Man’s Innate Redeeming Power

Friedrich Nietzsche has much to say about the redemption of humans. He claims that the only way humans are to get out of the predicament we are in is to look within ourselves to gain knowledge and then use and act on that knowledge. He said that we must find the answers to our life from within and not from others. The answers he says that we get will come from the will to power. He argued with many philosophers about the master human motive. Philosophers such as Spinoza and Schopenhauer believed that motive was self-preservation while Nietzsche believed the goal was for humans to better themselves. The will to power translates into a higher objective than simply self-preservation. By constantly trying to better yourself, you are preserving yourself as well.

Nietzsche has a high view on man because he believes man is on his own now, because we have “killed” God. He believes we must gain access to our full potential by gaining mastery over ourselves and our destinies. People approaching their full potential, he called the ubermensch. This is a term used to show somebody that has grown into their potential and become redeemed from their unmastered selves through man’s will to power. In short man is meant to redeem himself because he is on his own. He must find all knowledge and meaning to his life from within and act upon that knowledge based on his will to power, not only to survive, but to thrive as well in order to reach his full potential.