Friedrich NietzscheThus Spoke ZarathustraReading Guide

Prologue

1. In the opening section of the Prologue, Zarathustra steps to the mouth of the cave

where he has been living for the last ten years, and he speaks to the sun as it rises

in the morning. He says, “You great star, what would your happiness be had you

not those for whom you shine.”

a. In order to understand this opening section, it will help to compare it to the

allegory of the cave that Plato gives in the Republic. In Plato’s great

work, human beings are chained in a cave under the ground. The only

light they are able to see is one that flickers on the wall from fire in the

back of the cave. They are unable to see the light of the fire directly

because they are chained so tightly to the ground by their hands and feet

that they are unable to turn their heads in that direction. Instead, their gaze

is fixed on a wall where shadow images move before their eyes. Having

seen nothing but these shadow images for many years, they taken the

images to be what is real.

b. One question that surfaces in Plato allegory is about the meaning of the

shadow images. Socrates has pointed out that human beings often take

thing such as money, wealth and power to be the most important aims in

their lives. He argues that this is entirely an illusion. Wealth, power and

fame are desires that tend to grow out of control and, as a result, there is

no way to satisfy the thirst for such aims. One way of understanding the

flickering images on the wall of the cave is to think of them as the

illusions that people have about what is most important in life. As are

result of fastening their attention and their efforts on these illusory aims,

human beings are enslaved by their passions.

c. In Plato’s story, one person is able to break his bonds and see that there is

a fire in the back of the cave and that the images on the way are shadows

cast by puppeteers who are manipulating a set of puppets. When he

climbs up and out of the cave, this person is unable to see because the light

of the sun is so bright. As a result, he is only able to stumble around in

this new world by bumping into the things around him. Over time,

however, he comes to see things in this new light and he comes to

understand that the sun shines down on what is most real in this world,

and it makes it possible for his to see the truth.

2. In many respects, Nietzsche’s image is an inversion of Plato’s allegory. In the

case of Zarathustra, his cave is high on the side of the mountain. During the last

ten years, he has not been chained in this cave with a group of other human

beings. Rather, he went to the cave because he decided that the isolation was

something he needed. The sun is not something that is obscured from his sight.

Instead, it is something that he is able to see each day from the heights of this

cave, and he greets is each morning as a friend and companion. The sun has made

it possible for Zarathustra to gather much wisdom. It is not clear, however, that

the sun is being portrayed in this story as the source of light that shines down on

all that is real in the world. Rather, it is an overrich star that sustains all that

living. Like Zarathustra, the happiness of this great star would seem to have no

point without someone one whom the light is able to shine.

a. Zarathustra says that, like the star, he too must go down from his cave. In

going down, he must “go under.” He asks the star to bless him as he heads

to the forest and then towards the other people he left ten years ago. Like

a cup that is overfull with wisdom, he wants to carry the golden waters

and then empty it again by going under.

3. When Zarathustra arrives in the forest at the base of the mountain, he seeks an old

hermit who lives in a cottage. This hermit is not a stranger. Rather, Zarathustra

recognizes him as the same person who lived there ten years ago when he passed

by on the way to the mountain. Zarathustra refers to his old hermit as a “saint.”

Many years ago, the hermit lived among the men in town. He realized, however,

that he loved God and not man. The hermit realized that men were corrupt

sinners, and he left the town in order to avoid being corrupted himself.

a. The hermit greets Zarathustra and advises him not to take any precious

gifts to the people in town. Instead, he suggests that it is proper to give

them alms—like one would give a penny to a beggar.

b. After some banter back and forth, the hermit suggests that Zarathustra

should join him in the woods and live amongst the innocent bears and

birds. Zarathustra leaves the hermit and asks himself: “Could it be

possible? This old saint in the forest has not yet heard anything of this,

that God is dead!”

c. It is worth noting that Zarathustra does not offer any argument for thinking

that there is no God. Rather, he is suggesting that God once lived, but that

he has died. If we focus for a moment on the idea of God, we can ask

what it would be for an idea like this to have and then to lose its power.

At one time, in early Christian church, people actively sought a new

relationship to the divine. For the sake of their faith, they were willing to

die as martyrs. Over the course of time, the Christian idea of God rose to

ascendancy across much of the Western world and, by the high points of

the medieval era, it was a dominant idea that serve to guide the lives of

virtually all people. What happened to this idea as time passed?

Zarathustra appears be making a simple point that, in the modern period,

the idea of God no longer serves as a powerful and guiding light in the

lives of most people.

4. In section 3 of the Prologue, Zarathustra enters a town that lies on the edge of the

forest. Having left the old saint in the forest, he walks to the market place where

a tightrope walker will give a performance. A crowd has gathered in the

marketplace, and he gives a speech to those who have gathered. He starts by

saying: “I teach you the overman.” He asks those who have gathered—and also

the reader—what they have done to overcome the way that human beings actually

are.

