Here are some select quotes from The Will to Power as translated by Walter Kaufmann. As acknowledged in the previous post, cherry-picking is not the best way to approach Nietzsche, his arguments are often far more subtle. But, these give a representation of what his notebooks are like. Kaufmann chose to keep Elizabeth's original four-section organization of the work even though the notes were not originally written this way at all. It does make it easier to reference and discuss the content of the notebooks. For context, I have included the approximate dates when these notes were written.
From Book One – European Nihilism
Essentially, this section reveals that Nietzsche saw nihilism as an inevitable symptom of our times, a necessary reaction to humanity's need to transition from its old culture and manner of understanding to a new "evaluation" of human experience.
“Our pessimism: the world does not have the value we thought it had. Our faith itself has so increased our desire for knowledge that today we have to say this. Initial results: it seems worth less; that is how it is experienced initially. It is only in this sense that we are pessimists; i.e., in our determination to admit this revaluation to ourselves without any reservation, and to stop telling ourselves tales – lies – the old way.
“That is precisely how we find the pathos that impels us to seek new values. In sum: the world might be far more valuable than we used to believe; we must see through the naiveté of our ideals, and while we thought that we accorded it the highest interpretation, we may not even have given our human existence a moderately fair value.” (Aphorism 32, Summer-Fall 1888)
“Waste, decay, elimination, need not be condemned: they are necessary consequences of life, of the growth of life. The phenomenon of decadence is as necessary as any increase and advance of life: one is in no position to abolish it. Reason demands, on the contrary, that we do justice to it.” (40, March-June 1888)
“The multitude and disintegration of impulses and the lack of any systematic order among them result in a ‘weak will’; their coordination under a single predominant impulse results in a ‘strong will’: in the first case it is the oscillation and the lack of gravity; in the latter, the precision and clarity of direction.” (46, March-June 1888)
“Principle: There is an element of decay in everything that characterizes modern man: but close beside this sickness stand signs of an untested forces and powerfulness of the soul. The same reasons that produce the increasing smallness of man drive the stronger and rarer individuals to greatness.” (109, 1885)
“Overall insight. - Actually, every major growth is accompanied by a tremendous crumbling and passing away: suffering, the symptom of decline belong in the times of tremendous advances; every fruitful and powerful movement of humanity has also created at the same time a nihilistic movement. It could be a sign of a crucial and most essential growth, of the transition to new conditions of existence, that the most extreme form of pessimism, genuine nihilism, would come into the world. This I have comprehended.” (112, Spring-Fall 1887)
From Book Two – Critique of Highest Values
Nietzsche felt religion and traditional morality were irrelevant to modern human experience. Of all the religions, Buddhism was preferable, though nevertheless misguided. A "higher man" was possible only through a transformation of human values.
“Moralities and religions are the principal means by which one can make whatever one wishes out of man, provided that one possesses a superfluity of creative forces and can assert one’s will over long periods of time – in the form of legislation, religions, and customs.” (144, 1885)
“Buddha against the 'Crucified.' Among the nihilistic religions, one may always clearly distinguish the Christian from the Buddhist. The Buddhist religion is the expression of a fine evening, a perfect sweetness and mildness – it is gratitude toward all that lies behind, and also to what is lacking: bitterness, disillusionment, rancor; finally, a lofty spiritual love; the subtleties of philosophical contradiction are behind it, even from these it is resting: but from these it still derives its spiritual glory and sunset glow. (- Origin in the highest castes -)” (155, Spring-Fall 1887)
“The higher man is distinguished from the lower by his fearlessness and his readiness to challenge misfortune: it is a sign of degeneration when eudaemonistic valuations begin to prevail (- psychological fatigue, feebleness of will -), Christianity, with its perspective of ‘blessedness,’ is a mode of thought typical of a suffering and feeble species of man. Abundant strength wants to create, suffer, go under: the Christian salvation-for-bigots is bad music to it, and its hieratic posture an annoyance.” (222, Nov. 1887 – March 1888)
“Through the long succession of millennia, man has not known himself physiologically: he does not know himself even today. To know, e.g., that one has a nervous system (- but not ‘soul’ -) is still the privilege of the best informed. But man is not content not to know in this case. One must be very humane to say ‘I don’t know that,’ to afford ignorance.” (229, March-June 1888)
Nietzsche's late philosophy believed that modernity fundamentally a psychological problem. Human beings assign meaning to life, either as individuals or, more likely, as cultures. Because humans are the source of all meaning, all meaning is relative and completely fragmented.
