Nietzsche's Will to Power - Complete BS or does he have something there?

[Taverner]

For the uninformed, Will To Power is the idea that one-ups Schopenhauer's "Will to Live" being the sole motivating factor in all human actions. Nietzsche postulated that WTP was the real driving force, that we seek not just to thrive, but like ivy, we seek to control the world around us.

And that Will to Power trumps the Will to Live anytime.

[StrongBad]

1. Dunno if it's BS or not...

...but found it rather interesting that Nietzsche's works were co-opted by the Nazis and used as rationalization for their imperialism.

[Taverner]

4. I know, it's almost as if they took the opposite meaning

True WTP means not following the masses

[UTUSN]

2. If it don't kill you, it makes you stronger!!1 Whatever "it" is!!1 n/t

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. But it's not just human motivation

In fact, for Nietzsche, the "human" is the inversion of the will to power into something truly dangerous (ressentiment, bad conscience, ascetic priesthood - what Nietzsche calls "the slave revolt in morality").

What Nietzsche is talking about are forces - inhuman or nonhuman force as such, where any given "human motivation" is merely an effect of these forces. The will to power is a remarkably complicated idea, actually, and I don't think it can be reduced to "we seek to control the world around us." Much of what Nietzsche says about force goes against this, in fact. For Nietzsche, the will to power is not about "controlling" other forces (a force is only as strong as it is), but about taking any given force to the limit of what it can do. That has nothing to do with control; it's almost Buddhist in its call for acceptance, actually. It is the resentful man for Nietzsche who relates himself to the outside (stronger) force and seeks to control it. The will to power means that you develop your own set of forces (though these are always defined by their relation with other forces, a force being nothing but this relationship).

[Taverner]

5. True, WTP has always been hard for me to understand

One professor in college made a crude example of the ivy, but saying that only tells half the story.

So could WTP (or subversion of WTP) be used as an explanation for exponential human growth on the planet (like a virus or parasite)?

[Beetwasher]

6. I Think It's Easier To Understand In The Context Of "Ubermensch"

I can't see how it would be used as an explanation for exponential human growth, since that is actually destructive and a product of ignorance.

Fully understanding WTP (and it's implications and responsibilities) would be part of the process of "ascension" to "Ubermensch". Keep in mind, the concept in highly debated, this is my (somewhat infomred) inerpretations.

On edit: clarified, I hope.