Creating values › The Übermensch as an unfinished demand

Zarathustra announces the Übermensch, commonly translated as overman or superman. His prologue describes the human being as a bridge rather than a completed goal. The image is directed toward overcoming what humanity presently is. It should not be reduced to a label for anyone who feels confident about a personal preference.

The German term is useful because an English word can import associations the argument has not established. The prologue uses comparisons among forms of life, including the relation between ape and human being. It does not give a genetic procedure for producing the figure it announces. Neither does the speech provide a checklist identifying a contemporary person as the finished Übermensch.

What the image demands is partly clarified by its contrast with the last human being, or last man. This figure avoids the demanding aspirations Zarathustra wants to awaken. The crowd nevertheless welcomes the prospect of the last man's happiness. What looks like a warning to the teacher looks desirable to his audience.

The difference cannot be settled by dismissing comfort itself as worthless. Zarathustra is challenging a form of satisfaction that no longer wants anything beyond its own small arrangements. Whether the challenge is fair requires asking what kind of aspiration he values. Discomfort alone would be no evidence of a better life.