Quotation
Last reviewed:
“Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman, a rope over an abyss.”
Friedrich Nietzsche · Genealogy and perspectivism · Modern · 1883
What does it mean?
Human being, in Zarathustra's prologue, is not a destination. It is a rope between beast and overman, stretched over an abyss. The image is a task and a danger, not a description of a master race. A rival reading, the Nazi one and its leftovers, takes Übermensch as a biological type. Kaufmann's 'overman' is there to block that reading, and the block is justified by the text: the rope is something to be crossed, and the speech is a provocation, not an anthropology. Another reading hears only self-help, 'become your best self', which drops the abyss.
Did Friedrich Nietzsche really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Kaufmann's 'overman' translates Übermensch. It is not a biological type and not a racial rank. The prologue's image is a rope over an abyss, something one crosses, not a species one breeds. Kaufmann often prints a dash where this card has a comma.
Where it comes from
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Prologue §4, in Walter Kaufmann's translation
Approximate date: 1883.
How to use it
In a conversation in a sixth form in London, someone uses the line to rank people. The prologue does not rank a group. It says a human life is a crossing. If the sentence is doing racial or corporate work, it has left the book. The abyss is the part the ranking always forgets, because an abyss is not a podium.
A mindset reading
Overman is a translation choice with a purpose. If you say superman, you have already invited the comic and the racial picture Kaufmann was trying to refuse. The refusal is not a softening of the book. The book is still dangerous. It is dangerous in a different direction.
Understand the philosophy
Prologue §4 is published fiction-philosophy. It is not a passage from the unpublished notebooks, and it is not a policy. The tightrope walker who follows is the image's consequence. Read that far before you wear the rope.
- self
- change
- meaning
FAQ
What does it mean?
Human being, in Zarathustra's prologue, is not a destination. It is a rope between beast and overman, stretched over an abyss. The image is a task and a danger, not a description of a master race. A rival reading, the Nazi one and its leftovers, takes Übermensch as a biological type. Kaufmann's 'overman' is there to block that reading, and the block is justified by the text: the rope is something to be crossed, and the speech is a provocation, not an anthropology. Another reading hears only self-help, 'become your best self', which drops the abyss.
Did Friedrich Nietzsche really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Kaufmann's 'overman' translates Übermensch. It is not a biological type and not a racial rank. The prologue's image is a rope over an abyss, something one crosses, not a species one breeds. Kaufmann often prints a dash where this card has a comma.
Which work is it in?
Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Prologue §4, in Walter Kaufmann's translation Approximate date: 1883.