Why I Love Nietzsche
Philosophy is like Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. because, just like the game, you begin to unlock new characters (philosophers) as you read more books and expand your knowledge. And just like Super Smash, you begin to develop some favorite philosophers, perhaps even deciding to choose one or two as your “main” favorite thinkers. My greatest thinker is Friedrich Nietzsche, a 19th-century philosopher from Germany and I wanted to talk about why. I was struggling with a lot of things as I began 7th and 8th grade and was addicted to video games; I saw no other purpose in life than seeking the immediate rush of dopamine. However, Nietzsche got me out of this rut when I discovered his ideas on morality and Ubermensch; although I now disagree with many of Nietzsche’s ideas, he is certainly still my favorite thinker.
The first philosophical piece I read was On the Genealogy of Morals by Nietzsche. I had no background knowledge of any of Nietzsche’s ideas, was just told that he had some fascinating ideas by my Latin teacher. Nietzsche argued that, a long time ago, qualities such as domination, power, and selfishness were considered morally good. Nietzsche called people with these qualities the master moralists. However, to Nietzsche’s dismay, master moralists were outnumbered by slave moralists, those who did not possess good qualities. He claimed that slave moralists collectively decided that the master moralists had undesirable and sinful qualities and instead embraced the exact opposite ideals as attractive, such as altruism, selflessness, and humility. They dubbed the masters’ qualities as hubris, which sparked the inception of Christianity and Utilitarianism. This idea deeply troubled my past self because it seemed to question and completely debunk all of my belief systems: I was a devout Catholic and was taught from a young age that I must emulate all of the slave moralists’ values. I didn’t immediately think that my life was a lie but realized how blind I was in not at least trying to understand opposing viewpoints. So, I began to read more books and research different arguments; this process of grappling with new ideas was healing because it gave me something to dedicate my time to, which is beneficial to the human psyche.
Nietzsche also advocated for Übermensch, the idea that people should strive to be a “superman” version of themselves by rejecting “weaker” values and establishing their own ideals, resonated with me and sparked a drive for self-improvement. Although Nietzsche mainly intended the rejection of Christianity when discussing “weaker” human lives, I personally interpreted it slightly differently; I thought that the “weakness” lay in being complacent with oneself. I used to live life “just to get along” every day. I wanted to escape this mindset and see where it would take me if I put discipline into it. This idea was reinforced by Nietzsche’s encouragement of humans to “dance” whenever they did something, suggesting that people should push the boundaries of whatever field they are working on in order to not just do well, but much more importantly have fun in the process. I was afraid of taking risks, but I began to try “dancing” in my life. This is the step in my life where I began to play devil’s advocate in my classes, although I was so scared at first. I gambled in my essays for class, opting to go beyond the word limit just to tie in some abstract idea that I thought was related. My rational mind disagreed with such decisions, but I found joy in taking risks for ideas that I was passionate about. Übermensch deserves credit for fostering a healthy relationship with learning for me.
By exposing myself to different ideas that questioned everything, I woke up to the fact that there were many different ideas out there that I just didn’t know about. By reinterpreting and reading about übermensch, though perhaps considered too extreme by many, I realized the fun in testing boundaries and not being satisfied with where I stood, finding fun in “dancing.” Is Nietzsche the most influential philosopher of all time? Probably not. Do I fully agree with him? I do not. In fact, I would disagree with a lot of his arguments now. But he influenced me the most when it came to making my life better.
