Nietzsche’s Will to Power Explained - The Basis of All Moral Systems

At the deepest foundations, Nietzsche believes that mankind moralizes from the same underlying, driving force that is behind all life: the will to power. We will explore just what the will to power means, which Zarathustra says is synonymous with the process of self-overcoming. We will then examine how it is that the will to power produces our second-order drives, such as the will to truth, or the drive to obey the community's morality. We'll conclude by examining the practical applications of Nietzsche's level of "moral meta-analysis", how we can use this analysis to turn a critical eye to different world-historical moral systems, and, finally, what this understanding will to power means for our lives.

This episode draws on the arguments of Walter Kaufmann from his book, Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist. I also recommend this very helpful post by Lebensmaler on the Nietzsche subreddit: Polysemy of the Word Morality in Nietzsche's Writing.

Episode art: Rembrandt -- Moses with the Ten Commandments (Courtesy of Wikimedia commons)

[emZee]

This channel is BY FAR the best resource on Nietzsche bar none. The more I watch the more I realise I've never actually understood Nietzsche. Thank you good sir

[musashiwebb]

Currently rediscovering Nietzsche. I picked him up in my teens, and found him to be a novelty and helped shape my immature understanding of life at such a young age. At almost 32 now with actual life experiences, I am consuming his ideas with a greater sense of awe, accompanied by moments of revelation that never had occurred when first exposed. This particular video you've created has helped to bring even deeper understanding/appreciation to me. I thank you for this, and I look forward to watching/listening to your other creations as well. We live in such miraculous/turbulent times. I am grateful for this and so much more.

[johnndamascene]

Thank you for explaining this all so succinctly. These Germans can get very wordy 🤣

[broadbandtogod]

There is a thousand things I want to say about, all of this video...
But I'll settle for one thing at this time
*_I LOVE THIS_*

[kimfreeborn]

Nietzsche's antinomianism "he's reminding us what the immoral and lower things that this higher culture is the product of." What gives rise to reason "the community's power depends on the individual being able to suppress their feelings with thoughts." Nietzsche rejects the supernatural status of reason and places it the domestication of the individual. Bravo. "Every attempt to perfect mankind has also damaged him in the process."

[kaweah]

Power is really just "the ability to do something." In a deistic/theistic context, power can represent the ability to create. Taking that creative sense down to a human level, power can be "the ability to become." ... "Will to Metamorphosis"? Wouldn't Heraclitus appreciate any assertion that all things yearn to change, his fire being characterized by "want and satiety?" Perhaps he would prefer the term "Will to Warfare"? (haha)

[johnsondominic]

Found this channel very recently.
Love almost everything about the new videos.
Good content. Clear line of thought. Soothing narration.
Few suggestions will be. If you put the text displayed while you are reading it's little bit more easy for some people to follow. More pictures which kinda sets an abstract tone of the topic explained is very good.

I can understand those take lot more time and editing. But just few silly suggestions from my side.
Apart from that, love the channel.

If you are looking for ideas, maybe reading each chapter of any book and explaining your line of thought in between will be awesome atleast for me.

Hoping to see lot more of similar content

[joeybeargroovesever]

A society can function like a living organism, with its main goal being its own survival. Such a society treats its individual members like mere cells, which are disposable. The individual's worldview/value system is programmed into him so that he will sacrifice his own welfare/fulfillment for that of the society. And if the programming is done well, he won't be consciously aware of his perpetual self-sacrifice because he will consciously identify his own welfare/fulfillment with that of the society, posterity, etc. And when the self-sacrifice hurts, he'll take pride in it, the pain serving as evidence of his dedication to the group. He'll also pass this programmed worldview/value system to his offspring and impose it on his underlings. Society can thus function as a self-perpetuating organism with its worldview/value system acting as its DNA code.