5. Drawing on the evolutionary ideas of Darwin and others in the 19th century,

Nietzsche describes a comparison between the biological and the spiritual

evolution of mankind. In the biological evolution of living organisms, there has

been a development from simpler forms of life such as worms, to more complex

forms of life, like the higher apes.

a. Biological evolution: from plant and worm, to ape and human

b. Spiritual Evolution: from a rudimentary sensitivity to the environment to

creatures with some degree of rationality, developed languages and self

awareness.

6. Nietzsche’s point is that human beings have not reached the pinnacle of their

biological or spiritual potential. Evolution continues on both fronts. Just as the

biological evolution of living forms continues, so too does the evolution of spirit.

Where is the evolution of spirit heading? Zarathustra considers two possibilities:

a. Either, human beings can strive for something higher than the state of

existence they have attained at the present time in history.

b. Or, human beings can be an ebb in this great flood of historical

development. An ebb in the tide is the point where the high water mark

has been reached and, from that point, it continues to recede.

7. Drawing on this analogy between our biological and spiritual evolution,

Zarathustra poses the following key question: what is necessary for the human

spirit to continue to grow and develop in a healthy manner?

a. He asks: are humans more ape than any ape? He points out that, given

our evolutionary roots, there is much in us that is still worm. If we

interpret this point metaphorically, then he is asking: are we the kinds of

creatures that will continue simply to ape each other? That is, will we

only imitate one another? Will we stay low to the ground, like the worm,

crawling on our bellies? Or, we will stand up and learn to walk on the

tightrope?

b. Whatever the overman stands for, it appears to be something more than a

mere imitation of others. It is a higher aspiration. It may require greater

effort on our part. It may also require greater risks and sacrifices.

8. He compares the image of the overman to the image of the Christian God.

a. In the past (e.g., the high point of Medieval European Culture), the

greatest sin a human being could commit was a sin against God. The

image of God stood in the minds of these men as the origin of all meaning

in their lives. Their lives were dominated by the idea that, if they obeyed

God’s commands, then they would receive an eternal reward in heaven.

b. As Zarathustra has said to himself earlier, the Christian God has died as a

dominant image—at least as a grounding idea in modern Western culture.

At one point, it did serve as the dominant ideal in the culture. That time

has passed, however. For many people, it no longer serves as the ground

of all meaning and guidance in their lives.

c. Zarathustra suggests that the image of the Overman can be the meaning of

life on this earth. Instead of searching for meaning by thinking about

future rewards in heaven, the meaning of our human existence can be

found here and now in the way we choose to live our lives on this earth.

9. Looking up at the tightrope stretched high above the marketplace, Zarathustra

says: “Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman—a rope over an abyss.”

a. On the one hand, Zarathustra is making a negative claim about what man

is not. He is not the kind of being that has a determinate and fixed end.

Human beings will not be able to say, at some point in their development

as individuals or as a species, that they have achieved the end that gives

purpose to human life. The end isn’t fixed, and it isn’t achievable at any

given point in time.

b. On the other hand, he is making an affirmative claim about what man is.

Mankind is a bridge over an abyss. For better or for worse, there is no end

to this bridge. We must walk on the tightrope—and there is no options

other than to learn to walk on the tightrope or fall into the abyss.

10. After Zarathustra gives his speech, the tightrope walker steps out from a door at

the top of a tower and begins his performance. When he reaches the mid-point of

the rope, a jester jumps out from the door, starts down the rope behind him and

starts to mock the tightrope walker by saying, “Forward, lamefoot!” After

threatening to kick him in the behind, the jester jumps over the tightrope walker

and reaches the other tower first. Seeing that the jester has beaten him, the

tightrope walker tosses his balancing pole to the side, falls to the ground and lands

next to Zarathustra. Lying there, maimed and disfigured, the jester speaks to

Zarathustra. He says that the devil will come and drag his soul away to hell.

a. Zarathustra states that there is no such thing as heaven or hell. The

tightrope walker says that, if this is true, then human beings are nothing

more than beasts that have been trained by a system of rewards and

punishments. The tightrope walker is pointing out that, unless we were

made in the image of a divine creature such as the Christian God, then

there is no real difference between the meaning of a human life and the

meaning of the life of an animal that has been trained—such as a dog or

horse. As such, the idea that our lives can be guided by higher values is

just an illusion. In the words of the 19th century poet: if God is dead, then

all things are permitted. Or to put this in the terms of the tightrope walker:

if God is dead, then the values that seem most noble—such as truth,

freedom and justice—are really just illusions.

b. Zarathustra responds to the tightrope walker’s concerns by saying that this

is not true. The fact that the tightrope walker made confronting danger his

vocation is something that Zarathustra holds in high esteem. As such, he

promises to bury the body of the dying man with his own hands. By the

end of the Prologue, Zarathustra keeps to his word, but only barely. He

sees that he needs the company of the living and not the dead.

