File spoon-archives/nietzsche.archive/nietzsche_1998/nietzsche.9803, message 156


Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 10:21:49 -0800 (PST)
From: callihan-AT-callihan.seanet.com (Steven E. Callihan)
Subject: Re:  Re: Non-transcendental absolutes


>In a message dated 3/29/98 09:57:13, Steve wrote:
>
>>>>It is in the essence of the will to power that it be will to live
>
>
>
>>>>Lambda C
>
>
>
>>>Absolutely incorrect. Nietzsche praised the noble outlook which thought a
>
>>>short life full of great deeds preferable to a long, boring one. Granted
>
>>>"victim ideology" in abolishing all suffering holds as its highest ideal as
>
>>>long a duration as possible in the nursing home while some third world
>
>>>refugee spoon feeds you pap and slaps the shit out of you every time some
>
>>>dribbles down your cheek.
>
>
>
>>>John T. Duryea
>
>
>
>>He does refer to the will to power, at least once, as the "will to life" in
>
>>GS, although he tends to refer to it there more frequently as the "will of
>
>>life." The "will to life" is actually Schopenhauer's phrase for his Will.
>
>
>
>I have not explored this fully, but is it possible that Nietzsche meant
>something a bit more complex by "life" and "living"?  that perhaps the person
>in John's example of the nursing home is alive only in a sense? 
>

The point, I think, is that it seems neither LambdaC, Nietzsche, nor
Schopenhauer mean by the will to power/will to life/will of life anything
such as merely the "will to survive" (I don't believe that LambdaC meant
this either by "will to live," although it can cetainly be construed in such
a fashion). Indeed, for Nietzsche, any such thing as a mere will to survive
can only be reactive. The active will to power is always the will to
_overpower_. Rather, it is that the will to power/will to life leads
necessarily to suffering (with the will to overpower being turned back onto
itself) that leads to the inversion of this will into a "will to
nothingness" (the will to not survive).

The Uebermutt
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
=A6 Steven E. Callihan            =A6 "It is the stillest words that bring  =A6
=A6                               =A6 on the storm. Thoughts that come on   =A6
=A6                               =A6 doves' feet guide the world."         =A6
=A6 URL: http://www.callihan.com/ =A6 -F. Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra,=A6
=A6 E-Mail: callihan-AT-callihan.com =A6 II, "The Stillest Hour"               =A6
-------------------------------------------------------------------------



	--- from list nietzsche-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---


   

Driftline Main Page

 

Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005