The book proposes a critique of Nietzsche's works 'from within'. In doing so, it answers the continuing question asked by any reader of Nietzsche: Why did he decide not to write the major work he said he would write?

The book proposes a critique of Nietzsche's works 'from within'. In doing so, it answers the continuing question asked by any reader of Nietzsche: Why did he decide not to write the major work he said he would write?

This thesis analyses the notion of will to power formulated by Friedrich Nietzsche. Adapted from the romantic idea of will, Nietzsche hoped to make will to power the centrepiece of his philosophy and the basis on which a revaluation of all values would be possible. In all aspects of this ambitious project, Nietzsche encountered problems that were to prove insurmountable. The very criticisms he had directed at his predecessors returned to sabotage his plans. -- Nietzsche believed that the ascetic ideals of his time devalued life and diminished man. Instead, he extolled Homeric ethics and promoted a naturalistic epistemology, taking will to power as his yardstick for both. However, his underlying romanticism ensured that his ethics and epistemology were aligned and based on an otherworldly conception. Will to power is asceticism interpreted romantically. -- Following the Romantics, Nietzsche criticised materialism for its underlying world dualism and lack of an internal dynamic. For him, the world is will to power. However, individuation is impossible if the world is only will to power. Insofar as it is based on the concept of power, will to power is a surface interpretation. Will to power as a theory of actuality is materialism interpreted romantically. -- For Nietzsche, psychology is based on an erroneous Platonic-Christian-Cartesian ontology. According to his view, man is a locus of psycho-physiological wills to power. Yet his opposition to reductionism and his proto-existentialistic stance demand an ontology that is not reducible to physiology. Will to power is the soul interpreted romantically. -- Will to power is a stillborn philosophical chimera: even with an element of naturalism, romanticism cannot be reconciled with ancient heroism. Nietzsche's attempts to erect a new philosophy of (will to) power ended in failure and it is reasonable to believe that Nietzsche recognised this.

Paying particular attention to the issue of how to read Nietzsche, this book presents a series of accessible essays on the work of this influential German philosopher. The contributions include many of the leading Nietzsche scholars in the United States today - Frithjof Bergmann, Arthur Danto, Bernd Magnus, Christopher Middleton, Lars Gustaffson, Alexander Nehamas, Richard Schacht, Gary Shapiro, and Ivan Soll - and the majority of the essays have never been published. Works discussed include On the Genealogy of Morals, Beyond Good and Evil, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Twilight of the Idols, and The Will to Power.

This book represents a unique contribution to Nietzschean scholarship in its analysis of the concept of power as preliminary to addressing Nietzsche’s psychological version of will to power. It advances a fresh interpretation of will to power that connects it explicitly to the meaning of human life, and, in so doing, the author addresses major questions such as: What does will to power designate? What does it presuppose? What effects does it engender? What is its status, epistemologically and metaphysically? How is will to power to be evaluated? How persuasive is will to power as an explanation of fundamental human instincts and as the lynchpin of a way of life? The volume argues that Nietzsche’s psychological notion of will to power cannot plausibly be understood as merely a first-order drive to attain and exert power. Moreover, despite some of the philosopher’s extravagant rhetoric, will to power is not an inherent instinct to oppress other people or things. Instead, will to power, understood generically, is a second-order desire to have, pursue and attain first-order desires; it bears a relationship to confronting and overcoming resistances and obstacles, and is related to the pursuit of excellence and personal transformation, as well as to experiences of feeling power. As, according to Nietzsche’s account, all human beings embody will to power, the book concludes that we should distinguish at least three varieties: robust, moderate, and attenuated will to power. Only by doing this, can we understand and evaluate will to power concretely.

Twilight of the Idols presents a vivid, compressed overview of many of Nietzsche’s mature ideas, including his attack on Plato’s Socrates and on the Platonic legacy in Western philosophy and culture. Polt provides a trustworthy rendering of Nietzsche’s text in contemporary American English, complete with notes prepared by the translator and Tracy Strong. An authoritative Introduction by Strong makes this an outstanding edition. Select Bibliography and Index.

'This world is the will to power - and nothing besides!' One of the great minds of modernity, Friedrich Nietzsche smashed through the beliefs of his age. These writings, which did much to establish his reputation as a philosopher, offer some of his most powerful and troubling thoughts: on how the values of a new, aggressive elite will save a nihilistic, mediocre Europe, and, most famously, on the 'will to power' - ideas that were seized upon and twisted by later readers. Taken from Nietzsche's unpublished notebooks and assembled by his sister after his death, The Will to Power now appears with previous errors corrected. Translated by R. Kevin Hill and Michael A. Scarpitti with an Introduction and Notes by R. Kevin Hill