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Nietzsche's On Self-Overcoming

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In the chapter of On Self-Overcoming, Nietzsche evaluates how we interact with the world and how the world interacts with us. The German philosopher uses plenty of metaphors to communicate this message, however. As he mentions, “The unwise, of course, the people- they are like a river on which a bark drifts; and in the bark sit the valuations, solemn and muffled up.” (Nietzsche, 225) Essentially, as human beings, we might believe that we have some sort of control in our lives. Otherwise known as the will to power, although this might be true, our individualistic will to power is irrelevant compared to the will to power of the universe. Our will to power pushes us to seek for things such as life, interactions, fulfillment, or scientific progression, …show more content…
Metaphorically speaking, the “will to power” is a moving river and people and society are a boat. Although there might be actions taking place in the boat and we may think that we have some sort of control, we do not. The “will to power” which is the river is the one that guides us. In other words, it is what it is and there is nothing that we can do to change it. For example, in our society, we are taught that murder is bad. However, this does not mean that murder is inherently bad in the sense that it is a law against the will to power of the universe. Justice does not exist, but we want to believe that justice exists. Nietzsche goes on to say, “Your will and your valuations you have placed on the river of becoming; and what the people believe to be good and evil, that betrays to me an ancient will to power.” (Nietzsche, 225) The German philosopher is essentially saying that we as a society are the ones that determine how we interpret our own will to power and our own truth, because, as mentioned, the universe just exists and although it has its own will to power, it follows a different agenda than our own. We might think that we have some sort of individuality, and we do, but this individuality falls under the will to power of the …show more content…
This is because as individuals we determine our own will to power, and hence, our own truth under the general “umbrella” of the will to power and truth of the universe. The universe does not have a pre-determined agenda like we do. The universe just “is”. For example, what we categorize as good or bad is because we have established as a society that it is good or bad. However, nowhere does it say in the laws of the universe that what we view as good or bad is actually good or bad. Thus, it is up to us to define our own purposes. However, can this put us in danger of falling into nihilism?

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