“My purpose: to demonstrate the absolute homogeneity of all events and the application of moral distinctions as conditioned by perspective; to demonstrate how everything praised as moral is identical in essence with everything immoral and was made possible, as in every development of morality, with immoral means and for immoral ends - ; how, on the one hand, everything decried as immoral is, economically considered, higher and more essential, and how a development toward a greater fullness of life necessarily also demands the advance of immorality. ‘Truth’ the extent to which we permit ourselves to understand this fact.” (272, Spring-Fall 1887)
“The great crimes of psychology:
“1. That all displeasure, all misfortune had been falsified with the idea of wrong (guilt). (Pain has been robbed of innocence);
‘2. That all strong feelings of pleasure (wild spirits, voluptuousness, triumph, pride, audacity, knowledge, self-assurance and happiness as such) have been branded as sinful, as a seduction, as suspicious;
“3. That feelings of weakness, inward acts of cowardice, lack of courage for oneself has been overlaid with sanctifying names and taught as being desirable in the highest degree;
“4. That everything great in man has been reinterpreted as selflessness, as self-sacrifice for the sake of something else, someone else, that even in the man of knowledge, even in the artist, depersonalization has been presented as the cause of the greatest knowledge and ability;
“5. That love has been falsified as surrender (and altruism), while it is an appropriation or a bestowal following from a superabundance of personality. Only the most complete persons can love; the depersonalized, the ‘objective,’ are the worst lovers 9- one has only to ask the girls!) This applies also to love of God or of ‘fatherland’; and one must be firmly rooted in oneself. (Egoism as ego-morphism, altruism as alter-ation.
“6. Life as punishment (happiness as temptation); the passions as devilish, confidence in oneself as godless.
“This whole psychology is a psychology of prevention, a kind of immuring out of fear; on one hand the great masses (the underprivileged and mediocre) seek to defend themselves by means of it against the stronger (- and to destroy them in their development -), on the other all the drives through which they best prosper, sanctified and alone held in honor. Compare the Jewish priesthood.” (296, Spring - Fall 1887)
“It seems to me important that one should get rid of the all, the unity, some force, something unconditioned; otherwise one will never cease regarding it as the highest court of appeal and baptizing it ‘God.’ One must shatter the all; unlearn respect for the all; take what we have given to the unknown and the whole and give it back to what is nearest, what is ours.” (331, 1883-1888)
“”No egoism at all exists that remains within itself and does not encroach – consequently, that ‘allowable,’ ‘morally indifferent’ egoism of which you speak does not exist at all. ‘One furthers one’s ego always at the expense of others;’ ‘Life always lives at the expense of other life’ – he who does not grasp this has not taken even the first step toward honesty with himself.” (369, 1885 - 1886)
From Book Three – Principles of a New Evaluation
A new evaluation requires an entirely new way to think about things. Physical biology, including human sexuality, should be honored above metaphysical hope and wishful thinking. Even science itself is not a privileged system. It is another form of human interpretation and should be subject to the same critique as religion.
“There exists neither ‘spirit,’ nor reason, nor thinking, nor consciousness, nor soul, now will, nor truth: all are fictions that are of no use. There is no question of ‘subject and object,’ but of a particular species of animal that can prosper only through a certain relative rightness; above all, regularity of its perceptions (so that it can accumulate experience) –
“Knowledge works as a tool of power. Hence it is plain that it increases with every increase in power –
“The meaning of ‘knowledge’: here, as in the case of ‘good’ or ‘beautiful,’ the concept is to be regarded in a strict and narrow anthropocentric and biological sense. In order for a particular species to maintain itself and increase its power, its conception of reality must comprehend enough of the calculable and constant for it to base a scheme of behavior on it. The utility of preservation – not some abstract-theoretical need not to be deceived – stands as the motive behind the development of the organs of knowledge – they develop in such a way that their observations suffice for our preservation. In other words: the measure of the desire for knowledge depends upon the measure to which the will to power grows within a species: a species grasps a certain amount of reality in order to become master of it, in order to press it into service.” (480, March-June 1888)
“A world In a state of becoming could not, in the strict sense, be ‘comprehended’ or ‘known’; only to the extent that that the ‘comprehending’ and ‘knowing’ intellect encounters a coarse, already-created world, fabricated out of mere appearances but become firm to the extent that this kind of appearance has preserved life – only to this extent is there anything like ‘knowledge’; i.e., a measuring of earlier and later errors by one another.” (520, 1885)
“That which becomes conscious is involved in casual relations which are entirely withheld from us – the sequence of thoughts, feelings, ideas in consciousness does not signify that this sequence is a casual sequence; but apparently it is so, to the highest degree. Upon this appearance we have founded our whole idea id spirit, reason, logic, etc. (- none of these exist: they are fictitious synthesis and unities), and projected these into things and behind things!
