Quotes

The higher man and the herd

In the Preface to his classic work On the Genealogy of Morality, Nietzsche wrote:

"What if a regressive trait lurked in "the good man," likewise a danger, an enticement, a poison, a narcotic, so that the present lived at the expense of the future? Perhaps in more comfort and less danger, but also in a smaller-minded, meaner manner? ... So that morality itself were to blame if man never attained the highest power and splendor possible for the type man? So that morality itself was the danger of dangers?" 

Most people do not question why things are considered morally good or evil, rather uncritically, and largely unconsciously, they adopt the "value judgments of good and evil" dominant within their society.

For the past 2000 years, the dominant morality in the West, according to Nietzsche, has been an "anti-natural" morality, which, in his words, turns "against the instincts of life". Nietzsche foresaw this morality as reigning over the Western world for foreseeable future, and was to him "the danger of dangers" – a morality in which all individuals, even those with the potential to rise above the mediocre mass, are pressured into becoming

"a smaller, almost ridiculous type, a herd animal, something eager to please, sickly, and mediocre." 

Why has an "anti-natural" morality – a "poison" which has spread "through the entire body of mankind" – gained dominion over Western civilization? To answer this question Nietzsche's categorization of individuals into two distinct types: the higher human beings, and those who belong to the herd, must be examined.

Within the category of the higher human beings, there are two main types. There are creative geniuses, "the men of great creativity, the really great men according to my understanding" , who, through a rare combination of nature and nurture, are able to devote their life to a craft and bestow upon the world astounding works of beauty.

Along with creative geniuses, there are the more numerous higher humans who do not scale the heights of genius, and thus hidden from the public eye, their lives are "without songs and singers" . Yet the life of this more common higher man is not qualitatively different from the life of the creative genius; both share similar character traits which separate them from the herd.

Higher humans have a unifying life project, and are consumed by the drive to actualize their lofty goals. This unifying project is not undertaken for short-term gratification, but as a result of the higher man's vast historical perspective, is a form of work performed under the eye of centuries – a goal whose effects will remain long after the physical death of the higher man.

As Nietzsche wrote in Human All Too Human:

"[The modern] individual focuses too narrowly on his own short lifespan... and wants to pluck the fruit himself from the tree he plants, and so no longer likes to plant those trees that demand a century of constant tending and are intended to provide shade for long successions of generations." 

For this type of lofty work the higher man requires his solitude and freedom from the herd – the "innumerable...small and pitiable men" . As Nietzsche wrote:

"The concept of greatness entails being noble, wanting to be by oneself, being able to be different, standing alone and having to live independently." 

Standing alone and living independently, the higher man remains oblivious to the petty concerns which occupy the herd, and thus is immune to both the praise and criticism emanating from the mouths of the many.

"There is a solitude within him that is inaccessible to praise or blame, his own justice that is beyond appeal"