102 Moral Philosophy: Ideas of Good and Evil, Right and Wrongselves from the chains that traditional morality has imposed
upon them, they will begin a new race. This new race will be
composed of men unfettered by standard morality, who will
violate old values, choose new ones, and to whom nothing will
be forbidden that contributes to growth, creativity, power, and
life. The goal is not to achieve the betterment of mankind
(mankind is a mass term), but the betterment of man. These
“Lords of the Earth” will, through natural selection create better
and better men to mate with better and better women and evolve
into supermen. The Superman will be the legacy of Nietzsche’s
new morality. And while most moral philosophy seeks to pro
vide norms for all, Nietzsche’s supermen will stand apart from
the mass, like the title of his book “Beyond Good and Evil.”
The mass man, of course, would fear these aristocrats, full of
power and strength. Certainly the strong would overpower and
enslave the weak. Not so, says Nietzsche; these free spirits are
not mean spirits. Understanding that good and bad are individual
judgements, they would be tolerant of different views. Nietzsche’s
moral man has no need to impose his morality on anyone. He is
self-sufficient, tolerant, wise, and free. And if the mass man
holds on to outmoded, impotent concepts of “evil,” that’s not the
problem of Nietzsche’s hero— he’s too busy living life to the
fullest to care.
It will be the job of this new man to complete the task of
bringing moral philosophy into harmony with the principles of
Naturalism. This is called the transvaluation of values. Trans
valuation of values requires that all the values of the Judeo-
Christian ethic be exposed for the anti-life forces they represent.
In their place he asks that the values of power, creativity,
courage, and a subjective view of the world be instituted. These
values are not meant to appeal to all, nor could the mass man
accept them. These values are for the few, the strong, the men
with the courage to grab and embrace them. In a sense, Nietzsche
is simply calling for a return to the world he believed existed
prior to the dominance of the Judeo-Christian ethic, with, how
ever, an understanding of how and why the Judeo-Christian ethic
took hold. Thus, the new man will not be inhibited by it, and the
future will be dominated by the new race of men.