Originally published at National Catholic Register
Throughout history, there have been many and varied proposals as to what constitutes a superman. The common denominator that gives meaning to the word is the human being at his absolute best.
This is an intriguing thought and has captured the imagination of all those who aspire to the highest.
Jacques Maritain has made the case that Aristotle was the first to propose the concept of a superman. He argues that man cannot attain his summit by himself. This goal, writes Maritain, “must be sought in something other than man and nobler than man, to which he may adhere and which may raise him above himself.”
“Aristotle reasons,” he continues, “that the activity of God, which surpasses all others in blessedness, must be contemplative; and of human activities, therefore, that which is most akin to this must be of the nature of happiness.”
For Aristotle, it is through humility, not pride, that man reaches his loftiest goal.
Toward the end of his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle makes the following statement:
If reason is divine, then, in comparison with man, the life according to it is divine in comparison with human life. But we must not follow those who advise us, being