In many cases, a worldview/value system is identified with the welfare of the entire society only because it is helps perpetuate the status of those who rule the society. Crimes that the poor commit against the rich/powerful are considered "worse" than the many crimes that the rich/powerful commit against the poor. For example, notice how society condemns and often punishes stealing more severely than false advertising, underpaying workers, breach-of-contract, embezzling, and bribery.

When a man conforms himself to the worldview/value system of a society whose primary goal is self-perpetuation, he is not becoming something greater. He is becoming a slave, becoming more like a worm. He is motivated by fear of punishment, ultimately rooted in fear of pain and death.

The moral code of his society may contain certain logical and practical teachings, such as encouraging kindness and forbidding murder. But the society supports those precepts only for the sake of social order rather than for love of logic or the welfare of individuals. If mass murder and perpetual theft were not a threat to the survival of the society, the society might not condemn such things. There are many evils which society tolerates or even encourages, such as slavery and destruction of the environment, when it helps the society perpetuate and expand itself into new geography and into the next generation. A society is only capable of considering an individual as a cell, not as an autonomous being with dignity, meaning, and rights.

Even when the leaders of a revolutionary movement propose to reorder society towards liberty, equality, and justice, this is just a new class of would-be rulers attempting to rally the masses to their side in order to displace the old ruling class. Once in power, they may institute certain reforms for the sake of maintaining the support of the masses, but they will not work to establish the ideals they preached. We see this in American history, when slave-owners like Jefferson led a revolution in the name of freedom, or in socialist and Communist societies in which the poor get poorer and the middle class disappears while a new elite arises and lives much like the elites they overthrew.

[fortunatomartino]

Moralities are used for power
Find out what is "good" and use it for your advantage
for "glory"
for "nation "
for " heaven "/"allah"/for "yahweh"
for the "family "
for "business "

[watchfuleagleson]

I hope you won't mind if I take your careful defense of Nietzsche to hoist him up on his own petard. When I locate MY OWN will to power, it's always something less than my total being. The man tripped himself up with logic. True, in order to want to exist I already have to exist, but SO WHAT? Schopenhauer's will does not merely want to exist or live; it wills to live forever; which indestructibility Schopenhauer metaphysically attributes to it. But I won't get dogmatic. If I had to relinquish all effective power over my world—say be locked in solitary confinement for life as the condition for my existing—I might well lose my appetite for existence. Yet here I come full circle; for this devaluation of existence itself—NOT merely of a will to power—is Schopenhauer's radical prescription for minimizing suffering. Where Nietzsche outclasses his mentor is in making authentic morality an individual project, rather than one size fits all.

[sammacnicoll]

Thank you for this..!! I really feel like you are talking to me one on one, ...almost in person. The information you present is retained...thanks.

[gnomefuel]

what’s the difference between cultural morality and mass psychosis

[fastestdeath]

I really agree with the title, rules are applied in order to ensure the survival of the human specie. And humans almost always follow the ethics, what I refer to as "the most popular of the survival manuals". It can also change depending on the times. For example, in Leviticus, the third book of the Bible, homosexuality was seen as dangerous, because of the increased risk of contracting STDs, but now there are many STDs controls and preventions, so such thing isn't as dangerous as it was before.But needless to say, it's not always the right one. For example, in China, the population not organizing a riot to rebel against the dystopian government is cowardly and neglecting towards the future of their children, and people do this to not risk their lives. Another example is seen when athletes who practice dangerous sports like skateboarding and parkour are seen as stupid because they risk their lives. But going into danger, and exploring the unknown is a way to feel more alive. As you pointed out this effect is seen in psychedelics, when you're close to death your brain releases DMT, and you see visions. As seen in the franchise of Saw or in the philosophy of Heidegger, going close to death or realizing that death is inevitable brings strength and authenticity to one's life. Strength and virtue are seen badly in society, because virtues can be used both for good and evil, as Jung pointed out in the shadow archetype, the part of us that can do good are also the same as the part that can do evil, Christ and Antichrist are indistinguishable one another, they must be distinguished based on their good or evil deeds they have done towards society.

Nietzsche saw nihilism as inevitable, as humans had easier and easier lives with economic development, and the reasons to fight for are also declining. This was seen in Fight Club, Tyler Durden: "We have no world war, we have no great depression, we have no meaning, we have to create it to make our lives meaningful." The difficulty of the game of life is decreasing; as a result nihilism and its consequences such as suicides are rising. Nietzsche said: "It's not that man can't stand suffering, man can't stand meaningless suffering" and Jung said: "Men can't stand meaningless lives". But nowadays society sees man taking risks as crazy, even working out sometimes is seen as an activity only maniacs and/or strange people do.

So how to escape modern society? We must build our lives following the models of Nietzsche's overman, Kierkegaard's religious man (or how I call him, max genetic potential), the stoic man of Zeno, the authentic man of Heidegger or Jung's wholeness of the self, which coincides with Jesus, the Messiah. We must understand that the difficulty of the game of life is really hard, almost impossible, and set it as such, grow through our suffering, become the best versions of ourselves, capable of having the best jobs, feeding our families and maybe even making good deeds to society. We must be grateful that we are in this beautiful world, where our ancestors have shed blood and tears to build it, to ensure the survival of the human specie, they fought to provide a better future to their children, and so should we, we must be examples, higher men that our children or the community can follow. People are admired by the hero's myth, because the hero is masculine and has a great will to power or will to fight, heroes survive longer than normal humans because they occupy a higher place in the social hierarchy, and normal humans want to emulate the hero's myth to survive longer. As a result, humans who adopt a model of life to survive long materially will also become immortal spiritually, like Dante would say: "Art can make humans immortal" or Goethe: "No one lives eternally, but the goal is to create something that will". And in my opinion, human lives are the greatest form of art this world has to offer.

[Noitisnt-nsmo]

Nietzsche and Chomsky, a meatball of meaning in a bowl of semantical spaghetti.

[gingerbreadzak]