“Usually, one takes consciousness itself as the general sensorium and supreme court; nonetheless, it is only means of communication: it is evolved through social intercourse and with a view to the interests of social intercourse – ‘Intercourse’ here understood to include the influences of the outer world and the reactions they compel on our side; also our effect upon the outer world. It is not the directing agent, but an organ of the directing agent.” (524, Nov. 1887 – March 1888)
“Essential: to start from the body and employ it as guide. It is the much richer phenomenon, which allows of clearer observation. Belief in the body is better established than belief in the spirit. ‘No matter how strongly a thing may be believed, strength of belief is no criterion of truth.’ But what is truth? Perhaps a kind of belief that has become a condition of life? In that case, to be sure, strength could be a criterion; e.g., in regard to causality.” (532, 1885)
“The ascertaining of ‘truth’ and ‘untruth,’ the ascertaining of facts in general, is fundamentally different from creative positing, from forming, shaping, overcoming, willing, such as is of the essence of philosophy. To introduce a meaning – this task still remains to be done, assuming there is no meaning yet. Thus it is with sounds, but also with the fate of peoples: they are capable of the most different interpretations and direction toward different goals. On a yet higher level is to posit a goal and mold facts according to it; that is, active interpretation and not merely conceptual interpretation. Ultimately, man finds in things nothing but what he himself has imported into them – the finding is called science, the importing – art religion, love, pride. Even if this should be a piece of childishness, one should carry on with both and be well disposed toward both – some should find; others - we others! – should import!” (605-606, Spring-Fall 1887, 1885-1886)
“…the value of the world lies in our interpretation…every elevation of man brings with it an overcoming of narrower interpretations; that every strengthening and increase of power opens up new perspectives and means believing in new horizons – this idea permeates my writings.” (616, 1885-1886)
“The will to power can manifest itself only against resistances; therefore it seeks that which resists it – this is the primeval tendency of the protoplasm when it extends pseudopodia and feels about. Appropriation and assimilation are above all a desire to overwhelm, a forming, shaping and reshaping, until at length that which has been overwhelmed has entirely gone over into the power domain of the aggressor and has increased the same.” (656, Spring-Fall 1887)
“The fundamental mistake is simply that, instead of understanding consciousness as a tool and particular aspect of the total life, we posit it is as the standard and the condition of life that is of supreme value: it is the erroneous perspective of a parte ad totum (From a part to a whole) - which is why all philosophers are instinctively trying to imagine a total consciousness, a consciousness involved in all life and will, in all that occurs, a ‘spirit,’ ‘God’.” (707, Spring-Fall 1887)
“In Dionysian intoxication there is sexuality and voluptuousness: they are not lacking in the Apollinian. There must also be a difference in tempto in the two conditions. The extreme calm in certain sensations of intoxication (more strictly: the retardation of the feelings of time and space) likes to be reflected in a vision of the calmest gestures and types of soul. The classical style is essentially a representation of this calm, simplification, abbreviation, concentration - the highest feeling of power is concentrated in the classical type. To react slowly; a great consciousness; no feeling of struggle.” (799, March-June 1888)
“The feeling of intoxication, in fact corresponding to an increase in strength; strongest in the mating season; new organs, new accomplishments, colors, forms; ‘becoming more beautiful’ is a consequence of enhanced strength. Becoming more beautiful as the expression of a victorious will, of increased co-ordination, of a harmonizing of all the strong desires, of an infallibility perpendicular stress. Logical and geometrical simplification is a consequence of enhancement of strength: conversely the apprehension of such a simplification again enhances the feeling of strength.” (800, March-June 1888)
“We have need of lies in order to conquer this reality, this ‘truth,’ that is, in order to live - That lies are necessary in order to live is itself part of the terrifying and questionable character of existence….man must be a liar by nature, he must be above all an artist. And is as one: metaphysics, religion, morality, science – all of them only products of his will to art, to lie, to flight from ‘truth,’ to negation of ‘truth.’ This ability itself, thanks to which he violates reality by means of lies, this artistic ability of man par excellence - he has it in common with everything that is. He himself is after all a piece of reality, truth, nature: how should he not also be a piece of genius in lying!
