Nietzsche: Will to Power, Superman, and Eternal Return
Nietzsche’s Philosophy
The Will to Power, Superman, and Eternal Return
Will to Power and the Superman
Nietzsche’s concept of the will to power posits it as the driving force behind all things, including human beings. Unlike Schopenhauer’s will as desire, Nietzsche’s will is a faculty of the self, a force that constitutes and can destroy the individual. The Superman, then, is one who embraces this will to power, striving for more than what has been previously loved, transcending conventional notions of good and evil.
Eternal Return
The eternal return suggests that everything that has happened will recur infinitely. Nietzsche based this idea on the concept of finite energy in the universe across infinite time, leading to the inevitable recombination of events. The significance of this concept lies not in the recurrence itself, but in the individual’s reaction to it. Nietzsche wrestled with the implications of eternal return in relation to the will to power, questioning whether the will could overcome the cyclical nature of existence and the potential implications for individual significance.
Art as a Hermeneutical Key
Nietzsche believed that reason was insufficient for understanding reality. He rejected the traditional dominance of logic and science, suggesting that wisdom is not found through deduction. His own philosophy, therefore, is presented not as a rational system, but as something encrypted, requiring interpretation. This hermeneutical approach is necessary because the content of his philosophy is intentionally structured in a non-systematic way. This rejection of reason leads to the understanding that the subject of philosophy is inherently obscure and that the limitations of human intellect mirror the opaque nature of reality. Thus, Nietzsche’s philosophy should be approached as art rather than science.
The Crisis of Reason and Values
Nihilism
Nietzsche argued that Western culture, encompassing metaphysics, epistemology, anthropology, morality, and religion, ultimately leads to nihilism. He believed that the Platonic-Christian tradition created an illusory world, a manifestation of humanity’s inability to accept the realities of life. Nihilism, for Nietzsche, represents the inability to love and affirm life. He identified two forms of nihilism: passive nihilism, which represents the will to power as weakness, arising from the realization that previously held beliefs are meaningless; and active nihilism, which expresses the strength of the will to power, a reassessment driven by instinct rather than reason.
Atheism
Nietzsche’s concept of transmuting values involves changing, not eliminating, existing values. However, this transformation requires the destruction of traditional values, particularly the idea of God. Nietzsche viewed the Judeo-Christian God as a deception designed to subdue humanity and suppress its potential. “God is dead” signifies the loss of a transcendent source of meaning and guidance, leaving humanity without direction. Nietzsche advocated for the annihilation of Christianity, believing that accepting atheism is essential for ushering in a new era.
Crisis of Values
Nietzsche argued that God is a manifestation of “slave morality,” the morality of the weak and resentful. He described how the original moral categories of “good” (noble) and “bad” (commoner) were inverted by the weak. He distinguished between two types of morality: slave morality, which embraces values like resignation, obedience, patience, and suffering, while denigrating values like enjoyment of life and liberty; and master morality, which affirms the values of life and resists external imposition of will, embracing pleasure and self-affirmation.