00:31 🤔 Nietzsche explores the fundamental question of what drives mankind's creation of moral codes and believes it's linked to the concept of the will to power.
04:37 🗣 Morality is a collective voice that takes root in each individual, and it's the power of the collective that shapes moral sentiments.
06:35 🧐 Nietzsche defines morality as the human capacity for self-overcoming, striving for self-perfection, and the expansion of power.
11:33 🤝 Self-overcoming is the common essence of all moral codes, whether they emphasize duty (like Kant) or the greatest good for the greatest number (like Mill).
16:38 💡 Morality aims at becoming something greater and more powerful, not merely self-preservation, through the suppression and cultivation of impulses.
22:03 🧠 Nietzsche believes reason is a result of moral self-overcoming driven by the fear of the community's power, leading individuals to act in harmony with communal goals.
22:32 🌟 Nietzsche suggests that humanity's progress and elevation have often been achieved through cruelty, suffering, and martyrdom, especially in its early history.
24:00 🕊 Nietzsche highlights a historical epoch when suffering, cruelty, and denial of reason were virtues, contrasting it with modern notions of morality.
25:23 🔀 Nietzsche rejects the idea that rationality is fundamentally different from irrationality and posits that reason is a development from irrational processes.
26:47 🚀 Nietzsche views human culture as resting on the spiritualization of cruelty and the drive for power.
28:43 💡 Nietzsche's monism stems from empirical observations, suggesting that all human behavior can be explained as an expression of the will to power.
30:10 🧐 Nietzsche presents knowledge as a tool created by humanity to serve the will to power, enabling the organization and management of drives.
31:28 🌊 Nietzsche discusses methods of dealing with impulses, including sublimation and restriction, to channel and control them.
33:52 🚪 Nietzsche explores various ways to handle the vehemence of impulses, including sublimation, restriction, and castration.
36:46 🧭 Nietzsche seeks to free the world from the idea of sin and suggests that bad conscience can be seen as a productive force for transformation.
39:08 🔄 Nietzsche's project involves understanding and evaluating morality to move towards an extramoral age, transcending the negative aspects of current moral systems.
41:24 🧩 Nietzsche performs a meta-analysis of moral systems, evaluating them based on their facilitation of self-overcoming and avoiding self-destructive tendencies.
43:54 🚫 Nietzsche does not propose a systematic theory of values or claim that his values are universally applicable; he emphasizes individual and cultural variations in morality.
44:23 🤔 Nietzsche has personal values but doesn't believe they should be universalized.
44:52 🚫 Nietzsche rejects the idea of outlining universal actions or virtues for self-overcoming.
45:21 💡 Nietzsche criticizes theories that assess value based on pleasure and suffering, considering them superficial.
46:18 🌟 Nietzsche sees pleasure and pain as instruments to motivate self-overcoming, not as ultimate ends.
47:48 🦋 Nietzsche views sacrifices and asceticism as driven by the longing for rebirth into a more perfect form.
48:44 ⚡ Nietzsche believes those with creative spark will overcome old morality, creating something extra-moral.
49:45 🌀 Nietzsche's vision of self-overcoming is fundamentally anti-universal and driven by the will to power.
50:44 🔥 Nietzsche's concept of "will to power" is synonymous with life and the drive to overcome oneself.
51:42 🌐 Nietzsche argues that the will to power explains all phenomena and forces in life.
55:06 🤷‍♂ The debate over whether Nietzsche's "will to power" is monistic or dualistic doesn't ultimately matter.
59:28 🎯 Nietzsche emphasizes the importance of discovering and defining one's ultimate goal in life.
01:02:17 🚀 Nietzsche defines what is good and evil as augmenting power and overcoming weakness.
01:03:33 🌍 Nietzsche suggests that healthy morality is aligned with life instincts, while anti-natural morality condemns these instincts.
01:05:04 🧠 Nietzsche's critique of Christian morality isn't arbitrary; it's a diagnosis of its self-undermining nature.
01:06:29 🌍 Nietzsche uses the term "morality" in various senses, including individual morality, cultural morality, super-historical classifications (master and slave morality), and morality itself.
01:07:53 🙌 Nietzsche's philosophy involves both an immoralist aspect, where he questions conventional morality, and a moralist aspect, where he aims for the self-overcoming of morality.
01:08:53 🔄 Nietzsche's trans-valuation of values is about transcending and perfecting existing values rather than rejecting them, similar to how Jesus fulfilled the old law.
01:11:44 🤔 Nietzsche's insights on morality primarily target the inner development of individuals (free spirits) rather than external moral crusades or imposing ideologies.
01:13:10 🎨 Developing one's character and giving style to it, according to Nietzsche, involves understanding and shaping one's strengths and weaknesses into an artistic plan. This inward transformation is crucial before any external moral crusades can occur.

[phillylifer]

Was Nietzsche the first postmodern thinker? I know he is pre-modernish but the way he thinks about how power operates, did he anticipate post-modernism even before the systems post modernism was supposed to have come into being as response to? Just spit-balling here.

[nonenone]

Here's me, a woman, analyzing morality like nietzche : prosocial. There. Done.
Women do not need guilt, or shame, to be moral, nor even overcome our impulses. We simply need to exist. It seems to me like men are trying really hard to figure out how to become more like women? While simultaneously demeaning women as inferior, of course.!
Nietzche was a racing misogynist, as i understand, or so I've been told

[Satyr_allyn]

I wonder if “will to strive” would have been worded better put than the will to power. Seems there is so much misinterpreting from the word power.

[smilesfordays]

A man with a soft wispering voice should never be allowed to explain nietze. I nearly fell asleep listening to this. 😊

[AngelikaDark]

Is it a:
A. Free will universe
B. Battle of wills universe
C. Will of the collective universe