Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Chapter
The Thousand and One Goals explained
Zarathustra reflects on how different peoples create their own values of good and bad as expressions of their Will to Power, asserting that valuation is a creative act and that humanity lacks a single unifying goal, which means humanity its
What happens
Zarathustra reflects on how different peoples create their own values of good and bad as expressions of their Will to Power, asserting that valuation is a creative act and that humanity lacks a single unifying goal, which means humanity itself is still lacking.
Themes in this chapter
Will to Power and Creation
Zarathustra identifies the 'table of excellencies' as the voice of the Will to Power, and declares that valuing is creating, a central creative force.
Critique of Herd Morality
Zarathustra critiques herd morality by showing that each people's values are self-serving and that the individual is a late creation, with the herd's conscience opposing the ego.
Characters to notice
- Zarathustra
Zarathustra observes and recounts the diverse value systems of many peoples, emphasizing that valuation is a creative act of the Will to Power.
Key passages
“No greater power did Zarathustra find on earth than good and bad.”
Zarathustra discovered that the most powerful force on earth is the human capacity to designate things as good or bad.
Highlights the central theme of value creation as a fundamental power.
“Values did man only assign to things in order to maintain himself—he created only the significance of things, a human significance!”
Humans assign values to things solely for self-preservation, inventing meaning that is entirely human in origin.
Emphasizes the human, not divine, origin of values.
“A thousand goals have there been hitherto, for a thousand peoples have there been. Only the fetter for the thousand necks is still lacking; there is lacking the one goal. As yet humanity hath not a goal. But pray tell me, my brethren, if the goal of humanity be still lacking, is there not also still lacking—humanity itself?”
There have been countless goals across different peoples, but no single unifying goal for all humanity; without such a goal, humanity itself is incomplete.
Zarathustra calls for a transcendent goal to unite humanity, implying that humanity's essence is not yet realized.