Nietzsche’s Philosophy: Critique of Knowledge, Death of God, and Will to Power
Critique of Knowledge
Regarding consciousness, Platonic-Christian metaphysics aligns with immutable knowledge and truth: conceptual knowledge. Nietzsche argues concepts don’t capture reality’s essence, which is in constant flux. Concepts represent the immutable, not the changing reality. They are an inadequate way to grasp reality, obscuring the singular and concrete.
Concept as Metaphor
The concept is a general representation, ignoring individual differences. Traditional philosophy mistook this metaphor for the “essence,” a supposed supersensible reality.
Language’s Role
Nietzsche highlights language’s influence on philosophical thought. The value of words, like concepts, is distorted by metaphysics, reinforcing delusions about reality. Restoring reality requires reclaiming the value of words, hence Nietzsche’s aphoristic style.
The Death of God
Analyzing Western thought, Nietzsche declares God’s death. God, once the compass of Western civilization, has been unknowingly killed by humanity, slowly removed from thought and culture. This discovery leaves humanity lost and life meaningless.
The death of God signifies the demise of Christian monotheism and dogmatic metaphysics, which posited one God and one truth. Humanity, becoming aware, replaces God with multiple gods and truths, attempting to salvage associated values. However, without transcendental justification, these values become targets of criticism and denial, leading to nihilism.
Nihilism
Nihilism is the process following the awareness of God’s death, expressed in three stages:
- Nihilism as negation of all values: doubt and confusion.
- Nihilism and self-assertion of the initial denial: reason’s reflection.
- Nihilism as a starting point for reassessment: intuition, expressed in the will to power.
This forms the basis for Nietzsche’s new philosophy. Humanity first unknowingly causes God’s death, then consciously upholds it, and finally discovers itself responsible, simultaneously uncovering the will to power as the highest value.
Will to Power
The fundamental principle of reality from which all beings develop. It is the primary force striving for existence and growth.
Nietzsche posits that all things, from the inorganic to the human, desire existence and strive to be more. This is an expression of a primordial substance struggling to exist and expand.
In his unfinished work, “The Will to Power,” Nietzsche aimed to present his positive vision of reality, echoing the Dionysian concept from his first work, “The Birth of Tragedy.” Despite his aversion to metaphysics, the will to power represents his concept of being. Its characteristics include:
Irrationality: Reason is one dimension of reality, not the deepest. The world itself is not rational; it is chaos, multiplicity, change, and death.
Unconsciousness: The primary force driving all things is not conscious. Consciousness is superfluous, adding no greater perfection or reality.
Lack of Finality: The manifestations of life’s forces have no aim or purpose. Existence is free and without inherent direction, similar to Sartrean Existentialism.
Impersonal: This force is not personal, nor is it God. It is an accumulation of power, a multitude of forces competing for existence and growth.
These theses form Nietzsche’s “metaphysical” interpretation of experience. While we perceive objects like dogs or tables, Nietzsche argues that these are manifestations of the will to power. This interpretation challenges traditional views rooted in Platonism.
Nietzsche’s “will” differs from the conventional understanding. It is not the conscious force behind our actions, but a deeper, more fundamental force. Traditional morality’s concept of free will is discredited, seen as a tool for instilling guilt and sin. The will to power is discovered through self-knowledge, not introspection. It is a simplification of complex instincts and drives. Consciousness only perceives the results of this internal conflict; the psychological will is a “distant echo” of a deeper struggle.
The will to power is present in all forces, inorganic, organic, and psychological, and it strives for self-assertion, not just to exist but to be more. It is the primary substance of existence and life: “Do you want a name for this world? A solution to all enigmas? A light also for you, the most hidden, the strongest, most fearless, most after midnight? This world is the will to power, and nothing else! And you yourselves are the will to power, and nothing else!” (“The Will to Power”).