NIETZSCHE: Three Types of Men (Rousseau, Goethe, Schopenhauer)

“There are three Images of Man fashioned by our modern time, which for a long while yet will urge mortal men to transfigure their own lives…” – Nietzsche, Schopenhauer as Educator.

One of Nietzsche’s earliest writings are his so-called Untimely Meditations, a collection of essays that lack his later aphoristic and polemic style of writing. One of these essays, entiteld “Schopenhauer as Educator” is of considerable interest.

We will go over the essay in its entirety in another video. Please subscribe if you want to be notified when it comes out. The purpose of this video is to highlight an interesting typology Nietzsche proposes about halfway through.

Nietzsche distinguishes three types of men in the modern world. You could say they are archetypes of sorts: men who set an example that is worthy of being followed. Or are they stages individual men must go through? Nietzsche is not particularly clear on this point. Still, let’s take a closer look.

The Man of Rousseau is the first type. This type “has the greatest fire, and is most calculated to impress the people” – the Man of Rousseau is a revolutionary. Yet it also a deeply troubled soul, who feels estranged from the modern world.

Goethe’s Man is not angry nor dangerous. Goethe’s Man represents a renewed appreciation of Culture and history. Goethe’s Man is not a revolutionary.

Where the man of Rousseau seeks to change the world through revolutionary action, Goethe’s man appreciates the world as it is, including its history. Yet he remains troubled. You could say he appreciates art and culture only to distract himself from his own troubles. His life is culturally-minded, full of pleasure, yet it’s an existence going from desire to desire, fundamentally empty. He lacks passion and brute force.

The Man of Rousseau is passionate but lacks refinement and sophistication. Goethe’s Man is refined, cultured, and sophisticated. But lacks passion. Goethe’s Man needs to become angry.

The Schopenhauerian Man tells the truth, even if others around him don’t like it. The Schopenhauerian Man speaks to the universal, which greatly irritates common men who are only concerned with the particular.

Nietzsche praises the ideal of the Schopenhauerian Man, which is the same creature as the ascetic in Schopenhauer’s philosophy: the sage, the monk, the saint.

The Schopenhauerian Man is a true philosopher in that he is not concerned with wordly affairs. The Man of Rousseau seeks to change the world. Goethe’s Man tries to appreciate the world in order to forget his own suffering, and the Schopenhauerian Man embraces suffering, and turns away from the world.