Nietzsche Herd Mentality

Philosophy Paper: Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche is a 19th century German philosopher who believed that Christianity is against life and promotes weakness in the masses. However, as the 19th century brought scientific and technological progress, he proclaimed that society would become more and more secular as religion was no longer necessary in explaining the fundamentals of the universe. A wave of nihilism would inevitably sweep through society, as science would replace religion, but bring no values to replace those of religion. Christian morality and nihilism both caused the masses to give up on life, but Nietzsche believed that the affirmation of life was the highest state a human could attain. He came up with his concept of the Ubermensch, a superhuman who would be able to love life in a godless, suffering world and make his own values and morality, rising above the herd mentality. However, Nietzsche’s work became closely associated with radical groups such as that of Hitler in the 20th century. Furthermore, many anarchist groups have been drawn to his works. Although critics have denounced Nietzsche’s ideas for fueling radical groups such as the Nazis, his overall concept of the Ubermensch who creates his own morality evidences that Nietzsche was strongly against the herd mentality; thus, his works have simply been taken out of context and abused by those radical groups.

Firstly, one chief reason why Nietzsche was strongly against the herd mentality is because it is against individualism and instead valued equality. He believed that the herd mentality made every man equal in thought: “One must invoke tremendous counter-forces in order to cross… the continual development of man toward the similar, ordinary, average, herdlike -...

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.... Anarchism did not separate itself from the herd mentality, but gathered so much hatred from being weak that it attacked those in power, demonstrating ressentiment. Hitler would also demonstrate ressentiment when he mobilized an entire country against the Jews, who he used as scapegoats. Hitler and the Nazis never rose above the herd mentality but furthered it by pushing Nazism onto Germany. Although Nietzsche and these radical groups do share many similarities, it is clear that Nietzsche did not support anarchism and would not have supported the Nazis. The anarchists chose to ignore Nietzsche’s blatant hatred of them while the Nazis ignored Nietzsche’s anti anti-Semitism and disgust of ressentiment and the herd mentality, which the fascist system depended on. Nietzsche thusly is free from any accountability as his philosophy was simply abused and misinterpreted.