Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good Evil

Friedrich Nietzsche’s most central stances on human nature and values are found in his conceptions of the will to power, slave morality, perspectivism, and the philosopher of the future. These four concepts are important because they touch on Nietzsche’s views of the past, present, and his hopes for the future of humanity. In the end, I assert that even though Nietzsche's conceptions of human nature and values are influential, and although I may think that his ideas are more persuasive than some other thinker’s perspectives because he takes into account aspects of humanity that other thinkers disregard, it is but one perspective.

On the topic of human nature, Nietzsche suggests that all humans have what he refers to as a ‘will to power’. The term designates a natural drive inherent in all human beings to gain power over others in whatever way is possible for them. He notes this in an important passage in “On

In “Beyond Good and Evil”, Nietzsche presents us with the example of a person looking at a tree (BGE 105). Although a person might believe that they are perceiving the entire tree, they cannot take in all of the tree because it is incredibly detailed and a people often fall back on our assumptions about things instead of “registering what is different or new” (BGE 105). Each person that looks at the same tree will have a different perspective and perceive different aspects of the tree. Although there is no one truth about the tree, some people will perceive more than others making their perspectives better. Taking these three concepts into account leads us to Nietzsche's philosophy of the future who will hopefully surpass the faults of morality, understand that there are only perspectives, and have an unencumbered will to