Abstract
The study first presents the figure of the heir as the fundamental anthropological model upon which the earthly virtue is constitued in the book Thus spoke Zarathustra. The manner in which Zarathustra speaks of the last man and simultaneously lays down the genealogical ground for the bestowing virtue is observed in the difference between the life in the mode of generation (Geschlecht) and the life of the species (Art).
The second part is built on the performativity of Zarathustra's speeches and consequently two versions of the "down-going" (Untergang) of man are concluded from this narrative strategy. In the end, the bestowing virtue is founded by the genealogical bond between an heir and ancestor, by the bond which is never immediate.
It is only when this bond is exerted that the self-creation comes into play by the means of which one gains access to the temporality of one's own life. The fate of the heir always bears danger because it requires an affirmation of the down-going without which there would be no heritage, and at the same time it demands an heir.
In this sense Zarathustra's teaching of virtue is not a comforting prophecy, but a radical call upon the creation of the figure of the heir as the proper model of humanness.