First Part

1. In the opening chapter, Zarathustra describes three metamorphoses of spirit. He

suggests that the human spirit much undergo all three. As readers, the challenge

we face is making sense of the underlying meaning of each of these three

symbols. If we look at the processes of change that he is trying describe, we’ll

see that each is necessary to make sense of the transformation of spirit involved in

moving from the accepted values of one’s culture to a newly created set of values.

In order to meet the challenge of properly interpreting each of the symbols, let us

try to understanding their meaning in this light.

2. Zarathustra provides a number of descriptions of the camel, and some (e.g., the

reference to hot toads and cold frogs) are quite puzzling. If we start with the first

few points, however, we can see that the camel takes on a great burden, that he is

willing to be satisfied with very little, and that he does all of this in the pursuit of

truth.

a. As such, it is reasonable to think that the camel represents a spirit that is

willing to take on the burden of trying to understand the accepted values

of the culture. In addition to making this effort, the camel strives to

question those values. This can be difficult, especially where the values

that are being questioned are those that are held dear. If you have lived

your life up to this point by a set of values, then it may be difficult to raise

hard questions about the commitments embodied in those values. After

all, the very act of raising the questions can undermine the way one has

lived up to this point.

3. The lion represents the strength needed to fight the great dragon and say no. If,

after questioning the accepted values, it appears that some can’t stand up to the

questions, then the lion represents the strength of spirit needed to challenge those

values. The dragon carries all of the traditional values on its back, like a set of

scales that protect it from any threat. Many of these values have been handed

down from one generation to the next and are now thousands of years old. The

camel stands for all of those values that speak in the language of commands and

obligations. They say: “thou shalt.” The camel is able to admit, at least to

himself, that all values were created at some point in the past. At the present,

however, he says that there will not more creating of values.

a. In the language of Kant, every moral obligation seems to issue an absolute

requirement of duty. If the requirement is absolute, then the obligation

seems to issue a necessary requirement that applies to all rational beings

and is the same at all times.

b. Unlike Kant, the dragon admits that all values were created at some time

or another. They have all evolved from spontaneous acts of creation.

Once the obligations have been established, however, there appears to be

no further room for questioning or criticizing the values embodied in those

obligations. Zarathustra, disagrees, however. In order to criticize and

challenge the accepted values, the lion needs great courage because the

larger society will pressure the individual to conform to its accepted

standards.

4. The child represents a sacred yes. It is spontaneous and playful. The child

embodies the freedom involved in created new values. The necessary

requirement of having such freedom is innocence.

a. In his description of these three stages of spirit, Nietzsche is drawing on

prior work by poets and philosophers on aesthetics. The child is a figure

of the creative spirit. The kind of freedom that matters most for the sake

of creating is not what Kant calls rational autonomy. Rather, it is a

freedom of the imagination to explore and create. Kant explores the

autonomy of the imagination in his main work on aesthetics—the Critique

of Judgment. Nietzsche is drawing on Kant’s work and that of a poet

named Friedrich Schiller who explored the role of creativity in the moral

and political dimensions of our lives. The symbols of the camel, lion and

child are found in Schiller’s discussion of the artistic will in his Letters on

the Aesthetic Education of Man.

5. Before moving to the next chapters, let us try to restate the questions that have

surfaced in the discussion of the three metamorphoses of spirit. The key

questions are: What aspects of spirit are needed in order to honestly question the

accepted values, to challenge those values that can’t stand up to these questions,

and to create new values that might prove to be better than the old? Gaining the

traits of character that are embodied in each of the three metamorphoses is

necessary for the healthy growth of our values and commitments. On

Zarathustra’s account, it is not the case that we should think of each stage as

something we need to pass through only once. Rather, each of these three stages

is something that we must continue to develop over the course of our lives. As

such, we can think of the processes involved in each of the metamorphoses as a

cycle that we must repeat endlessly as we aspire to live by richer and more

meaningful system of values that is capable of continued growth.

6. In the next few chapters of Part I, Nietzsche considers some of the causes of ill-

health in the human soul. On his account, anything that retards the soul’s ability

to grow and thrive can be considered a disease. The teachers of virtue, for

instance, instruct others in the art of sleeping well. That is, the teach others how

to accept the ways things are. As such, they instruct others how to ignore the

impulses that lead us question and challenge the accepted values. The

afterworldly teach others this virtue of good sleep by seeking refuge from the

challenges of this world in an otherworldly heaven.

7. Zarathustra says that he want to speak to those who despiser of the body.

Philosophers ranging from Plato, Aquinas and Kant have argued that reason is the

source of all that is good and right. The animal body, on the other hand, is the

source of temptation and error. Zarathustra suggests that this is a mistake.

