Philosophy › The 19th century › Friedrich Nietzsche
The will to power and the Übermensch
1883–1885· Idea or argument· Ethics & how to live
Well documentedSolid records, texts or physical evidence.
Nietzsche's idea that the basic drive of life is to grow and overcome, and his ideal of the Übermensch who creates new values.
See it on the Philosophy map →The idea
Idea: life aims not mainly at survival or pleasure but at expanding power, including power over oneself. The Übermensch ('overman' or 'superman'), announced in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85), is the person who, after God's death, creates values instead of inheriting them. Self-overcoming, not ruling others, is the core. Main objection: the idea is vague and easily abused; Nazi propagandists twisted it, helped by The Will to Power (1901), a book his sister assembled from his notes.
Why it matters
It offered a positive answer to nihilism that inspired artists, psychologists and existentialists, and stands as a warning about how ideas get misused.
Where it comes from
Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil (1886). The book The Will to Power was compiled after his collapse from notebooks by his sister, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche.
Still debated
Whether will to power is a theory of all reality or only a psychology of human motives is debated; his notes point both ways.
Connections (2)
▸Friedrich Nietzsche proposed The will to power and the ÜbermenschWell documented
The connection
Rejecting Schopenhauer's pessimism and the focus on mere survival he saw in Darwinism, Nietzsche proposed that living things seek above all to expand their power. From this he drew his ideal of the Übermensch, strong enough to create values after God's death, and the test of 'eternal recurrence': could you will your life again forever?
When and how
Introduced in Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85), written in Sils Maria, Switzerland, and on the Riviera in Italy and France, and developed in Beyond Good and Evil (1886).
How we know
The ideas appear in his published books; the posthumous The Will to Power (1901), compiled by his sister, is less reliable.
Debates and open questions
Nietzsche abandoned plans for a book titled The Will to Power, and scholars dispute how central the idea was to his mature thought.
▸The will to power and the Übermensch offered self-overcoming as an answer to What is a good life?Mostly agreed
The connection
Against happiness or virtue as the goal, Nietzsche answers 'what is a good life?' with self-overcoming: growing stronger, mastering your own drives and creating something of your own. Not comfort, which he mocked in the 'last man' who wants only safety, but living so fully you would gladly repeat it forever.
When and how
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–85) contrasts the Übermensch with the 'last man'; Ecce Homo (written 1888) is subtitled 'How One Becomes What One Is'.
How sure are we?
The themes run through his published works; readers differ on how literally to take them as an ethics.
Debates and open questions
Whether Nietzsche offers an ethics for everyone or only for rare individuals, and whether it excuses harming others, is sharply debated.