Nietzsche and Other Exponents of Individualism — Nietzsche — John Shaqi
Nietzsche and Other Exponents of Individualism
Nietzsche · en
Form is not a non-entity but the most important feature of reality,
and the pure laws of form are the determinative factors of the world.
The sciences of the laws of pure form, logic, arithmetic, algebra,
geometry, etc., are therefore the key to a comprehension of the world,
and morality is the realization of ideals, i. e., of the conceptions of
pure forms, which are higher, nobler, and better than those which have
been actualized.
From our standpoint, evolution is a process in which the eternal laws
of being manifest themselves in a series of regular transformations,
reaching a point at which sentiency appears. And then evolution takes
the shape of progress, that is to say, sentient beings develop
mind; sentiments become sensations, i. e., representative images;
and words denote the universals. Then reason originates as a reflex
of the eternal laws of pure form. Human reason is deepened in a
scientific world-conception, and becoming aware of the moral aspect of
universality it broadens out into comprehensive sympathy with all forms
of existence that like ourselves aspire after a fuller comprehension of
existence.
Thus the personality of man is the reflex of that system of
eternalities which sways the universe, and humanity is found to be a
revelation of the core of the cosmos, an incarnation of Godhood. This
revelation, however, is not closed. The appearance of the religions of
good-will and mutual sympathy merely marks the beginning of a new era,
and we may expect that the future of mankind will surpass the present,
as much as the present surpasses savagery. Such is the higher humanity,
the true "overman," representing a higher species of mankind, whom we
expect.
Nietzsche's philosophy of "unmorality" looms on the horizon of human
thought as a unique conception apparently ushered into this world
without any preparation and without any precedent. It sets itself up
against tradition. Schopenhauer, Nietzsche's immediate predecessor,
regarded history as the desolate dream of mankind, and Nietzsche
exhibits a remorseless contempt for everything that comes to us as a
product of history. Nietzsche scorns not only law and order, church
and state, but also reason, argument, and rule; he scorns consistency
and logic which are regarded as toys for weaklings or as tools of the
crafty.