Instead of assuming that reason is the essence of the human soul, we should, like

a camel, question the values that are represented in this assumption. Like a child,

we should say that, at the root of our being, we are both body and soul. The body

is the creative spirit that the child needs in order to give rise to new values.

8. In “On the Pale Criminal” Zarathustra describes a person who once questioned the

accepted values, and who then violated the moral rules of his society. This pale

criminal is being prosecuted for this crime by a red judge. Zarathustra is quick to

point out that the mistake was not the crime itself—but the guilt that the criminal

feels after the deed. We are told that the criminal has committed murder. It

seems clear from the discussion, however, that the pale criminal didn’t kill

another person. Rather, by his deed of questioning and challenging the traditional

values, he has killed something that is held dear by the rest of the society in which

he lives. This act is crime in the minds of those, like the red judge, who take it

upon themselves to defend the traditional values.

a. Zarathustra claims that the red judge has no right to claim that the pale

criminal is a villain, scoundrel or sinner. After all, the people who defend

the traditional values have no right to assume that the criminal was wrong

we he questioned and challenged what they hold dear. They can say that

he is an enemy, or that he is sick, or that he is a fool.

b. The idea that a person who questions the traditional values is sick was

articulated in Zarathustra’s account of the three metamorphoses of spirit.

It might help if you return to this section and see what was said about

those who are sick. What should we do with those who have this illness?

Should we comfort them? Should they accept our attempts to provide

such comfort?

c. Reminder: each time we see a reference to earlier symbols and images,

we should try to clarify what Zarathustra was saying when he tried to

explain what it means. Zarathustra’s account of the origins of our values

is constructed out of a set of symbols, images, metaphors, analogies, and

allegories. As the discussion continues from one chapter to the next, he is

refining the meaning of these ideas by offering additional symbols,

images, metaphors, analogies, and allegories. The proper way to read this

philosophical story is to interpret it like a literary work—like a play by

Shakespeare or a poem by Goethe.

9. In the middle and later sections of Part I, Zarathustra develops an account of the

causes of good health in the human soul. In “The Tree on the Mountainside,” he

talks with a young person who is sitting beside a tree on a mountain that stands

above the town down in the valley. Zarathustra notes that a tree that grows high

on the side of the mountain is slowly and steadily shaped and by the winds.

a. In fact, the highest trees typically lose the branches on the side of the tree

that faces away from the mountainside. The winds and snow pelt the small

growths at the tips of the branches that the often die off. As such, the trees

have branches only on one side. These branches are twisted as the seek

the sunlight during the warmest months of the summer and are then

“pruned” by the winds during the harshest months of the winter.

b. Zarathustra uses the literal shape of such trees as a metaphor for the

growth of the human spirit. Like the tree, our character is shape by the

invisible force of the pressure to conform to the social rules accepted in a

society. We often fail to see that the extent to which our character is

twisted and tortured by these pressures because the forces work invisibly

and slowly over many years.

c. In order to resist these pressures, Zarathustra suggests that, like the tree,

we must send our roots down deep into the rock and soil. This soil is

called “evil,” at least according to the accepted values of the society. As

we have seen, philosophers such as Plato, Aquinas and Kant all claim that

our bodily passions and emotions are the source of temptation and the root

of error. Nietzsche seems to suggest that these feelings and emotions are

the very soil from which new value smight grow. The soil provides the

nutrients that, when taken up by the body, are converted into living tissue.

d. Zarathusra looks that the youth and sees that, above all, he is still

searching for freedom. All that is in him, from his soul to his wicked

instincts, searches for freedom. Key question: how can we gain the

freedom that is needed to grow to new heights and, in doing so, resist the

pressures to conform to the accepted values?” He suggests that, no matter

what difficulties we might face in life, we must not lose our highest hope.

For Zarathustra, aspiring to the overman is his highest hope.

10. In “On the Thousand and One Goals,” Zarathustra says that he has traveled to

many lands and visited many peoples. What he has seen is that all of the different

peoples that he has visited have their own sense of what is good and evil. Each

society has a tablet that that articulates what is held to be right and wrong. The

tablet represents each society’s attempt to overcome the shortcomings seen in

their past and to hold some things in the highest esteem. He says that the tablet is

a record of their past overcomings, and a voice of their “will to power.” He

compares four different peoples:

a. The ancient Greeks esteemed being first and always trying to excel over

others. The ancient Persians esteemed speaking the truth and handling the

bow and arrow well. The ancient Jewish peoples esteemed honoring

father and mother and searching for the root of their soul in their history.

