266 Nietzsche
an Übermensch is the strength to break off a game. Those who decide
when to break off the game are the ones who wield the power. The
Übermensch is this sort of powerftd player. Although he may join in the
game we call morality for a specified period of time, he does so with
loose restrictions. For him there are no categorical imperatives, which
strike a weak subject's conscience like lightning, but only rules that serve
the art of life. An Übermensch is also able powerfully to play out the urges
and goals that are normally called "evil." But they cannot be crude; they
must be refined. The Übermensch should appropriate the entire spectrum
of human vitality in a formative way. In his notes for the Will to Power,
Nietzsche states: "In great men, the specific characteristics of life—
injustice, lies, and exploitation—are at their greatest" (12,202; WP §
968).
The Übermensch should therefore not be burdened by idealism. So
much for Nietzsche's setting the record straight on the "idealistic" mis-
conception. And how does it relate to the Darwinian misconception,
which Nietzsche opposed in Ecce Homoì The statements that introduce
the Übermensch in Zarathustra are inconceivable without Darwin: "You
have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm"
(4,14; Ζ First Part, Prologue § 3). Nietzsche retained two basic
Darwinian ideas: the theory of development in the specific arena of the
theory of evolution, and the idea of the struggle for existence as a driv-
ing force in evolutionary development. Of course, he interpreted the
struggle for existence not as a fight to survive but as a fight to over-
power. This shift of focus continued in his philosophy of the "will to
power."
Why did Nietzsche resist the Darwinian misconception if his affinity
to Darwin was so obvious? He claimed that "Darwin forgot the spirit
(that is English!)" (6,121; 77"Skirmishes of an Untimely Man" § 14). He
accused Darwin of having applied the logic of development in the ani-
mal kingdom, which is unreflective, to man. In man, however, all devel-
opmental processes are refracted through the medium of consciousness,
which means that the higher development of man cannot be conceived