Nietzsche's View of Death as Freedom

Sean Ireton

Zarathustra's speech "On Free Death" raises questions concerning both freedom and determinism with respect to one's conduct toward finitude. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra and other writings, Nietzsche insists that one should freely choose death in the prime of life as an ultimate act of self-overcoming. He furthermore condemns those who cling to existence at all costs and thereby submit themselves to a biologically determined end. Though Nietzsche's conception of a freely willed death echoes the ideal of suicide upheld by the Stoics, a crucial difference underlies these two outlooks. Whereas the Stoics tend to regard suicide as a liberation from constraint, Nietzsche views death as a freedom unto or a possibility toward self-realization.