DISCLAIMER:

This Discussion is for Academic purpose

only.

Some words might be sensitive due to

the philosopher’s attitude and approach
to specific beliefs and moral life.
The Power of
the Will
Friedrich Nietzsche
 FLOW OF DISCUSSION

A. CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND of Life of Nietzsche

B. The Aphorism
C. State of Nature
D. The Solution from Slave-Morality
E. Conclusion
A. Contextual Background
• He was one of the most controversial,
unconventional, and important figures
in the history of modern philosophy. He
influenced more European writers than
any other philosopher; including Camus,
and Sartre.
A. Contextual Background
• Along with Descartes, Nietzsche should
be read directly for his supreme literary
artistry, characterized by extraordinary
brilliance in the form of aphorisms,
biblical verses and numbered
paragraphs.
A. Contextual Background
• FACT: Although the Nazis claimed that
Nietzsche spoke for them, in fact Nietzsche was
derisive of German nationalism, and
contemptuous of anti-Semitism.
• TRUTH: Nietzsche was not a Nazi, In fact, he
wrote: “I am just having all anti-Semites shot.”
a member of any of the peoples who speak or spoke a
Semitic language, including in particular the Jews and
Arabs.
A. Contextual Background
• As a youth, Nietzsche was so academically
brilliant that he became a full professor in
his mid-20s. After reading Schopenhauer,
he gave up his academic career and
instead, wrote philosophy as an obscure
traveler in Switzerland and Italy.
A. Contextual Background
• In his 40s, he collapsed into mental illness, brought
about by tertiary syphilis. the disease damages your internal
organs and can result in death. He was already insane when he
achieved an international reputation. He was a lifelong
rebel against Christianity. He opposed both the gospel
of morality and the personality of Jesus (Historical
Jesus), with whom he often compared himself.
• Jesus as compassionate
• Jesus that has morals
• Jesus as a representation of love
B. The Aphorism
“God is Dead…and we have killed Him”

• Following Schopenhauer, Nietzsche proclaimed that

there is no God and there are no immortal souls. He
is famous for the Aphorism: “GOD IS DEAD.” he
described life as meaningless and driven by an
irrational force called the will. Thus, he proclaimed
that this world is the whole reality, known as the
Aesthetic Phenomenon.
B. The Aphorism
“God is Dead…and we have killed Him”

• Nietzsche rejected traditional ontological categories,

including:
• God Hypothesis (cause and end thing)
• True world of being (heaven thing)
• Soul Hypothesis (immortality thing)

• He concluded that we should live our lives to the full, and

get everything we can out of it.
B. The Aphorism
“God is Dead…and we have killed Him”

• Instead of these hypotheses that he rejected, Nietzsche

posited a world characterized by an interplay of forces that
has no inherent structure and that has no final end. He said
the forces of the world unceasingly organize and reorganize
themselves as the fundamental disposition that he called
“will to power,” which gives rise to successive arrays of
power relationships among them.
 C. State of Nature
• According to Nietzsche, since human nature is only
one form of animal life among others, man should be
translated back into nature. He emphasized the
difference between these “higher types,” and “the
herd.” he called these higher types with the
capability to attain the fullest possible
enhancement of life as the “overman,” also knows
as the Superman
 C. State of Nature

• Nietzsche insisted that life and world should be interpreted in

terms of the will to power. He proposed a “Dionysian value-
standard” in terms of this interpretation. His general standard is
described as:
• “the attainment of a kind of life in which the assertive-
transformative will to power is present in its highest intensity
and quality.”
• He then developed a naturalistic value-theory, in which the
highest values are the enhancement oof life and creativity.
 C. State of Nature

• He distinguished between “Master moralities” and

“Slave moralities.”
• Slave moralities is a form of a herd-animal morality
well suited to the requirements and vulnerabilities of
the mediocre who are the human rule, but stultifying
and detrimental to the development of potential
expectations to that rule.
 C. State of Nature

• Nietzsche advocated the rejection of existing morals

and values. He pointed out that we derived them
from ancient Greece and Judeo-Christian tradition.
• Natural leaders/Moralists like Socrates and Jesus, the
confident, courageous, innovators, giving service to
others, self-denial, and self-sacrifice are typical
characteristics of slaves that hailed as virtues.
 C. State of Nature

• Therefore for Nietzsche, he made the telling point that we

cannot base our lives on value systems, when at the same
time we repudiate the foundations of those systems.
• It makes us “bogus”
• Example:
• Third world culture of Philippines, where the political leaders
and social leaders claim attachment to certain values while
reupdating their foundations.
C. Solution from Slave-morality
According to Nietzsche,
nature’s leaders are
driven to be free to live
life to the full, and to
fulfill themselves because
of what he termed in his
famous phrase “Will to
Power”
C. Solution from Slave-morality

When a human being, driven by

the will to power, develops his
maximum potential, he becomes
a “Superman,” his term for a
super-human being.
C. Solution from Slave-morality

If we follow Nietzsche and reject

traditional values, then we have to
confront the question of how we can find
new values to take their place. Nietzsche
proposed taking certain steps toward the
solution.
C. Solution from Slave-morality

1. To accept that there is no God, and no

other world than this one.
2. To accept that we are the creators of
our own values. (reject existing morals
and values)
C. Solution from Slave-morality

For Nietzsche, we need to realize that we are

free to choose the values that best advance
our interests. These are the values that led
us out of the animal kingdom and created
civilization. In Magee’s words, “the
elimination of inferior by the superior in
every aspect of life.”
D. “Dare to become what you are”
• In advocating new values, Nietzsche
coined not only the phrase “will to
power,” but also the phrase “life
assertion.” which are summarized in his
another famous slogan: “Dare to become
what you are.”
D. “Dare to become what you are”
• This slogan might promote conflict
and assure the destruction of the
weak, but Nietzsche saw this as a
necessary price to pay for a life of
self-fulfillment. After all, we will
never be able to abolish strife,
suffering, and defeat.
D. “Dare to become what you are”
• For Nietzsche, then, the supreme
value is life-assertion. Anything that
asserts life is good and true. To the
criticism that life assertion is
pointless.
D. “Dare to become what you are”
• For Nietzsche, then, the supreme
value is life-assertion. Anything that
asserts life is good and true. To the
criticism that life assertion is
pointless.
“Challenges” rather than criticism.
• Most people will want to reject
Nietzsche own response; but most
people have to admit that the
challenge he raised is legitimate, and
exceedingly powerful.
• Based on the supreme question: “How can we able to
live our lives in a godless and meaningless world?”
Nietzsche’s Philosophy…
• Is extremely provocative. For him, the
true virtues are pride, courage, and
the will to power.
• Thus, he was a person of courage,
whose philosophy epitomized on
heroism. (for self not for a country)
• He urged that we must confront the
most difficult truths about ourselves.
 C. State of Nature

• Therefore for Nietzsche, he made the telling point

that we cannot base our lives on value systems,
when at the same time we repudiate the
foundations of those systems.
• It makes us “bogus”
• Example: