Nietzsche's Concept Of Existentialism Essay

Nietzche´s Übermensch or Superman is possibly one of the most important philosophical concepts in regard to human psychology but, in order to even come close to comprehending the concept one must first understand the fundamental components of the broader philosophical concept of Existentialism. Existentialism is the term applied to the body of work of late 19th and early 20th century philosophers, starting from the danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard who without using the term proposed that “an individual not bound by society or religion is solely responsible for giving a meaning to life and living it passionately and sincerely or authentically”. This followed by a plethora of philosophers who adopted this idea and givng it further meaning

Although Nietzsche Lived from 1844 to 1900, at the age of 44 he suffered a psychotic breakdown which abruptly halted his career as a scholar and philosopher. But that is not to say he left behind an incomplete body of work since, as evidence would suggest his work has remained exalted more than one and a half centuries after. The work that projects Nietzsche philosophical prowess the most is the book; “Also sprach Zarathustra “ or “thus spoke Zarathustra” published in segments between 1883 and 1891. Upon release the piece was unsuccesful like much of his other work which may be part of the cause of his breakdown. In this book the reader is introduced to the concept of the “Übermensch” or “Superman”. This term to most must excite the thought of DC Comics´s Superman, a being that is physically superior in every way to the average human. This idea as wild as it may appear isn´t to far from Nietzsche´s meaning of the word, that being a human that is who´s pschological qualities are far superior to that of all other current human beings. Nietzsche asks “what are apes to man” implying that it is wrong to assume that human evolutution has reached its peak and come to an abrupt halt and his character, Zarathustra in a prophetic