The Death of Nietzsche's Zarathustra

Abstract

In this study of Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Paul S. Loeb proposes a fresh account of the relation between the book's literary and philosophical aspects and argues that the book's narrative is designed to embody and exhibit the truth of eternal recurrence. Loeb shows how Nietzsche constructed a unified and complete plot in which the protagonist dies, experiences a deathbed revelation of his endlessly repeating life, and then returns to his identical life so as to recollect this revelation and gain a power over time that advances him beyond the human. Through close textual analysis and careful attention to Nietzsche's use of Platonic, biblical, and Wagnerian themes, Loeb explains how this novel design is the key to solving the many riddles of Thus Spoke Zarathustra - including its controversial fourth part, its obscure concept of the Übermensch, and its relation to Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals.

What Makes the Affirmation of Life Difficult?

“…Sparked by Schopenhauer's claims about the omnipresence and inescapability of suffering, 4 Compare KSA 12:5[71], which suggests that eternal recurrence can be "the most extreme form of nihilism"; it can drive home the thought that existence is "without meaning or goal" and thereby deprive us of traditional forms of protection "from despair." 5 There are debates concerning whether eternal recurrence is supposed to be a cosmological hypothesis according to which our lives actually do recur (see Kaufmann 1950, Danto 1964, Loeb 2010, Abel 1998; for criticisms, see Nehamas 1985, Simmel 1907, Soll 1973, Reginster 2006. Fortunately, we can pass over these controversies here.…”

“…Lampert 1986); others disagree, thinking that Zarathustra maintains his commitment to that notion (e.g. Loeb 2010). I think Ansell-Pearson (1992) is right to distinguish two different ways in which the overman can be understood: the overman as a fundamentally new, redemptive, transfigured humanity (which I take Zarathustra to endorse early in Z and reject later in Z) and the overman as an image of the person who bears an unconditionally affirmative attitude toward life (which is the picture that But regardless of whether this is true of Zarathustra, it's clear that Nietzsche is interested, throughout his career, in teasing out the underlying structure of ideals, showing that apparently condemnatory ideals also express an attachment to life (GM III) or that apparently affirmative ideals also express a condemnation of life (GS 340, GM III).…”

A Note on Nietzsche’s Eternal Recurrence

“…WTP 35, 36, 55, 1066;Ansell-Pearson, 1994: 112;McNeil, 2020: 30-32, 51 ff. ;Loeb, 2009, 2010TI 562;Ansell-Pearson, 1994: 110;McNeil, 2020: 39-42. For hypothetically experimental cf.…”

Why Should We Care About Nietzsche's ‘Higher Men’?

“…realized) higher type, i.e. that he also commands but in a more successful manner (Lampert : 289; Magnus : 94; Loeb : 97, 229). To be clear, this might be the case, but it is also plausible that the Ubermensch signifies an altogether different stage of human development which is connected in a different way to the herd (for such an account, see Havas ).…”