The Will to Power
by Nietzsche, Friedrich (1968)
Abstract
Assembled by Nietzsche's sister after his death, The Will to Power is a collection of the philosopher's reflections and theories taken from his unpublished notebooks. Covering topics such as nihilism, Christianity, morality and the famous 'will to power', the book was controversially presented as Nietzsche's all-but-completed magnum opus containing his philosophical system. Including some of his most interesting metaphysical and epistemological thoughts, as well as some of his most disturbing ethical and political comments, the book would prove to have a significant influence on Nietzsche's contentious reception in the twentieth century.
Key Passage
The French Revolution as the continuation of Christianity. Rousseau is the seducer: he again unfetters woman who is henceforth represented in an ever more interesting manner— as suffering. Then the slaves and Mrs. Beecher-Stowe. Then the poor and the workers. Then the vice addicts and the sick— all this is .moved into the foreground (even to develop sympathy for the genius one no longer knows any other way for the past five hundred years than to represent him as the bearer of great suffering!). Next come the curse on voluptuousness (Baudelaire and Schopenhauer); the most decided conviction that the lust to rule is the greatest vice; the perfect certainty that morality and disinterestedness are identical concepts and that the “happiness of all” is a goal worth striving for (i.e., the kingdom of heaven of Christ). We are well along on the way: the kingdom of heaven of the poor in spirit has begun.—Intermediary stages: the bourgeois (a parvenu on account of money) and the worker (on account of the machine). (p.58)
Keywords
Nietzsche, Philosophy, Nihilism, Christianity, Ethics, Morality, Metaphysics, Epistemology, French Revolution, Religion, PovertyThemes
Nietzsche CitationsLinks to Reference
Translator
Kaufman, W.; Hollingdale, R. J.Citation
Share
How to contribute.
