抄録
This paper clarifies Nietzsche’s sense of an ideal human by considering his concept of “genius.” Genius is a traditional concept, and Nietzsche uses it uniquely
to express his ideal human in his early period. There are two important points.
First, he regards classical Greek culture as the ideal environment for producing
a group of geniuses, and he contends that the classical Greek philosophers from
Tales to Socrates form a group of geniuses. Second, he was influenced by Schopenhauer’s
concept of genius and extracts from Schopenhauer’s view on genius
in many of his unpublished works. Focusing on these points clarifies the core of
Nietzsche’s concept of genius as “freedom.” He perceives a genius as a free person,
in which being free means freedom from others that allows a person to be
himself or herself. Nietzsche was influenced by Pindar’s maxim and believed
throughout his life that it is important to be oneself. Nietzsche understood a genius
as a free person in the sense that she or he endeavors to be herself or himself.
The idea of “being oneself” does not mean personally discovering what exists,
but personally creating new things. In Schopenhauer as educator, Nietzsche
indicates that true selfhood is beyond the present sense of self. Individuals who
endeavor to be themselves know their orientations through the models they long to emulate and imitate the models to sublimate what the models embody into their unique forms. Through these activities, geniuses create themselves
anew and as unique beings. In sum, a genius, who is Nietzsche’s ideal human,
should be a free person in the sense that he or she continually endeavors to create
himself or herself.
