From Davos to Nietzsche: The Übermensch

Nietzsche says, 'The Übermensch is the first and most important subject close to my heart. When I speak of the Übermensch, I do not mean the poorest person, nor do I mean the one who suffers the most, nor do I mean the best.' So, who is the person Nietzsche means by the Übermensch? By the poorest and the one who suffers the most, he refers to Jesus, that is, the prophets; by the best, he refers to statesmen, kings, or the wealthy of the era. However, Nietzsche's Übermensch is none of these. To understand what he meant, one must look at the conditions of the time he lived in and the understanding of what it meant to be human in that time and geography.

Nietzsche, who lived between 1844 and 1900, was born as the child of Carl Ludwig Nietzsche, a Lutheran pastor, and Franziska Oehler, the daughter of a pastor. During the years Nietzsche lived, nationalism was on the rise in Europe, and imperialism was at its peak. We are talking about the years marking the end of the first industrial revolution and the beginning of the second, which would last until the early 20th century—a time when electricity, the chemical industry, and internal combustion engines were invented. I do not know if it was predicted that these inventions, which left the whole world in awe and brought joy, would rain death, hunger, poverty, and chaos upon humanity for years to come, but progress, at any cost, is not a process that can be stopped or hindered.

Electricity had improved wireless, telegraph, command, and control systems, increasing the coordination of military operations. Developments in the chemical industry had turned into chemical weapons such as poison gas, and internal combustion engines had made it possible to develop new war machines like tanks, airplanes, and submarines. The world was preparing to fight the bloodiest war in its history. Approximately 100 million civilians and soldiers would die in the First World War (1914-1918) and the Second World War (1939-1945).

Nietzsche lived just before this process and, sensing the violent chaos awaiting humanity, warned people with all his might. He saw that the fundamental problem stemmed from the fact that the millennia-old understanding of morality was wrongly grounded, and that the moral decay was caused by the inability of people, forced to live with a herd mentality, to form an individual morality. The name of the conceptual solution he found to save humanity from itself was the Übermensch.

He had begun to criticize the understanding of morality in humans from its source; according to him, human morality should not be determined by social conventions, dogmatic and external authorities; the source of the understanding of morality should be the individual themselves. The suppression of an individual's instinctual drives by dogmatic and traditional rules, and forcing them to conform to their own norms, was not enough to make an individual a moral person. Furthermore, suppressed instinctual drives never disappeared; they inevitably manifested as violence within society. Because dogmatic commands did not dictate being moral, but rather being moralistic. This gave people the opportunity to break the rules as long as it could be done secretly from the community.

In the famous Turin incident, on a street in the Italian city of Turin, Nietzsche sees a horse being violently whipped by its owner. He embraces the horse's neck and cries so that the owner will not hit it anymore; he cannot tolerate a human intentionally harming another living creature to the point of death. The human profile he described throughout his life is also,  embodied in his own life through this behavior of Nietzsche. He speaks of a person strong and equipped enough to decide, by their own will, not to be evil, to stand against evil; he speaks of a person who is authentic, free, moral, good, creative, and sensitive to the sensibilities of all people and living beings, including themselves.

After this incident, Nietzsche suffered a nervous breakdown, would never fully recover again, and for the rest of his life  would remain dependent on his sister's care. Their family friends After a debate with Wagner, he criticized Wagner's antisemitic ideas and said, 'Wagner is a man almost as antisemitic as my sister.'

Nietzsche, who was cared for by his sister and brother-in-law for 10 years throughout his illness, had his ideas on the Übermensch and his notes  manipulated by his sister and brother-in-law and published as a book in his name, despite his illness. So much so that while Hitler was burning the books of authors who thought like Nietzsche in public squares, he declared Nietzsche the most famous philosopher of the era because of this last published book.

In order not to experience the madness of the First and Second World Wars again, countries came together after the war, international agreements were made, borders were determined, and international legal systems were established. The books of Enlightenment philosophers began to be taught in universities instead of being burned. Individualization, morality, ethics, freedom, mutual respect, and sensitivity were accepted as the cornerstones of a civilized society, and international human rights courts were established. We have managed to approach Nietzsche's profile of the Übermensch, at least in civilized countries governed by democracy and sensitive to human rights.

