Abstract

Ignorance is a necessary condition for life. The will to truth is against the will to power. There is a contradiction between understanding and strength, or knowledge and action. In other words, knowledge prevents life. The more you know, the less you are capable of action. Life is there to be lived not to be known. In my paper, I try to show the contradiction between wisdom and life in Nietzsche’’s writings. I especially concentrate on Beyond Good and Evil and, to a lesser degree, some of his other works. I will show how this very contradiction makes Nietzsche’’s own project of overman impossible. Is the overman a wise person or a strong person; a sage or a hero; a philosopher or a king? The overman cannot be both wise and strong, and hence, the philosopher-king is a paradoxical term. In the end of my essay, I suggest a solution to the problem within the Nietzschean understanding of philosophy.