Nietzsche’s Philosophy: Vitalism & Will to Power
Nietzsche and His Influence
Nietzsche’s philosophy significantly impacted various intellectual currents. He engaged critically with several key figures and concepts:
- The Romantics: They opposed the Enlightenment’s emphasis on reason, exalting the creative genius of the artist.
- Herbert Spencer (Social Darwinism): Spencer extrapolated Darwin’s natural selection to human societies. Nietzsche, however, *did not* share the theory that the “best” are the winners in the struggle for survival.
- Socrates: Nietzsche saw Socrates as the champion of reason against life instincts.
- Plato: Nietzsche blamed Plato’s nonexistent world of ideas for discrediting the Earth, the “one true world.”
- Judeo-Christian Morality: Nietzsche viewed Christianity as a slave morality, opposing the morality of the nobles. The Judeo-Christian concept of God, he argued, prevents the transformation of man into the *Übermensch* (Superman).
- Schopenhauer: Nietzsche appreciated Schopenhauer’s conception of art and the figure of the genius. However, he opposed his “will to power” to Schopenhauer’s pessimism and resignation.
- Kant: Nietzsche criticized Kantian morality for being universal. He proposed a morality for the elect, the *Übermenschen*. Kant, according to Nietzsche, subjected life to morality.
Vitalism
Vitalism is a philosophy that emphasizes life and its values, subordinating the rational to the vital. It exalts the vital and emotional against excessive rationalism. These “philosophies of life” defend irrationalism and the affirmation of life as the fundamental reality of human beings.
Reason is not the exclusive power of man to understand reality; poetic inspiration, intuition, instinct, and the unconscious are also important. Nietzsche’s philosophy is called vitalism because he argues that life is the originator of moral values and interpretations of reality.
Will to Power
Life, for Nietzsche, is an instinctively creative power struggle. The will to power is the irrational force or impulse of all that lives. It is the need to express strength and a constant affirmation of life. This desire can manifest in artistic creation, struggle, sex, intellectual activity, etc.
This will can become *sick* when vital impulses lose strength. Instead of fighting and self-improvement, one prefers tranquility and the promise of eternal happiness in an invented world. This implies the negation of the value of life.
Thus, the will to power can become a *will not to be*. Humans with a weakened will to power are in decline, unable to create new values and ideals. Their values are a reaction to the values of healthy people.
Genealogy of Language
Nietzsche used the genealogical method to analyze and criticize Western culture and its underlying values. This method involves tracing the hidden roots of our values and the origin of existing forms of valuing the world.
The origins of language, according to Nietzsche, are found in the human impulse to express one’s own life experience, not in the intention or need to know. Through language, we express not how things *are* but how they affect us, how we *live* them.
Language is not based on logic but on imagination, the human capacity to create metaphors and analogies that are useful to us. For this reason, language cannot arrive at truth because truth does not exist; it is only a group convention.
Logic unifies life. Where there is chaos, diversity, and difference, logic imposes order. We make sense of the world as a consequence of a vital need. Humans desire truth and reject truths that harm us. Truth is conventional.
There are many perspectives, and none is inherently valid or true. The world has as many meanings as there are people interpreting it. This aspect of Nietzsche’s thought is called perspectivism.