embrace their own will and attempt to act in the name of joy and overcome the will of the masses and adherence to false idols (all of them). Second, the overman must become more than themselves, and overcome adherence to their will. This of course presumes that the will of the overman can be divided out from the will of others, but even more so, it contradicts the first step of overcoming. The only way to overcome the internal self constraints is the influence of forces beyond yourself, i.e. the people and ideas that have already been rejected in the first move in overcoming. Leaving yourself requires the influence of others to push beyond what you know already.

Why it’s not drugs that enable overcoming. The reason drugs won’t help is the association with the body, the corporal underpinning. Drug use has the effect of becoming something greater, of applying the will in a new way, however that use is tied to often addictive chemical processes that create a relationship of dependence. Also, taking drugs is a search for becoming that means we will only find ourselves again reflected in the new creations and thoughts that come from the experience. I am also disturbed with the rhetoric surrounding it that promises access to our ‘truer selves’ (opening the doors of perception…) as if there were an absolute notion of truth concerning the self, which again reflects not a truth but another instance of the will to power invested with the mask of authority.

Nietzsche has no discussion of the communicative practices involved in achieving the overman. Conversation and communication necessarily invests our human essence, our selves, in other people. Mutual intelligibility (even the self-perpetuated myth of it) demonstrates a connection with other humans. The ability to discern intent in communication means we see a certain level of equivalence and concern for other human beings. In order that communication elucidate a response from anyone requires an understanding of the conditions of another’s experience. Language undoes the notion that we may transcend the herd.


Duncan