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Is Nietzsche's goal -- for the "overman" and "higher type" -- just 'forgetfulness'?

Philosophy Asked on December 21, 2021

Is Nietzsche’s goal — for the overman and higher type of human being — just the Buddhist concept of "forgetfulness" or dukkha?

I am asking because it makes sense in my — somewhat — Buddhist world view, and the value I place on modernism’s revolutionary characteristic.

One Answer

Friedrich Nietzsche was someone who somewhat admired Buddhism and said in his writing: "Buddhism already has - and this distinguishes it profoundly from Christianity - the self-deception of moral concepts behind it - it stands, in my language, Beyond Good and Evil." He saw it as promoting '...nihilistic turning away from life, a longing for nothingness, or for life's 'opposite', for a different sort of 'being' as he describes in in The Genealogy of Morals. The concept that caused Nietzche to believe this isn't the Buddhist concept of forgetfulness, but the concept of Dukkha - a concept that roughly translates to "suffering' or "unhappiness". It refers to the painfulness of the mudane life that can be overcome by following a path of enlightenment similar to Buddha. For this, Nietzsche saw the goal of Nirvana and escaping Dukkha was similar to the concept of the overman - similar to Buddha, achieving Nirvana was be a form of life denying nihilism in a form of inversion. So, to Nietzsche, the goal of the overman was related to Dukkha in that - to Nietzsche - overcoming the pain of the mudane life and transcending it with their own sense of morality to reach a personal form of 'nirvana' (ie. overcoming nihilism) was the main goal of the Ubermensch.

Answered by Tyler Mc on December 21, 2021

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