“Art…the great means of making life possible…the great stimulant of life…the only superior counterforce to all will to denial of life…the terrifying and questionable character of existence, who want to see it…but live it, want to live it…suffering is willed, transfigured, deified, where suffering is a form of great delight.
“But truth does not count as the supreme value, even less as the supreme power. The will to appearance, to illusion, to deception, to becoming and change (to objectified deception) here counts as more profound, primeval, ‘metaphysical’ than the will to truth, to reality, to mere appearance,: - the last is itself merely a form of the will to illusion. In the same way, pleasure counts as being more primeval than pain: pain only as conditioned, as a consequence of the will to pleasure of the will to become, grow, shape, i.e., to create: in creation, however, destruction is included). A highest state of affirmation of existence is conceived from which the highest degree of pain cannot be excluded: the tragic-Dionysian state.” (853, 1886)
From Book Four: Discipline and Breeding
The "higher" human being will express specific attributes of nobility and greatness as opposed to the understandings of the "decadent" masses. Inner strength or character and resilience in the face of the utter decay and loss of meaning of humanity's "original systems of value" is essential. The will to power is both the force creating this change and that which grows as an influence on the earth as more people harness it. We must become who we genuinely are as individuals and work toward a transcendence of traditional human society and norms.
“What is noble? Care for most external things…guards against confusion…a stoic severity and self-constraint…slowness of gesture and of glance…endurance of poverty and want, also of sickness…Avoidance of petty honors and mistrust of all who praise readily…doubt as to the communicability of the heart…solitude not as chose but as given…duties only to one’s equals…experience oneself as one who bestows honor…always disguised…pleasure in forms…mistrust of letting oneself go in any way…ability to keep silent…lack of east reconcilability…disgust for…’being cozy’...collection of precious things…slow to generalize. The individual case…we love the naïve…as spectators…one has constant need of poses…one leaves happiness to the great majority…one instinctively seeks heavy responsibilities…one knows how to make enemies everywhere…one constantly contradicts the great majority no through words but through deeds.” (943-944, 1885, Jan.-Fall 1888)
“A great man…a long logic in all his activity…being able to extent his will across great stretches of his life…he is colder, harder, less hesitating, and without fear of ‘opinion’…if he cannot lead, he goes alone…he wants no ‘sympathetic’ heart, but servants, tools…a solitude within him that is inaccessible to praise and blame, his own justice that is beyond appeal.” (962, 1885)
“In contrast to the animals, man has cultivated an abundance of contrary drives and impulses within himself: thanks to this synthesis, he is master of the earth. – Moralities are the expression of locally limited orders of rank in his multifarious world of drives, so man should not perish through their contradictions. Thus a drive as master, its opposite weakened, refined, as the impulse that provides the stimulus for the inactivity of the chief drive. The highest man would have the greatest multiplicity of drives in the relatively greatest strength that can be endured.” (966, 1884)
“This world: a monster of energy, without beginning, without end;…does not expend itself but only transforms itself; …a play of forces…eternally changing…with tremendous years or recurrence…the simplest forms striving toward the most complex…turbulent…self-contradictory…the play of contradictions back to the joy of concord…self-creating…self-destroying, this mystery world of the twofold voluptuous delight, my ‘beyond good and evil,’ without goal, unless the joy of the circle is itself a goal; …This world is the will to power – and nothing besides! And you yourselves are also this will to power – and nothing besides!” (1067, 1885)
It is precisely thoughts like this one that Julian Young contends changed in Nietzsche's mind. Although The Will to Power ends forcefully with this selected note, Nietzsche had come to moderate this definitive tone in favor of other considerations as indicated in my previous post. The world as "a monster of energy" is probably an idea he continued to uphold and is an excellent phrase representing the powerful yet chaotic nature of human existence. This is a fine example of how the notebooks are definitely Nietzsche's writings (and they can be insightful into Nietzsche's philosophy) but they are more his experimental musings than his final judgment.
