Week 4 Thursday 20th October.

Frederick Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra

We started the seminar today by asking what Nietzsche meant by 'GOD IS DEAD'.
I questioned whether he was trying to get on the 'right side' of people - he wanted them to follow his ideas but rather than just deny God which could create barriers between him and other people, he claimed that God had died.
Then we discussed that he did not mean it literally but as an idea. The idea of God is dead.
This is problematic as the majority of people lived their lives by God. Therefor if God is dead they have nothing to live their lives by so they loose all their morals.

Perhaps this is what Neitzsche wanted though, as his idea of an Overman was someone that had overcome himself...he obeys the laws he gives himself (no need for a God).

We tried to understand the Overman by looking at a tightrope situation. At one end of the rope is animals and at the other is the Overman, to get to the other side of the tightrope you must overcome life.
We linked this to Buddhism and their idea of Nirvana. According to Buddhists when you die you will be re-incarnated as an animal and what type of animal depends on how well you have lived your life. The highest aim of a Buddhist is to reach Nirvana, this is a state of nothing and ends the cycle of re-incarnation. It can only be obtained when nothing is desired.
This is similar to the Overman in that by overcoming life they need to 'forget' real life and be above everything else in the world.

I did enjoy the book but find it difficult to get my head around everything!