Will To Power By Friedrich Nietzsche Essay

, Research Paper

The existential philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche believed that humanity nedded to

be overcome. He viewed humans as weak creatures and slaves to the Christian

religion. In The Will to Power, Nietzsche asserts the poer of the overman– a

creature beyond Christian good and evil– to replace the passive man. To

understand the book, it is first necessary to understand what Nietzsche means by

‘The Will to Power’. Denneson describes this as a ‘psychological presupposition’

which assumes "that humans are always attempting to inflict their wills

upon others" (Denneson, 1). When considering the use of the term ‘ubermensch’

or ‘overman’ in this work, it is also necessary to understand exactly what

Nietzsche means by this term. This is seen by many as the way in which he refers

to a ’superhuman’. In the past, many comparisons wre made between Nietzsche’s

overman and the Nazi idea of the superior race. However, this has been

re-evaluated by many scholars, and the comparison is no longer seen in the same

light. The overman is seen as the next step up from normal humans; this creature

could even be interpreted as the next step up the evolutionary ladder. The

overman is not isolated to just this work; we see Nietzsche talk about this

creature in other works such as Thus Spoke Zarathustra and The Antichrist. The

idea is not new, but at best, it is still controversial (Cross, 1). The Will to

Power, which results from these two books, contains various metaphors and

generalizations which display contradictions and tensions (Harman, 2). The

philosophies which underlie all of Nietzsche’s writing are themselves

contradictory; they both celebrate and embrace the humanity of man, whilst

holding it in contempt and insulting it at the same time (Cross, 7). The concept

oof the overman appears to be a contradiction in itself, reflecting the views

that Nietzsche himself expresses about the human condition. The creature is

dichotomy, seeing himself as superior and a master of his environment, but

simultaneously he hates his human self, seeing his weaknesses and flaws. In this

manner of representation, one must question if this creature could ever become a

reality. Cross argues that the overmanis a contradiction in terms of existence

which cannot be resolved due to the constraints which Nietzsche applies to this

hypothetical creature. Cross states, "this creature can only succeed in

negating himself, and, in essence, can never truly exist at all." Nietzsche

has the view that mankind as it exists is a disease of a ’sickness’ which is

destroying itself, reflecting the porr nature of a modern man and his lack of

pro-activism, being seen as a purely passive creature unalbe to rebel and define

his life. Nietzsche further argues that the passive reaction of the occurrences

in society are the result of the Christian religion (Cross, 2). Nietzche’s view

of man’s ’sickness’ reveals itself very strongly in The Antichrist, but The Will

to Power also displays his view. This book reflects Nietzsche’s belief that all

creatures, whatever they are, have a requirement and a need to follow commands

of some sort. The freedom of the overman is that the individual despises what he

is and has been, and in this is able to learn to command himself. However, this

is a difficult and self-destructive process. The perception of the comand over

power is an interesting one; it is not the straight forward meaning of control

over others, but also the control over one’s self. In The Will to Power,

Nietzsche sees those who look to improve themselves as looking to the ‘will to

truth’. However, he argues that in doing this, they are not really seeking new

values, but that htey are trying to find a way of bringing all men under the

same code of understanding. In effect, they are bringing them all further to the

weaknesses for which he blames Christianity. Nietzsche says he believes that a

man who acts out of laziness, or does not act for the same reason is bad, and

this passive stance allows the weaknesses of society to become more entrenched

and accepted, this becoming of a self-fulfilling prophecy– the more it happens,

the more it will cause its continuation. The passive man does not display

obedience to himself, but to society. The overman is obedient to himself,

arguably hte hardest type of obedience. Therefore, the will to power is the

power to set one’s own values and one’s own goals. The power is therefore not

any type of physical brute force, but a strong and enduring self-determination.

This shows the dichotomy that Nietzsche puts forward– for how can a man full of

self-loathing and sickness, aware of his own weaknesses, ever become this self-determanist

creature, yet still aware of his faults (Cross, 7)? Nietzsche argues that the

achieve this, a man must be free of the weaknesses of society; he must not be

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