From Book One – European Nihilism
Essentially, this section reveals that Nietzsche saw nihilism as an inevitable symptom of our times, a necessary reaction to humanity's need to transition from its old culture and manner of understanding to a new "evaluation" of human experience.
“Our pessimism: the world does not have the value we thought it had. Our faith itself has so increased our desire for knowledge that today we have to say this. Initial results: it seems worth less; that is how it is experienced initially. It is only in this sense that we are pessimists; i.e., in our determination to admit this revaluation to ourselves without any reservation, and to stop telling ourselves tales – lies – the old way.
“That is precisely how we find the pathos that impels us to seek new values. In sum: the world might be far more valuable than we used to believe; we must see through the naiveté of our ideals, and while we thought that we accorded it the highest interpretation, we may not even have given our human existence a moderately fair value.” (Aphorism 32, Summer-Fall 1888)
“Waste, decay, elimination, need not be condemned: they are necessary consequences of life, of the growth of life. The phenomenon of decadence is as necessary as any increase and advance of life: one is in no position to abolish it. Reason demands, on the contrary, that we do justice to it.” (40, March-June 1888)
“The multitude and disintegration of impulses and the lack of any systematic order among them result in a ‘weak will’; their coordination under a single predominant impulse results in a ‘strong will’: in the first case it is the oscillation and the lack of gravity; in the latter, the precision and clarity of direction.” (46, March-June 1888)
“Principle: There is an element of decay in everything that characterizes modern man: but close beside this sickness stand signs of an untested forces and powerfulness of the soul. The same reasons that produce the increasing smallness of man drive the stronger and rarer individuals to greatness.” (109, 1885)
“Overall insight. - Actually, every major growth is accompanied by a tremendous crumbling and passing away: suffering, the symptom of decline belong in the times of tremendous advances; every fruitful and powerful movement of humanity has also created at the same time a nihilistic movement. It could be a sign of a crucial and most essential growth, of the transition to new conditions of existence, that the most extreme form of pessimism, genuine nihilism, would come into the world. This I have comprehended.” (112, Spring-Fall 1887)
From Book Two – Critique of Highest Values
Nietzsche felt religion and traditional morality were irrelevant to modern human experience. Of all the religions, Buddhism was preferable, though nevertheless misguided. A "higher man" was possible only through a transformation of human values.
“Moralities and religions are the principal means by which one can make whatever one wishes out of man, provided that one possesses a superfluity of creative forces and can assert one’s will over long periods of time – in the form of legislation, religions, and customs.” (144, 1885)
“Buddha against the 'Crucified.' Among the nihilistic religions, one may always clearly distinguish the Christian from the Buddhist. The Buddhist religion is the expression of a fine evening, a perfect sweetness and mildness – it is gratitude toward all that lies behind, and also to what is lacking: bitterness, disillusionment, rancor; finally, a lofty spiritual love; the subtleties of philosophical contradiction are behind it, even from these it is resting: but from these it still derives its spiritual glory and sunset glow. (- Origin in the highest castes -)” (155, Spring-Fall 1887)
“The higher man is distinguished from the lower by his fearlessness and his readiness to challenge misfortune: it is a sign of degeneration when eudaemonistic valuations begin to prevail (- psychological fatigue, feebleness of will -), Christianity, with its perspective of ‘blessedness,’ is a mode of thought typical of a suffering and feeble species of man. Abundant strength wants to create, suffer, go under: the Christian salvation-for-bigots is bad music to it, and its hieratic posture an annoyance.” (222, Nov. 1887 – March 1888)
“Through the long succession of millennia, man has not known himself physiologically: he does not know himself even today. To know, e.g., that one has a nervous system (- but not ‘soul’ -) is still the privilege of the best informed. But man is not content not to know in this case. One must be very humane to say ‘I don’t know that,’ to afford ignorance.” (229, March-June 1888)
Nietzsche's late philosophy believed that modernity fundamentally a psychological problem. Human beings assign meaning to life, either as individuals or, more likely, as cultures. Because humans are the source of all meaning, all meaning is relative and completely fragmented.
