Will to Power (German : Der Wille zur Macht) is an important concept in Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. It describes what he considered the main engine of man: the ambition to achieve his desires, the show of force that makes him present himself to the world and be in the place that he feels he belongs to; all of these are manifestations of the will to power according to Nietzsche. Another particular point of the will to power is that it also represents a process of expansion of creative energy which, according to Nietzsche, was the fundamental internal force of nature.
Nietzsche's thinking was influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer who explains that the universe and Everything is driven by a primordial force to live, the "will to live", which drives all living creatures to avoid life. death and procreate. For Schopenhauer, this will is the most fundamental aspect of reality, even more than being.
The concept of the will to power in Nietzsche's thought has received many interpretations, the most debatable being the appropriation and exploitation by National Socialism as the desire for passion and power (power understood in this case as the most limited concept of " domination"). In other closer interpertations Nietzsche posited a will to power in which living things are not only motivated by the mere need to stay alive, but actually had a great need to exercise and use power to grow and expand their strength and possibly to submit other wills in the process. Nietzsche viewed the "will to live" as secondary to a primary "will to power" and enhancement or affirmation of life. In this way, he opposed Social Darwinism insofar as it criticized the validity of the concept of adaptation, which he considered a narrow and weak "will to live".
In summary, for Nietzsche, the man who guides his life according to the will to power (the Übermensch , superman ), is a man who always tries to surpass himself, improve himself in all his facets, etc. He does not take into account what others think or say about him, he faces life and assumes reality, he tries to live in such a way that if he had to live that same life over and over again, he would be happy to do so. He is a free man who repudiates weakness and slavery.
