In Reply to: Raskolnikov=Nietzsche? posted by tangobob on February 26, 1999 at 11:23:07:
: I really like what I've read of Nietzsche, but I tend to : think of him as a living example of Dostoevsky's character : Raskolnikov
Yes, I agree that raskolnikov can be seen as a failed overman wannabe.
I see the overman as more like Ayn Rand's characters - Roark and Galt. The key error in this depiction is that man is not an independent being. As social animals we are all part of groups and personal relationships. I think that this makes entirely individualistic philosophies flawed because our own raison d'etre involves others, not just ourselves.
I also believe that the internalization of values which we experience as children is a; if not The; key aspect of our personalities and that any system of thought which is "green field" rather than from our internalised base is likely to be both practically useless and also less green-field than it's author believes. I am thinking particularly of the ethics of Rand here - I have never been able to make sense of Nietzsche's ethics.