“My purpose: to demonstrate the absolute homogeneity of all events and the application of moral distinctions as conditioned by perspective; to demonstrate how everything praised as moral is identical in essence with everything immoral and was made possible, as in every development of morality, with immoral means and for immoral ends - ; how, on the one hand, everything decried as immoral is, economically considered, higher and more essential, and how a development toward a greater fullness of life necessarily also demands the advance of immorality. ‘Truth’ the extent to which we permit ourselves to understand this fact.” (272, Spring-Fall 1887)
“The great crimes of psychology:
“1. That all displeasure, all misfortune had been falsified with the idea of wrong (guilt). (Pain has been robbed of innocence);
‘2. That all strong feelings of pleasure (wild spirits, voluptuousness, triumph, pride, audacity, knowledge, self-assurance and happiness as such) have been branded as sinful, as a seduction, as suspicious;
“3. That feelings of weakness, inward acts of cowardice, lack of courage for oneself has been overlaid with sanctifying names and taught as being desirable in the highest degree;
“4. That everything great in man has been reinterpreted as selflessness, as self-sacrifice for the sake of something else, someone else, that even in the man of knowledge, even in the artist, depersonalization has been presented as the cause of the greatest knowledge and ability;
“5. That love has been falsified as surrender (and altruism), while it is an appropriation or a bestowal following from a superabundance of personality. Only the most complete persons can love; the depersonalized, the ‘objective,’ are the worst lovers 9- one has only to ask the girls!) This applies also to love of God or of ‘fatherland’; and one must be firmly rooted in oneself. (Egoism as ego-morphism, altruism as alter-ation.
“6. Life as punishment (happiness as temptation); the passions as devilish, confidence in oneself as godless.
“This whole psychology is a psychology of prevention, a kind of immuring out of fear; on one hand the great masses (the underprivileged and mediocre) seek to defend themselves by means of it against the stronger (- and to destroy them in their development -), on the other all the drives through which they best prosper, sanctified and alone held in honor. Compare the Jewish priesthood.” (296, Spring - Fall 1887)
“It seems to me important that one should get rid of the all, the unity, some force, something unconditioned; otherwise one will never cease regarding it as the highest court of appeal and baptizing it ‘God.’ One must shatter the all; unlearn respect for the all; take what we have given to the unknown and the whole and give it back to what is nearest, what is ours.” (331, 1883-1888)
“”No egoism at all exists that remains within itself and does not encroach – consequently, that ‘allowable,’ ‘morally indifferent’ egoism of which you speak does not exist at all. ‘One furthers one’s ego always at the expense of others;’ ‘Life always lives at the expense of other life’ – he who does not grasp this has not taken even the first step toward honesty with himself.” (369, 1885 - 1886)
From Book Three – Principles of a New Evaluation
A new evaluation requires an entirely new way to think about things. Physical biology, including human sexuality, should be honored above metaphysical hope and wishful thinking. Even science itself is not a privileged system. It is another form of human interpretation and should be subject to the same critique as religion.
“There exists neither ‘spirit,’ nor reason, nor thinking, nor consciousness, nor soul, now will, nor truth: all are fictions that are of no use. There is no question of ‘subject and object,’ but of a particular species of animal that can prosper only through a certain relative rightness; above all, regularity of its perceptions (so that it can accumulate experience) –
“Knowledge works as a tool of power. Hence it is plain that it increases with every increase in power –
“The meaning of ‘knowledge’: here, as in the case of ‘good’ or ‘beautiful,’ the concept is to be regarded in a strict and narrow anthropocentric and biological sense. In order for a particular species to maintain itself and increase its power, its conception of reality must comprehend enough of the calculable and constant for it to base a scheme of behavior on it. The utility of preservation – not some abstract-theoretical need not to be deceived – stands as the motive behind the development of the organs of knowledge – they develop in such a way that their observations suffice for our preservation. In other words: the measure of the desire for knowledge depends upon the measure to which the will to power grows within a species: a species grasps a certain amount of reality in order to become master of it, in order to press it into service.” (480, March-June 1888)
“A world In a state of becoming could not, in the strict sense, be ‘comprehended’ or ‘known’; only to the extent that that the ‘comprehending’ and ‘knowing’ intellect encounters a coarse, already-created world, fabricated out of mere appearances but become firm to the extent that this kind of appearance has preserved life – only to this extent is there anything like ‘knowledge’; i.e., a measuring of earlier and later errors by one another.” (520, 1885)
“That which becomes conscious is involved in casual relations which are entirely withheld from us – the sequence of thoughts, feelings, ideas in consciousness does not signify that this sequence is a casual sequence; but apparently it is so, to the highest degree. Upon this appearance we have founded our whole idea id spirit, reason, logic, etc. (- none of these exist: they are fictitious synthesis and unities), and projected these into things and behind things!
