When Nietzsche said that God was dead, he was not talking of a physical death of God. Rather, he was making an observation that the humans of his time behaved as if God were dead, without fear of divine retribution for even great debaucheries. He felt that the idea of God was no longer capable of acting as a source of human morality. Humans would be no longer capable of believing in God or a divine order because they didn't recognize the concept anymore.

Nietzsche thought that God's death had not yet been recognized by man out of a deep-seated fear or angst. He predicted that once it was widely acknowledged, people would despair, and nihilism would become rampant.

However, the death of God would play a role in humanity's greater development. Once the Christian God, with his arbitrary commands and prohibitions, no longer stood in the way, humanity would have a blank slate. Nietzsche says that once humans turn their eyes away from a supernatural realm, they would focus more on this world and its value. A new morality would develop from this realization. This new stage of human development would be the Übermensch.

Discuss.