What is an Übermensch?

Answer 1

The phrase was coined by Friedrich Nietzche in his book Also Sprach Zarathustra. It is a person who denies and challenges social mores, but at the same time does not give in to nihilism, and has what he called a will to power. This person does not just merely just have a will to live, but also to either stand out or dominate or excel, depending on how you translate it. This idea of the ubermensch was twisted by the nazis to justify their nationalistic and racist beliefs: Nietzche believed that any one of any race could become an ubermensch, although I believe he probably wouldn't think a woman could, based on some of his rather anti-woman tirades.

Answer 2

The word Ubermensch comes from German philosophy, particularly from Friedrich Nietzsche, who argued that some people were simply "beyond good and evil", meaning that regular morality need not apply to them. While, at first, this implies simply that these people are superior to others, the word is loaded with additional meaning. Implicit in the word is the understanding that an ubermensch, loosely translated as superman, has the capacity for greatness, and that this greatness cannot be unleashed if the ubermensch is chained to regular morality. People that might have fit into this definition would include Caesar (Nietzsche was a classical scholar before turning to philosophy), Alexander, Augustus, Cesare Borgia, and, I believe, Winston Churchill. Each of these individuals accomplished a great deal, changed their world, and produced great advances in their chosen field (Cesare Borgia's would have been Papal power), but their actions directly produced great evil. Churchill, for instance, permitted Coventry to be bombed to the ground in order to win the war against Germany. Such an action would be beyond society's definitions of good and evil.

Some ubermensches accomplish great things, some accomplish evil things, but one thing is clear about all of them: the ubermensch sees something in his mind, and exerts his active will to achieve what his mind perceives, knocking aside any obstacle to achieve it.

Nietzsche's philosophy didn't condemn anyone for good or evil, arguing that those definitions were flexible. He felt that the only crime that one could commit was desiring a thing, and lacking the will and strength of character to achieve it. The ubermensch achieved his will, striving constantly to do so.

Answer 3

It is a German word for 'Superman'. It makes the silly assertion that one group of hairless apes, who have the brass to call themselves homo 'sapiens', is superior to all the other groups of depilated monkeys. whereas, in fact, a brief study of their history will soon convince the unbiased reader that a large per centage (but not all) of all the widely differing groups, are hardly deserving of the title of 'thinking' man.

Answer 4

The term goes back to Hitler and the Nazis. It is the idea of a super-race that is superior to all others.

Answer 5

An ultra-evil super-machine that runs on nucelar fuel, has angry laser feet, doesn't use coasters or put down the toilet seat, eats Cambodian children, and worst of all....votes Republican!

Answer 6

super human man