“Usually, one takes consciousness itself as the general sensorium and supreme court; nonetheless, it is only means of communication: it is evolved through social intercourse and with a view to the interests of social intercourse – ‘Intercourse’ here understood to include the influences of the outer world and the reactions they compel on our side; also our effect upon the outer world. It is not the directing agent, but an organ of the directing agent.” (524, Nov. 1887 – March 1888)
“Essential: to start from the body and employ it as guide. It is the much richer phenomenon, which allows of clearer observation. Belief in the body is better established than belief in the spirit. ‘No matter how strongly a thing may be believed, strength of belief is no criterion of truth.’ But what is truth? Perhaps a kind of belief that has become a condition of life? In that case, to be sure, strength could be a criterion; e.g., in regard to causality.” (532, 1885)
“The ascertaining of ‘truth’ and ‘untruth,’ the ascertaining of facts in general, is fundamentally different from creative positing, from forming, shaping, overcoming, willing, such as is of the essence of philosophy. To introduce a meaning – this task still remains to be done, assuming there is no meaning yet. Thus it is with sounds, but also with the fate of peoples: they are capable of the most different interpretations and direction toward different goals. On a yet higher level is to posit a goal and mold facts according to it; that is, active interpretation and not merely conceptual interpretation. Ultimately, man finds in things nothing but what he himself has imported into them – the finding is called science, the importing – art religion, love, pride. Even if this should be a piece of childishness, one should carry on with both and be well disposed toward both – some should find; others - we others! – should import!” (605-606, Spring-Fall 1887, 1885-1886)
“…the value of the world lies in our interpretation…every elevation of man brings with it an overcoming of narrower interpretations; that every strengthening and increase of power opens up new perspectives and means believing in new horizons – this idea permeates my writings.” (616, 1885-1886)
“The will to power can manifest itself only against resistances; therefore it seeks that which resists it – this is the primeval tendency of the protoplasm when it extends pseudopodia and feels about. Appropriation and assimilation are above all a desire to overwhelm, a forming, shaping and reshaping, until at length that which has been overwhelmed has entirely gone over into the power domain of the aggressor and has increased the same.” (656, Spring-Fall 1887)
“The fundamental mistake is simply that, instead of understanding consciousness as a tool and particular aspect of the total life, we posit it is as the standard and the condition of life that is of supreme value: it is the erroneous perspective of a parte ad totum (From a part to a whole) - which is why all philosophers are instinctively trying to imagine a total consciousness, a consciousness involved in all life and will, in all that occurs, a ‘spirit,’ ‘God’.” (707, Spring-Fall 1887)
“In Dionysian intoxication there is sexuality and voluptuousness: they are not lacking in the Apollinian. There must also be a difference in tempto in the two conditions. The extreme calm in certain sensations of intoxication (more strictly: the retardation of the feelings of time and space) likes to be reflected in a vision of the calmest gestures and types of soul. The classical style is essentially a representation of this calm, simplification, abbreviation, concentration - the highest feeling of power is concentrated in the classical type. To react slowly; a great consciousness; no feeling of struggle.” (799, March-June 1888)
“The feeling of intoxication, in fact corresponding to an increase in strength; strongest in the mating season; new organs, new accomplishments, colors, forms; ‘becoming more beautiful’ is a consequence of enhanced strength. Becoming more beautiful as the expression of a victorious will, of increased co-ordination, of a harmonizing of all the strong desires, of an infallibility perpendicular stress. Logical and geometrical simplification is a consequence of enhancement of strength: conversely the apprehension of such a simplification again enhances the feeling of strength.” (800, March-June 1888)
“We have need of lies in order to conquer this reality, this ‘truth,’ that is, in order to live - That lies are necessary in order to live is itself part of the terrifying and questionable character of existence….man must be a liar by nature, he must be above all an artist. And is as one: metaphysics, religion, morality, science – all of them only products of his will to art, to lie, to flight from ‘truth,’ to negation of ‘truth.’ This ability itself, thanks to which he violates reality by means of lies, this artistic ability of man par excellence - he has it in common with everything that is. He himself is after all a piece of reality, truth, nature: how should he not also be a piece of genius in lying!