The medieval European peoples esteemed loyalty and, for its sake, were

willing to risk their lives.

b. We can see that for each of these four peoples, we can understand what

they hold in highest esteem by considering the great figures of their

culture: Pericles the Greek, Abraham the Jew, Zoroaster the Persian, and

Arthur the Britain. Furthermore, we can interpret what they hold in the

highest esteem in light of the kinds of lives that each lead. In order to

understand many of Nietzsche’s allusions, it would be helpful to learn

more about the lives of these great people.

c. Instead of assuming that we first learn what has value by listening to a

voice speaking to us from heaven, Zarathustra insists that values are

created through human acts of esteeming. As such, man creates a human

meaning for things. Key claim: “Esteeming itself is of all esteemed

things the most estimable treasure.” Unlike Mill, who claims that

happiness is the highest good, and unlike Kant, who claims that our

rational nature is the only end with absolute worth, Nietzsche claims that

esteeming has the highest value. Esteeming is a creative act. It involves

the giving of a human meaning to all things. As such, “without esteeming,

the nut of existence would be hollow.”

d. Nietzsche ends this chapter with a dilemma. He asks if there is one goal

that is common for all peoples. If so, what is that goal. On the one hand,

he suggests that the very idea that there is one goal is a “yoke” for the

necks of a thousand different peoples. The yoke, of course, is a symbol of

the tool that is used to put the ox to work. On the other hand, he asks if

there is something lacking in humanity if it does not have a common goal.

Instead of assuming that Nietzsche is arguing that different people need to

have different highest goals, or that there is a common goal for all human

beings, it might help to take this as an unanswered question. That is, like a

camel, we should question the assumption that humanity needs a unitary

goal. At the same time, we should question the assumption that different

people might need diverse highest goals. What are the underlying values

behind a commitment to unity or to diversity with respect to our

understanding of the highest goals for any given culture?

Second Part

1. In the “The Child with the Mirror,” we find that Zarathustra has a dream that

startled him. In the dream, he look into a mirror and he sees, of all things an

image of the devil. Like any reader of this text, Zarathustra finds that he

needs to interpret the meaning of this image. His interpretation is that his

teaching is in danger. He offers several reasons for thinking that his teaching

of the overman might be in danger: he has enemies who have grown

powerful; he has lost his friends; he has become all mouth with no ears.

2. Zarathustra turns to the idea of God in “Upon the Blessed Isles. He claims

that the idea of God “is a conjecture.” In other words, it is akin to a

hypothesis.

a. This is consistent with positions taken by a number of other

philosophers. Kant, for instance, treats the idea of God as a kind of

hypothesis. In the special sciences, for instance, the idea of God

serves a totalizing function. It is a regulative principle that leads us to

search for larger overarching systems of ideas that can bring disparate

theories into greater unity. In our common understanding of morality,

the idea of God serves as a practical postulate that is needed for the

sake of understanding how it is possible for human beings, with all of

our natural limitations, to strive for the highest end within a world that,

at times, might seem to be at odds with our goals.

b. Zarathustra claims that the hypothesis of God is a conjecture that

reaches “beyond the creative will.” As an idea, God stands for a kind

of perfection that is beyond our abilities. As such, it may be a poor

hypothesis to choose as a basis for organizing and giving meaning to a

human life. He claims that “God is a thought that makes crooked all

that is straight, and makes turn whatever stands.” Zarathustra

recognizes that, even in a modern European culture where the idea of

God has repeatedly been called into question, that this might push the

limits with respect to the kinds of questions we are really willing to

entertain. Despite this fact, Zarathustra asks: “Should time be gone,

and all that is impermanent a mere lie.” In a world in which all things,

including our most cherished values, evolve, there is nothing that is

unchanging. But, in the Christian idea of God that is refined in the

medieval and modern eras, God is conceived as having an unchanging,

permanent, timeless nature. Zarathustra wants to praise an image of

perfection that lives in the world, and that changes over time as it

continues to evolve. As such, the being of this kind of perfection is of

something that is still becoming. The being is not something that is

fixed and timeless.

c. One of the dangers that Zarathustra detects in the Christian conception

of a timeless God, is explained in “On the Pitying.” One danger is

that, by living according to this conception of God, we are naturally

lead to pity ourselves. God is the source of all that is truly good. We

are imperfect creatures that are highly prone to error and sin.

Zarathustra suggests that he once spoke to the devil who told him that

“God died of pity for man.”

d. How can this be? One of the central messages that is embodied in the

Old and New Testaments is that God repeatedly gave us instructions

about how we ought to live our lives. Time after time, we ignored the

instructions that were communicated to us through the prophets. In the

story of Moses, for example, we learn that shortly after Moses went up

the mountain to receive the ten commandments the people strayed and

started worshipping a golden calf. Finally, God sends us his only

begotten son who has to die for our sins. Why does Jesus have to die

for our sins? One reason is that we are unable to learn the lessons for

ourselves. God sent us his only begotten son because he felt sorry for

us.

e. For some, this interpretation of the meaning of God sending his son to

die for our sins will seem entirely off the mark. Keep in mind,

however, that Zarathustra is trying to encourage us to question the

accepted values of our culture. At this point in the story, he is trying

to help us understand questions that have been asked, time and again,

about the Christian values that have been dominant in many European

societies through the medieval and into the modern period. You might

think that Zarathustra is asking the wrong questions. In order to show

that is the case, you would need to demonstrate that there are better

questions that could be asked.

