They are those true men, those who are no longer animal,
the philosophers, artists, and saints; nature . . . feels for the
first time it has reached its goal. . . . It is the fundamental
idea of culture, insofar as it sets for each one of us but one
task: to promote the production of the philosopher, the artist,
and the saint within us and without us and thereby to work
at the perfecting of nature. . . . Sometimes it is harder to
accede to a thing than it is to see its truth; and that is how
people may feel when they reflect on the proposition: 'Man-
kind must work continually on the production of individual
great men -- that and nothing else is its task.'

-- Nietzsche, Schopenhauer as Educator

Who is this 'great individual'? Why is this person, in Nietzsche's estima-
tion, the only appropriate goal of human life? If a person sets out to
accomplish Nietzsche's task, who would she or he become? Given that we
can adequately describe this individual, how do we go about 'reproducing'
his or her crucial features?

Certainly, such an individual would exhibit a wide range of great pow-
ers: the saintly strength of denial and discipline, the flexibility of the artist
and the philosopher's reflectiveness. Perhaps it is the allure of these
qualities that draws us to Nietzsche's exhortations and commandments.
No matter how we conceive of this elusive character, the sense of this
individual's activity, industry, and devotion remains palpable. Surely this
person is bursting with creativity and constantly absorbed in some en-
deavor.

As I searched for a description of this person in Nietzsche's texts, I

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