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> Hitler may not have followed all of Neitzche, but he almost certainly took the "will to power" idea from him. Hitler reinterpreted Nietzsche's will to power,

> Hitler may not have followed all of Neitzche, but he almost certainly took the "will to power" idea from him. Hitler reinterpreted Nietzsche's will to power, yes. > It also seems to me that Hitler took the "superman" idea - the man who is above morality and can do whatever he wishes to those below him - but I'm less certain of that. The ubermensch is not a moral nihilist who can do whatever he wants, he's the answer to the moral nihilism that is the inevitable consequence of the death of god. This is very hard to reconcile with Nazi ideology which promoted (their version) of Christian Protestantism and genocide for racial reasons, which Nietzsche maligned.

AnimalMuppet 12y ago
A bit more research shows that Hitler reinterpreted the "Ubermensch" (superman or above-man) idea as well. > The ubermensch is not a moral nihilist who can do whatever he wants, he's the answer to the moral nihilism that is the inevitable consequence of the death of god. Yes and no. The ubermensch comes into a situation where there is no god, and therefore there is nihilism - there is no moral authority. The ubermensch creates a moral authority. But because there is no god and therefore no external moral authority, there really is nothing constraining the ubermensch to create any particular moral standard. The moral standard created is therefore essentially arbitrary. That is, by his choice of morality, he can proclaim that it is moral to do anything to others. (Now, true, Neitzche said that the morality was supposed to be life-affirming, as opposed to other-world centered moralities that were not. But in a nihilistic context, there are few constraints on what "life affirming" might mean, and in practice it will come to mean anything the ubermensch might wish. Anyone wishing to say otherwise must not be coming from a nihilistic position, which means they must be either pre-death-of-god, or be ubermensch themselves.)

AnimalMuppet 12y ago

A bit more research shows that Hitler reinterpreted the "Ubermensch" (superman or above-man) idea as well. > The ubermensch is not a moral nihilist who can do whatever he wants, he's the answer to the moral nihilism that is the inevitable consequence of the death of god. Yes and no. The ubermensch comes into a situation where there is no god, and therefore there is nihilism - there is no moral authority. The ubermensch creates a moral authority. But because there is no god and therefore no external moral authority, there really is nothing constraining the ubermensch to create any particular moral standard. The moral standard created is therefore essentially arbitrary. That is, by his choice of morality, he can proclaim that it is moral to do anything to others. (Now, true, Neitzche said that the morality was supposed to be life-affirming, as opposed to other-world centered moralities that were not. But in a nihilistic context, there are few constraints on what "life affirming" might mean, and in practice it will come to mean anything the ubermensch might wish. Anyone wishing to say otherwise must not be coming from a nihilistic position, which means they must be either pre-death-of-god, or be ubermensch themselves.)