3. In “On Self-Overcoming,” Zarathustra compares the will to truth with the will

to power. This is a theme that he develops in another book written a little

later that is titled Beyond Good and Evil. For now, let’s focus on what he says

here in Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

a. The will to truth is a “will to the thinkability of all beings.” It is

embodied in scientific inquiry where the search is animated by an

overriding interest in finding the truth about what is really the case.

The idea that there are is something beyond our understanding is

familiar enough. There are many things we don’t currently

understand. Scientific inquiry, however, is predicated on the idea that

if something is really the case, then we could in time discover the truth

about it. As such, when it comes to things that exist in this world,

there is nothing that, as a matter of principle, is beyond the limits of

what is thinkable.

b. Zarathustra suggests that the will to power is the application of this

basic attitude towards what is good and evil. When it comes to our

valuations, we seek to make them comprehensible. As a result, he

claims that there is “an experiment and hazard” in all commanding.

Every time we say to ourselves: “I must do this because it is the right

thing to do,” we are giving a moral command to ourselves. On

Zarathustra’s account, these commands express values that, at some

point in the past, were created in acts of esteeming. Every command is

an experiment and a hazard because the values that ground the moral

obligations were once ventured as conjectures. The will to power is

deeply connected with the idea that, when it comes to any value, we

may be fallible about what we hold to be good or evil.

c. This conception that what is good evolves over the course of history is

directly related to a conception that what is evil also evolves over

history. At and given time, we could be wrong about the nature of

each. Insofar as there are as-yet-to-be-detected errors in our

understanding of what has value, the highest good and the highest evil

are mixed with one another.

4. In “On Those Who are Sublime,” Nietzsche draws on ideas from aesthetics in

order to understand the nature of esteeming. Esteeming something is a matter

of judging its value. Nietzsche is trying to understand how all values have

evolved. As such, he is trying to understand how the most basic principles—

including the foundational principles of morality—hav evolved.

a. In the realm of aesthetics, a creative act of esteeming is called a

judgment of taste. Nietzsche uses this term to couch a key claim:

Taste—that is at the same time weight and scales and weigher; and

woe unto all the living that would live without disputes over weight

and scales and weighers!

b. Compare this claim to the one Socrates makes in the Apology. He says

that wealth, power and fame do not make virtue good. Rather, virtue

is what makes all things good for men, both individually and

collectively. It is the standard that we must use to measure the worth

of any other thing.

c. Nietzsche is trying to explain how the standards and the scales might

first have evolved from creative acts of esteeming where these acts are

modeled on judgments of taste.

Third Part

1. Zarathustra turns to the hardest questions that can be raised about his own

account of the origins of values in this part of the book. Having journeyed

across stormy seas aboard a ship, he has arrived at a blessed isle where he

must climb the greatest peak. At this stage in journey, peak and abyss are

now joined together.

2. In “On the Vision and the Riddle,” he starts by saying that this discussion is

addressed to “bold searchers, researchers, and whoever embarks with cunning

sails on terrible seas.” It is addressed to those who hate to deduce the answers

when they are able to guess (i.e., venture a bold conjecture).

3. We can better understand Zarathustra’s point in addressing this group of

readers if we compare his account of moral inquiry to Kant’s ethics. In the

Grounding, Kant argues that moral reasoning takes the form of demonstrating

what follows from basic laws of reason. In effect, we deduce from the

principles of morality what is required of us as a matter of duty. Nietzsche is

suggesting that, where we are questioning the accepted values, we are no

longer able to deduce the answers to the question of how we ought to act.

Instead, we have to venture hypotheses about what kinds of conduct might be

reasonable in the given circumstances. Given the fact that these hypotheses

are not deduced from the traditional values, they have the status of

conjectures.

a. Zarathustra describes his climb up this mountain. He feels the rocks

and pebbles under his feet as he struggles to go higher. His devil and

archenemy appears in the form of a dwarf. He is the spirit of gravity,

pulling Zarathustra down.

b. The dwarf mocks Zarathustra by saying that Zarathustra is trying to

throw himself—a philosopher’s stone—up to the stars. He is trying to

hit the ideals in the accepted values and, by striking them with enough

force, bring them down under the weight of his questioning and

criticism. Unfortunately, Zarathustra is just a human being so he lacks

the strength needed to throw a rock and hit a star. As such, the rocks

will only fall back to earth and hit him on the head. The dwarf seems

to be saying that Zarathustra is doomed to failure in his attempt to

esteem new values. He lacks the strength needed to displace the

establish ideals. He lacks the creativity needed to make something

better.