“Art…the great means of making life possible…the great stimulant of life…the only superior counterforce to all will to denial of life…the terrifying and questionable character of existence, who want to see it…but live it, want to live it…suffering is willed, transfigured, deified, where suffering is a form of great delight.
“But truth does not count as the supreme value, even less as the supreme power. The will to appearance, to illusion, to deception, to becoming and change (to objectified deception) here counts as more profound, primeval, ‘metaphysical’ than the will to truth, to reality, to mere appearance,: - the last is itself merely a form of the will to illusion. In the same way, pleasure counts as being more primeval than pain: pain only as conditioned, as a consequence of the will to pleasure of the will to become, grow, shape, i.e., to create: in creation, however, destruction is included). A highest state of affirmation of existence is conceived from which the highest degree of pain cannot be excluded: the tragic-Dionysian state.” (853, 1886)
From Book Four: Discipline and Breeding
The "higher" human being will express specific attributes of nobility and greatness as opposed to the understandings of the "decadent" masses. Inner strength or character and resilience in the face of the utter decay and loss of meaning of humanity's "original systems of value" is essential. The will to power is both the force creating this change and that which grows as an influence on the earth as more people harness it. We must become who we genuinely are as individuals and work toward a transcendence of traditional human society and norms.
“What is noble? Care for most external things…guards against confusion…a stoic severity and self-constraint…slowness of gesture and of glance…endurance of poverty and want, also of sickness…Avoidance of petty honors and mistrust of all who praise readily…doubt as to the communicability of the heart…solitude not as chose but as given…duties only to one’s equals…experience oneself as one who bestows honor…always disguised…pleasure in forms…mistrust of letting oneself go in any way…ability to keep silent…lack of east reconcilability…disgust for…’being cozy’...collection of precious things…slow to generalize. The individual case…we love the naïve…as spectators…one has constant need of poses…one leaves happiness to the great majority…one instinctively seeks heavy responsibilities…one knows how to make enemies everywhere…one constantly contradicts the great majority no through words but through deeds.” (943-944, 1885, Jan.-Fall 1888)
“A great man…a long logic in all his activity…being able to extent his will across great stretches of his life…he is colder, harder, less hesitating, and without fear of ‘opinion’…if he cannot lead, he goes alone…he wants no ‘sympathetic’ heart, but servants, tools…a solitude within him that is inaccessible to praise and blame, his own justice that is beyond appeal.” (962, 1885)
“In contrast to the animals, man has cultivated an abundance of contrary drives and impulses within himself: thanks to this synthesis, he is master of the earth. – Moralities are the expression of locally limited orders of rank in his multifarious world of drives, so man should not perish through their contradictions. Thus a drive as master, its opposite weakened, refined, as the impulse that provides the stimulus for the inactivity of the chief drive. The highest man would have the greatest multiplicity of drives in the relatively greatest strength that can be endured.” (966, 1884)
“This world: a monster of energy, without beginning, without end;…does not expend itself but only transforms itself; …a play of forces…eternally changing…with tremendous years or recurrence…the simplest forms striving toward the most complex…turbulent…self-contradictory…the play of contradictions back to the joy of concord…self-creating…self-destroying, this mystery world of the twofold voluptuous delight, my ‘beyond good and evil,’ without goal, unless the joy of the circle is itself a goal; …This world is the will to power – and nothing besides! And you yourselves are also this will to power – and nothing besides!” (1067, 1885)
It is precisely thoughts like this one that Julian Young contends changed in Nietzsche's mind. Although The Will to Power ends forcefully with this selected note, Nietzsche had come to moderate this definitive tone in favor of other considerations as indicated in my previous post. The world as "a monster of energy" is probably an idea he continued to uphold and is an excellent phrase representing the powerful yet chaotic nature of human existence. This is a fine example of how the notebooks are definitely Nietzsche's writings (and they can be insightful into Nietzsche's philosophy) but they are more his experimental musings than his final judgment.
Comments