Nietzsche believed that the will-to-power is the vital, driving force inherent in all humans, the force responsible for all expressions of ambition and achievement. Man has historically placed himself above all other animals, using metaphysical conceptions that provide assurance of importance and an illusory superiority. Nietzsche decries the notion that humans possess a perfection of existence that no other animals can attain, on the contrary, he finds man to be the most flawed species in the animal kingdom due to our continual straying from our instincts; he believes that within our instincts resides our true greatness, our power as nature intended. Nietzsche conceived the will-to-power as the most basic and fundamental instinct that humans possess, describing life itself as “the instinct for growth, for durability, for an accumulation of forces, for power” (The Antichrist 572). He believed that this will-to-power was manifest in our biological fitness function and our sociocultural history. It is the unshakeable, inexhaustible instinct to dominate our surroundings, to assert our will and establish influence, to overcome challenges and revel in success.

Nietzsche presents the will-to-power as energy capable of usurping our historical, ever-fluctuating conception of morality and asks in the Antichrist, “what is Good? —All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man” (570). From this declaration one can extract Nietzsche’s view of the will-to-power both as a challenge to the traditional dichotomy of good and evil, as well as the experiential subjectivity of the will-to-power, as a feeling that culminates differently within every individual. Nietzsche calls for a reevaluation of our contemporary conception of morality, as well as the genealogy of morality over the span of human civilization. He dismisses traditional Judeo-Christian stress on charity, pity, and mercy as debilitating and weak; such conceptions stray from our innate instinctual drives and neglect the will-to-power that strengthens us (570). Domination, exploitation, and the seizing of opportunity have historically been viewed as necessary evils in international politics and denounced as unsavory qualities in personal relationships and communication. Nietzsche, however, sees such qualities in a light congruent with his espousal of the will-to-power; they are qualities designed to condition us for life and all of its challenges and horrors, aspects that promote individualistic survival in the face of uncertain security. Nietzsche does not subscribe to the popular notion of humanity’s progression toward a utopic world of equality, rather, he believes the ultimate evolutionary goal of mankind is to become an ubermensch, or over-man. An over-man, in Nietzsche’s view, has not only recognized the ferocity of his will-to-power but has mastered it—a man who has long discarded the diseased ideals that generate shame for instinctually driven actions that do not conform to an illusory, higher standard.

Central to Nietzsche’s understanding of the will-to-power is his view of man as an animal, one whose delusions of greatness over the full animal kingdom spawn from incorporeal notions that alleviate existential anxieties. If man is fundamentally animal, then the concept of the self is simply a mental marvel, dictated by the physiological realities of our biological composure. However, this does not render the self unimportant or devoid of meaning, as our drives and impulses, while physical driven, define our psychological experiences. The will-to-power, the most basic and most powerful of these drives, constantly directs our self-perception and actions, as nature intended. Nietzsche views the will-to-power and the human acceptance of its supremacy over meaningless ideals as the gateway into the unencumbered life. Chasing dreams, setting objectives, and reaching goals, in Nietzsche’s opinion, weakens us, separates us from life as nature intended, and fails to provide the satisfaction or consolation that we believe they bring us (Ecce Homo 710). To truly “become what one is” one must abandon the traditional goal-oriented mindset, as well as maintain a patient, passive unawareness of becoming what one is, for to do so would be oxymoronic and counterintuitive. Becoming what one is entails a joie de vivre that endures the tragic and accepts its inevitability and its mystery; one who is himself is unconcerned with the metaphysical constructions of mankind and values life simply because it is beautiful and fleeting. One who has become himself is no more than a vessel for his will-to-power—and has found life within life.

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. “The Antichrist”. The Portable Nietzsche, ed. Walter Arnold Kaufmann (New York: Penguin, 1976.

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. “Ecce Homo”. Basic Writings of Nietzsche, ed. Walter Arnold Kaufmann (New York: Modern Library, 2000.

Author's Note: This is somewhat of a companion piece to my first essay. In my first essay I reflected on my own status anxiety and my inexorable desire for power/money/dominance in a context where these desirables seemed attainable, concluding in some ways that I experienced cognitive dissonance because these feelings conflicted with the WHO that I wanted to be (or thought I wanted to be). In this essay I talk about Nietzsche's conception of the "will to power" because it was one of the more intoxicating sets of ideas I've encountered (and grappled with in the process of rationalizing my own goals/thoughts/desires). I hope that my revision of this essay will see me actually grappling and even sparring with Nietzsche's ideas as I project my own experiential understanding and belief onto his theory.