c. Zarathustra summons his courage in order to stand before the abyss

without being overcome by dizziness. He needs this courage in order

to slay his pity. At this point, he poses the following dichotomy. He

says: “Stop Dwarf!”, “It is I or you.” Gaining an appreciation of the

basis of this dichotomy appears to be crucial to understanding what

comes next.

d. Recall that, in Kant’s argument for the categorical imperative, he

claimed that the validity of all moral judgments depends on our ability

to act from respect for moral laws. Are we really able to act from

principles that we legislate to ourselves? Do we really have the ability

to legislate those principles to ourselves on the basis of rational

conditions that all can see are reasonable? The question is put in the

form of a dichotomy: either, we are able to act from moral principles

out of respect; or, all of our actions are determined by the inclinations

that happen to be the are strongest.

e. Zarathustra is posing a similar question. It is the key question of this

chapter: either, we are able to create new values through acts of

esteeming; or, we are creatures of habit through and through and there

is no basis for making new values that are, in any sense, better than

those we have received as a matter of tradition from our society.

Nietzsche seems to think the answer to this question hinges on whether

we are able to engage in acts of esteeming that are truly free. Like

Kant, Nietzsche is developing an argument for the autonomy of our

moral judgments that is predicated on our ability to make a free

evaluation of the worth of an end. Unlike Kant, however, these

judgments are being modeling on aesthetic judgments of taste.

Nietzsche needs to model these evaluations on judgments of taste

because he holds that the acts of judgment are not determined by given

principles.

4. The dwarf jumps down from Zarathustra’s shoulder when he poses this

dichotomy. A gateway stands before them. Zarathustra says that the word

‘Moment’ is inscribed above the gateway. In one direction, an eternity leads

backwards. In the other direction, and eternity leads forward. At his gateway

—call it the present moment—the past and the present are joined. Zarathustra

asks if these two paths contradict each other eternally. His point should be

clear. If we follow Zarathustra’s recommendations and aspire to the overman,

then we should question the accepted values, criticize and fight against those

that can’t stand up to the questioning, and seek to create new values that are

better than the old.

5. The dwarf notes that the old values that have been accepted in the past stand

in contradiction to the new values that are being advocated as a way to live in

the future. He says that “All that is straight lies,” and that “All truth is

crooked.” In effect, the dwarf is claiming there is no real difference between

the old values and the new values one might try to create. The reason is that,

at bottom, there is no basis for saying that one set of values—old or new—are

better or worse than the other. There is no basis for determining what is truly

good in this case. Truth in this matters is just and illusion.

a. As Zarathustra fully admits, there are no principles we can turn to as a

basis for settling this question. As such, we have no proper standard to

use that could serve as a weight in the scale of value. On Nietzsche’s

account, if there are no grounds for holding that one set of values is

true and that another set are false, then this is not merely a problem for

our understanding of morality. After all, religion, science,

mathematics, politics, and any other area of inquiry or practice you

might care to list, are grounded on values. In science, for example, the

activity of engaging in inquiry is grounded on a commitment to the

idea that truth is something we ought to seek.

6. Zarathustra says that the dwarf is making things too easy for himself.

Zarathustra intends to pose a significantly harder challenge for his own

position. He frames the challenge in terms of a riddle.

a. The riddle is stated in terms of a series of questions about how we

should understand the relationship between the past, present and

future. He says: “Must not whatever can walk have walked on this

lane before? . . . And are not all things knotted together so firmly that

this moment draws after it all that is to come?” This is puzzling. How

does the present moment draw the future after it?

b. In order to appreciate the challenge Zarathustra is posing, we need to

understand the point of the challenge. In “On the Three

Metamorphoses of Spirit,” he described the lion as have the power to

create the freedom that is necessary for the child to create new values:

“The creation of freedom for oneself and a sacred “No” even to duty—

for that, my brothers, the lion is needed. To assume the right to new

values—that is the most terrifying assumption. . . .”

c. How does the riddle help Zarathustra understand how it is possible for

the lion to create the freedom that is necessary for the child to create

new values. In Kant’s argument for the freedom of the rational will,

the first step was to show that our actions are not causally determined

by the strongest given inclinations. Nietzsche is trying to construct an

argument, of sorts, for the aesthetic freedom of the creative will. The

main opponent is not the deterministic view of human action.

