Beyond Good And Evil

If one theme can be traced through the whole of the book it is the necessity for the contemporary ideals and values to be transcended in favor of newly created ideals and values by the free spirits with the willpower to do so. The first thing that needs to be transcended is the “belief in antitheses of values” (6), or, in other words, the necessity for viewing the world in black and white, in directly opposing contraries where there is only one option. The world, as he sees it, is really only experienced in varying shades of gray. Nothing could be further from reality than the idea that there is always and everywhere an objective truth to which all people at any perspective may adhere.

Going further, the contemporary ideals of virtue are also to be cast aside and advanced upon, for the virtues of the common person would actually be seen as “vice and weakness in a philosopher” (36) since the philosopher is one who must transcend the commonly and traditionally held values in favor of their own, which are created with the purpose of imposing their will, their bold new vision, upon the world. It is even necessary to say that concepts as fundamental as God will be transcended: “‘God’ and ‘sin,’ will one day seem to us of no more importance than a child’s plaything or a child’s pain seems to an old man” (61).