Saturday, May 25, 2013

Overman, Eternal Recurrence, Teleology

In #4 of 'Zarathustra's Prologue', in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the 'Overman' is presented as a goal to which Humankind is a "bridge".  Thus, the Overman seems to be a plainly Teleological concept, and Zarathustra here seems to be one of the "teachers of the purpose of existence" which Nietzsche laughs at in #1 of The Gay Science.  On the other hand, the Overman is a product of Self-Overcoming, the inner dynamic of the Will to Power, which Nietzsche insists is a non-Teleological principle.  Furthermore, according to Nietzsche, Man is transformed into Overman by the affirmation of Eternal Recurrence, i. e. by the affirmation of a thesis that mankind has no goal.  Now, the likely resolution of this apparent confusion over the status of the Overman is that that transformation makes explicit what has been implicit all along--that humans create their goals, a process hitherto hidden in traditional Ontological Teleology, a doctrine pioneered by the historical Zarathustra/Zoroaster, though more commonly attributed to Manes, i. e. the founder of Manicheanism.  On that analysis, a posited goal is not an end-in-itself, but a phase in the process of Self-Overcoming.  Accordingly, there is a profound distinction between a teacher of the purpose of existence and a creator of a purpose of existence.

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