Brandon Cortez Assign #10 Due 4/22/14 Section No.

2944 Nietzsches Self It seems as though Nietzsche attempts to reformulate the idea of self in terms of the mind as well as the body. This seems to be a rejection of Christian beliefs in freewill by positing that the body is predominate in the unity of mind/body, i.e., what we call the self cannot exist without the body. The body creates the self by being the medium that has urges and experiences, thus causing the organism, or what we may call mind, to exhibit certain behaviors. From this notion, it is evident that the environment, which has acted upon the body where the mind is incased, also aids in molding the mind. The main interactions seem to happen between the urges of the body, which are internal, and the probability of these urges being satisfied in the environment that holds the body, the external. These interactions construct the mind by informing it of its options, long and short term, if the mind has the capacity to comprehend the interactions and make them meaningful. This formulation of the self reveals that generations of organisms have been formed in this way and that prominent views are a result of the environments interactions with the body. These notions have the tinge of evolution theory that was emerging at the time, but they have been given in a way that attempts to understand the self purely under the scope of humanity. We can consider masturbation under these circumstances. If there was a population where the urge to copulate could be satisfied in many ways and without risk of disease or unwanted pregnancy, regardless of the prowess or qualifications of any individual, female or male, we might see self-masturbation cease in this population. The environment does not suppress the sexual urge; therefore, the mind does not seek to satisfy the urge itself. A succession of this kind throughout generations might also cause the mind to expect copulation upon first entering maturity. This shift in the way the mind perceives masturbation could cause any person that self-masturbates to be seen as childlike, immature, or simply a lesser individual since copulation is readily present. On the other hand, a population with an unequal distribution of males and females might see a rise in masturbation, if not a rise in polygamy. In this environment, sexual urges arent satisfactorily met and the individual has to go to itself for sexual gratification. These examples are, however, highly simplified for the sake of time and space as it is evident to me that sociological norms have much more complex forces informing them than those I have portrayed. From these ideas, Nietzsches notion of the self is contingent on the body, its relation to the environment, and the generations that followed the body. To address how one may become a particular being, I must first address what a particular being is for Nietzsche. If we are speaking of his exalted being, what the ultimate goal of humanity should be, then it is quite evident that we are speaking of the Ubermensch, or overman. Such an individual would transcend social norms that dictate legitimate lifestyles and true morals. The overman is the epitome of human existence and to become such a being, one has to reevaluate all of the values that have been bestowed upon the individual by generations of the human condition. Nietzsche seems to believe that completing such a long and arduous task would yield and individual unmatched by the general population. This individual is likely to understand its own limitations and prior achievements in such a way to properly make sense of what it can and cannot do. This would allow the overman to proceed living in a way that is unique to itself and answerable only to itself because if it performs at a level lower than its capabilities, the overman is solely responsible for itself.