However, the wall between the superior human and the primitive human is so permeable that when our basic instincts whisper to us that we are in danger, we can suddenly find ourselves on the other side of the wall. On an individual level, this permeability is a common occurrence; states manage to keep this under control by holding the monopoly on violence through laws. But when states decide to cross to the other side of the wall, that is when the alarm bells for humanity will truly begin to ring.

A WORLD THINKING WITH NEW PARADIGMS

Just as in the era when Nietzsche lived, the world stands once again on the threshold of a new age. While there are still countries that have not managed to catch up with the 4th Industrial Revolution, a technological revolution has begun that even developed countries are struggling to keep pace with.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the world thought in terms of the paradigms of classical physics, and these paradigms formed our way of understanding the world—that is, our philosophy of life. This is also why physics and philosophy were thought of as an inseparable whole. Because physics and philosophy, through dependent and explanatory concepts, provided us with the opportunity to define the universe and the human being within it. 

However, developments in quantum theory went beyond the laws of classical physics.  With the results it presented, it changed the paradigms of science, philosophy, mathematics, technology, and engineering that affect our way of perceiving life, and these changes are still ongoing.

• Quantum physics paved the way for new ways of thinking in the field of ontology by initiating new debates on the observer's effect on the universe, reality, determinism, and indeterminism.

• Mathematical tools created through significant advancements in fields such as probability theory and complex numbers have generated new perspectives in theoretical physics.

• The principles of quantum mechanics, along with revolutionary developments in quantum computing, cryptography, and communication systems, have shifted the way we will process information in the future to an almost entirely different foundation and dimension.

Consequently, the paradoxes and intriguing nature of quantum mechanics have begun to reshape how humans understand the universe and their place within it, drawing us to the center of that great question: 'Could it be that the world is not deterministic?'

WHY ARE DAVOS AND SIMILAR MEETINGS IMPORTANT?

In the coming century, where we will face the thesis that 'resources on Earth are limited, but human needs are unlimited' in a more realistic way, developed countries are constantly seeking ways to begin speaking through new paradigms emerging in the fields of science, law, politics, and philosophy. Because this is a new language, and it must be learned.

While topics like democracy and international peace were priorities a few decades ago, even the most civilized countries are now in an arms race, aware that they cannot prevent conflicts arising from class differences between nations, even as they seek ways to avoid war.

A world order is being formed once again. No country is at a level where it can meet all its needs on its own. They must find a way to secure production, trade agreements, and trade routes without killing each other. Therefore, it is necessary for politicians, scientists, technology firms, world banks, and military leaders to come together and hold multifaceted meetings. The 'Davos' meeting, which Turkey chose not to attend, was one of these gatherings. The decisions to be made at these meetings will influence the future governance models of countries. Democracy will cease to be a viable system between nations because, just as humans are capable of being superior, they are equally prone to becoming murderers when faced with difficult conditions. With the new paradigms changing in this era, it will be necessary to re-analyze humanity and create a new philosophy; technological developments will change laws and definitions of crime, and states will need to behave like technology companies. 

The world, having been caught unprepared for a large portion of these rapid changes, has only one chance to avoid being dragged into catastrophe: To maintain the sensitivity established by civilized countries within the framework of political correctness in communications at both individual and state levels. In a world where fascism and extreme nationalism can trigger world wars, it is necessary to avoid every word that might fuel marginalization. It is of vital importance to avoid symbols, behaviors, and words that would lead to discrimination or offense, especially in environments of violence where women and children are at risk. I know that being overly sensitive is difficult for many and that this behavior is seen as unnecessary. However, the choice of a phrase that is perceived merely as a word in our comfortable environments can, through today's widespread communication networks, lead to a woman being raped, a young man being killed, or a child's life being ruined in another country we do not know, or in a neighborhood of our own city that we are unfamiliar with. Within the scope of the 'Political Correctness' practices of civilized societies, the effort of people to regulate their language and behavior  in a way that does not discriminate against or offend specific social, cultural, religious, or political groups or individuals, and the fact that they attach sensitive importance to this situation, is certainly not an arbitrary choice! It is the most fundamental  condition for living together without harming one another. It should not be forgotten that Mustafa Kemal's principles and reforms transformed Turkey from a primitive tribe into a modern nation by implementing this very sensitivity.