Zarathustra has argued that many things in this world are due to

chance. It is the most ancient nobility that stands above all things.

d. The main problem that Zarathustra faces is something that is grounded

in his own view—and not that of the dwarf. On Zarathustra’s view,

there are many options open to us every time we act. If our choices

affirm the acts of esteeming--where we creatively posit new values--

then the choices were not determined by any given principle. Over

time, the values expressed in our acts of esteeming might be affirmed

by one’s self and by others over the course of many actions. By a slow

process of articulation and affirmation, these newly created values may

be strengthened and then added to the accepted values. On

Nietzsche’s view, all of the affirmative values we hold dear originated

in such acts of esteeming.

e. Nietzsche is asking if there is any basis for thinking that we can stand

before this process and accept the challenges that come with it. Every

time we affirm a set of values, we explicitly take a stand on those that

have been accepted in the past. We affirm some and deny others. As

such, the choices we make today have a direct effect on the values that

will be accepted in the future. Can we accept the responsibility of

shaping the values that will govern future choices? What is more,

every time we affirm a set of values, we shape the very choices that

will be available in the future. Can we accept this weighty

responsibility?

f. Nietzsche appears to be saying that we can accept this terrible

responsibility only if, as human beings, we are capable of standing

before and image of past, present and future coming together—without

being overwhelmed by this image. How can we face this image

without being overwhelmed? It appears to be a god’s-eye perspective

on the way things are in time. Is it beautiful or is it sublime?

g. At the end of this chapter, Zarathustra stands before a young shepherd

who is lying on the ground. A snake has bitten the young man in the

back of the throat, and he is trying to tear it out of his mouth—but to

no avail. Zarathustra cries out to the shepherd to bite the head off the

snake—to bite down hard into his dread, hatred, nausea and pity. The

shepherd does as he is advised and, having bitten down hard on the

head of that snake, he jumps up and is radiant and laughing.

Zarathustra longs for this laughter.

7. In “On Involuntary Bliss,” Zarathustra says that he is trying to perfect himself

for the sake of his children. In this case, his children are the newly created

values that he holds in high esteem. His hope is that, in the actions of those

who live in the future, these values will contribute to “the greater perfection of

all things.” As such, he hopes that the acts of esteeming will contribute to the

perfection of character that is necessary to aspire to the overman.

8. In “Before Sunrise,” Zarathustra calls the heaven above him an abyss of light.

In a sense, then, human beings walk on tightrope between two abysses: an

abyss of darkness in which we are crushed by the unbearable weight of our

responsibilities and an abyss of lightness in which we float away without any

responsibilities. For those who are interested in seeing the way these ideas are

explored by writers in the 20th century, the metaphor of the abyss of lightness

is developed in the novel titled “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” by the

Czech writer Milan Kundera.

9. Zarathustra suggests that the heaven Accident, Innocence and Chance stands

over all things. By restoring Chance to its proper place—which is akin to the

place it held in the mythology of the ancient Greeks—Nietzsche is trying to

deliver all things—human beings included—from their “bondage under

Purpose.” In doing so, he is picturing a world in there are many small reasons

at work in things. There is, however, no great rationality that governs all

things.

Fourth Part

1. In this last part of the book, Zarathustra responds to a cry. He hears that someone

is in distress, and he goes in search of the person in the hope of providing some

help. In his search, he finds a number of higher men. Instead of thinking of these

people as actual individuals, it may help to think of them as representatives of

what Zarathustra thinks is higher in the spirit of mankind in the modern period.

Each of the figures represents something from a past time that no longer retains its

previous prominence in the culture: three kings, a leech, a magician, a retired

pope, a beggar. In each case, he sees something in the representative that holds in

high esteem. For example, in the case of the kings he admires the willingness to

rule—and also the willingness on the part of some kings to step down when the

time has come (i.e., when they are only showpiece).

2. During this search for the source of the cry, Zarathustra meets the ugliest man.

Once again, it will help to think of this person as a representative of what is

ugliest in the modern man. Zarathustra is seized by pity at the mere sight of this

man. He calls him the “murderer of God.” This man says that everyone in the

world—Zarathustra included—feels nothing by pity for him. Instead of accepting

the pity, however, the ugliest man flees from it. He is not low enough to be such

a beggar.

3. After meeting all of these representatives of what is higher in modern man,

Zarathustra meets his own shadow. Literally speaking, the shadow is the figure

cast on the ground by the sun. It’s shape varies depending on the time of day.

Zarathustra speaks with this shadow, who has been with him every step of the

way from the beginning. Along with Zarathustra, he has unlearned his faith in

given values and great names. He suggests that the devil is perhaps, only skin.

He says: “Nothing is true, all is permitted.” Time and again, he was in the

pursuit of truth, but she only “kicked him in the face.” This shadow has lost the

sense that anything is alive for him anymore. Everything has lost its meaning.

4. During this meeting with his shadow, the sun reaches its high points and it stands

directly overhead at noon. At this point in time, his shadow is directly beneath

his feet. Zarathustra brings the highest men back to his cave. They eat, drink,

dance and, in the morning he finds them building a golden calf. Like the

followers of Moses, they worship a false idol. Zarathustra leaves them in the

cave, walks to the mouth, sees the sunrise and takes it as a sign. We are back to

where the story began. What does this sign signify?