ZARATHOUSTRA EDUCATEUR

Fabien Jegoudez

What is the link between one of the most central questions of humanism, namely the education of modern man, and the work of Friedrich Nietzsche? And does a special relationship between Nietzsche’s emblematic book Thus spoke Zarathustra and the problem of education exist? This article tries to answer the second question, which is a direct consequence from the first one, by formulating the hypothesis that the characteristics of the educator represent in the most adequate way the specific issues of Zarathustra’s thinking, action and will. After a first educational failure that is constituted by the announcement of the Superman to a wide audience, he aims both at educating himself and raising his chosen disciples. A closer analysis reveals that the structure of Thus spoke Zarathustra itself is inspired by the structure of the Bildungsroman. As a consequence, the content and the form of Nietzsche’s major work are perfectly consistent and respond to a same and single need: to enable to identify and determine a new form of education that can replace the Bildung now considered as obsolete and inefficient. This issue is rooted in the work of the young Nietzsche: the five conferences On the Future of our Educational Institutions held in Basel and Schopenhauer as Educator already had the function of layingout the difficult problem of education in a very critical and rigorous way. This problem forms the essential and central path that connects the first writings of the philosopher to Thus spoke Zarathustra