SUPERMAN, THE. The German term Uebermensch " superman," used by Goethe in " Faust," is employed by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) to describe the ideal man of his philosophy. In 1888 Nietzsche became insane, and his last literary production, Der Antichrist, in its extravagance already bears the stamp of insanity. In fluenced at first by Schopenhauer (1788-1860), the disciple went far beyond his master. Nietzsche is usually re garded as a gloomy pessimist and a brutal materialist. He is of course in some respects pessimistic and materialistic. But probably he is very much misunder stood. He is thought to have done young people in Germany much harm. But young people will have read his works, without understanding them, with the idea of finding in them something (outrageous) which is not necessarily there. Forbidden books are always attrac tive to certain people, and a reputation for outrageous ness acts as a powerful suggestion. Certain people want to be outraged. Writers like Ibsen and Nietzsche are the tools which they sharpen for themselves. It has been rightly observed that the strength of Nietzsche's Super man " could hardly be won and maintained without the austerest self-discipline " (A. Butler). One can do
Nietzsche justice without accepting or admiring his philosophy. " Nietzsche represents a passionate indi vidualism in opposition to the social and democratic tendencies of the present time. His Ideal is the powerful individual who has risen above the ` slave-morality of Christian civilisation, with its sympathy and compassion. its indulgence towards weakness, and its weak love of neighbours and enemies. The mass, he thinks, has by mere force of numbers overcome the strong individuals whose power he conceives to be the only intrinsic good. The mass has made morality, determined the scale of life's values; and it has done this, thinks Nietzsche, _n its own interest and in the strength of mere majority " (Butler). According to Nietzsche, we need a trans valuation of all values (" Umwertung alley Werte "). See C. J. Deter, Geschichte der Philosophie, 1906; Arthur Butler, Diet. of Philosophical Terms.