Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Smallville and Friedrich Nietzsche — Superman and the Ubermensch | True Freethinker

Smallville iPhone wallpaperImage by xploitme via Flickr
I enjoyed this post by Mariano so much I had to link to it. I do understand exactly what he means because I saw the latest episode of Smallville and Nietzsche's philosophy was brought up and endorsed.
Mariano wrote:
In the most recent episode Carter Hall aka Hawkman refers to Friedrich Nietzsche, “To him, the true hero was the person who embraced the life that he or she was given and made it better. He called that person ‘ubermensch” to which Lois Lane states, “A Superman.” Yet, along with the concept it is stated that, in essence, we can all be an ubermensch.
I like science fiction and fantasy because you can explore themes and ideas that can't be reasonably done in other genres. This is a good example. I think we should be careful in embracing Nietzche's ideas because while he did have some good ones that can be spun positively as it has on Smallville, his philosophy was also an inspiration for the Nazis. Also I don't think Nietzsche thought all people could be ubermensch - only the elite. And when you look at how Nietzsche's ubermensch is described by Nietzche himself do you really wanna be that kind of person? Mariano wrote:
I do not know if they realize that whist to the unlearned in this area this sounds very nice—I can be Superman, after all—to Friedrich Nietzsche the ubermensch were merciless and uncompassionate iron fisted survival of the fittest domineers. Keep in mind that uber is translatable as "super," "above," "over," etc.
I most definitely don't want to be that kind of person if that is what an ubermensch is supposed to be.
Smallville and Friedrich Nietzsche — Superman and the Ubermensch | True Freethinker
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