Nietzsche and the will to power

I am in the library far too late for my liking - im a day worker - my mind has begun to wander, my fingers have begun to browse. I am doing an essay on Nietzsche and it occured to me that we havent discussed this oh-so controversial philosopher much.

I hope this wont get me in trouble (and if any Cardiff examiners are listening in i promise i have absolutely no intention of plagiarizing any of the arguments or points that arise from this post) but i am going to outline my essay structure and see if it provokes much disagreement. If anyone thinks this is not ok then let me know and i shall hope to show you my sincerity.

Basically i use some of the conlcusions that are granted by the canonical translator/intepretor Kaufmann against him. Forgive the brevity, it is necessary.

v. famous quote: This world is the will to power - and nothing besides! And you yourselves are the will to power - and nothing besides! (Will to Power, 1067)

first point: 'and nothing besides' shows that the dualisms of early Nietzsche (e.g. Dionysian/Apolline, fact/value etc.) have been reconciled into a monism. This is necessary and can be traced back as Nietzsche's answer to the Cartesian problem of how to reconcile the two bits of a dualism (see also Kant and the probematic transcendental deduction as a way to reconcile concepts and intuitions). Given the origins of Nietzsche's Dionysian and Apolline in Kant's noumenal and phenomenal Nietzsche can thus be seen, at least in some sense, as an enlightenment philosopher (albeit with a deadly twist). Nietzsche sought to explain all phenomena in terms of a single basic drive: the will to power.

if we foucs on the very first claim of the quote 'this world is the will to power', then we are presented with a grand and sweeping metaphysics. (This is Heidegger's (in his period of so-called reversal) interpretation. For Heidegger, Nietzsche is the last philosopher of the Western metaphysics of Being, seeking to 'impress upon becoming the character of Being'. Further Nietzsche even obliterates the difference between being and Being.) Far from abandoning his earlier dualism, Nietzsche has resorted to the common German Idealist's claim of our world as being merely that of appearance. The will to power as a metaphysical concept then becomes a variation of negative theology and is purely a responce to the pronounced 'death of God'.

However, Heidegger intentionally and explicitly misreads Nietzsche. Whatever you think of the consequences of Heidegger's thought, his interpretation [Auseinandersetsung] or resultant thought, this view of the will to power is not Nietzsche's.

if we foucs on the final claim of the quote 'you yourselves are the will to power' then we are presented with a psychological concept. In the Dawn/Daybreak Nietzsche begins to develop the idea that all human phenomena can be expressed in terms of either fear or power. Later all is just explained in terms of power. Thus Nietzsche is not hypocritical by resorting to metaphysical speculation, he is rather offering a perspective on the human condition. Gievn the slightly questionable assumption that Nietzsche's claim that all human phenomena can be explained in terms of power relations is internally consistent, then there are still two serious problems.

First a closed system is formed. Nietzsche continually tells us how he wants to be scientific, how he wants to be naturalistic. But this theory acnnot be falsified as no conceivable set a data could count against it as it could simply be interpreted as a continuing shift of power elations. According (i think correctly) to Popper, this cannot be good science (just like the theories of human nature proposed by Rousseau and Hobbes).

Second, given his techniques of deduction and the present standards in the science of psychology (perhaps even if we take into account Nietzsche's own perspectivism) the this idea of the will to power is insignificant and amounts to no more than folk/pop psychology.

conclusion: if the will to power is the master concept of Nietzsche philosophy and the will to power is a psychological concept, then Nietzsche's is of very questionable validity.

ps. this is not to say that Nietzsche's philosophy is rubbish, merely to begin to show that his deconstruction of philosophy, morality, christianity etc is far more pertinent and important and interesting etc. than is his resultant reconstruction of the will to power.