| | The ''Übermensch'' (overhuman, superhuman) was a literary device used in his magnum opus, "[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]". The Overman was to be a new kind of being which would overcome resentment and affirm the Eternal Recurrence of the same. | | The ''Übermensch'' (overhuman, superhuman) was a literary device used in his magnum opus, "[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]". The Overman was to be a new kind of being which would overcome resentment and affirm the Eternal Recurrence of the same. |
| − | The statement "God is dead" first appeared in Nietzsche's "[[The Gay Science]]", in Aphorism 108, titled "New Struggles". This very anti-Christian aphorism compares God's death to Buddha's, and implores the reader to take up the task of vanquishing the dead God's shadow. Some argue Nietzsche was not actually anti-Christian, but unfortunately this Aphorism leaves little room to claim it. There is a common misconception that the first appearance of "God is dead" comes later in "[[The Gay Science]]" but the text is clear. | + | The statement "God is dead" first appeared in Nietzsche's "[[The Gay Science]]", in Aphorism 108, titled "New Struggles". This aphorism introduces Nietzsche's famous Madman, who runs out into the street shouting, "God is dead!" Yet, to his dismay, the Madman sees "he has come too soon," for people have not realized this cultural revelation for themselves and are blind to it. They consider the Madman's seemingly theological claim as absurd for they misunderstand him; it is no argument about the existence of God, necessarily, but a claim of how secular society has become. Nietzsche was no friend to Christian beliefs, and this passage shows his hope for a philosophy of the future, one he imagined would be emptied of coarse objective rationalizing, which he characterized as God and associated with Christianity. Nietzsche, in other words, felt his message of subjective truth came too soon and hoped, as the Madman, that he would be understood someday. |
| | Nietzsche's father Carl Ludwig Nietzsche, was a [[Lutheran]] pastor. | | Nietzsche's father Carl Ludwig Nietzsche, was a [[Lutheran]] pastor. |