{"id":93013,"date":"2023-02-17T14:21:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T18:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=93013"},"modified":"2023-02-23T10:48:10","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T14:48:10","slug":"free-will-nietzsche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/free-will-nietzsche\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Will: Nietzsche’s Philosophy of the “Will to Power”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is Friedrich Nietzsche’s free will philosophy? What does the “will to power” mean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Friedrich Nietzsche, free will is the essence of life, driving animals and humans to compete and evolve. In the novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra<\/em>, Nietzsche creatively explains his philosophy of free will through the teachings of the novel’s protagonist Zarathustra. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to learn about free will and Nietzsche’s “will to power,” according to Thus Spoke Zarathustra<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Free Will, According to Nietzsche<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to Friedrich Nietzsche, free will is what drives animals to compete with each other, making evolutionary progress possible. In humans, the same driving force produces a social hierarchy<\/a>, as people compete with each other for power. In Nietzsche’s novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra<\/em>, he calls this driving force the “will to power,”<\/strong> and he uses the teachings of the novel’s protagonist, Zarathustra, to explain his philosophy of human free will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is the “Will to Power?”<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Zarathustra\u2019s \u201cwill to power\u201d isn\u2019t just about gaining authority over others\u2014it has even more to do with having power over yourself. According to Nietzsche’s novel, human free will gives you the power to think for yourself<\/a> and act according to your desires. Free will also makes creativity possible<\/strong> because you have to think for yourself to create anything new, writes Nietzsche. In particular, it enables you to create yourself\u2014in other words, to be different and unique. This is essential for evolutionary progress because humankind cannot make progress if everyone is the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The question of whether creativity requires free will is a subject of debate. Some studies indicate that creativity enhances a person\u2019s sense of freedom<\/a>, implying a connection between free will and creativity that tends to corroborate Nietzsche’s perspective. However, since about 2022, computers have become very efficient at producing graphic artwork<\/a> and other material traditionally thought to require human creativity. Computers, of course, have no free will<\/a>, so this raises questions about the definition of creativity<\/a>. If AI-generated content can truly be considered creative, then creativity doesn\u2019t require free will.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, in Nietzsche’s novel, Zarathustra encourages you to take the initiative to think and act for yourself because exercising free will is what makes you feel<\/em> free<\/strong>. Conversely, if you always submit to others\u2019 ideas of what you should do and who you should be, or conform to social norms<\/a> instead of thinking for yourself, then your life will feel empty because you\u2019ve given up your free will, and with it your essence of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Free Will Debate<\/strong>

Aside from Nietzsche’s philosophy of free will, there is an ongoing debate about the significance of free will\u2014and even about its existence. Some, like Yuval Noah Harari, author of 21 Lessons for the 21st Century<\/em><\/a>, argue that free will is an illusion<\/a>. What you perceive as your will is produced by biochemical reactions in your brain<\/a>, which in turn are triggered by stimuli in your environment. For example, if you sense danger, you\u2019ll naturally want<\/em> to run away.

So, according to Harari, your \u201cfree will\u201d and the decisions you think you make aren\u2019t really free at all. Instead, they\u2019re constrained by your biological makeup. He goes on to predict that even the illusory significance of your decisions will likely diminish in the 21st century, as computer algorithms make more of our decisions for us.

Since, like Harari, Zarathustra believes that your soul\u2014and thus also your will\u2014are just part of your body, it might be difficult for him to refute Harari\u2019s argument. This is arguably a point of inconsistency in Zarathustra\u2019s teachings.

However, other studies indicate that deliberately exercising free will has an empowering effect on your life, which leads to greater success. In Smarter, Better, Faster<\/em><\/a>, Charles Duhigg advises you to make a habit of choosing to do things that are against the rules or that challenge the status quo<\/a>. He says these \u201csubversive decisions\u201d will give you a greater sense of control<\/a>, which in turn will amplify your sense of motivation. And higher motivation will lead to greater success. Thus, Duhigg\u2019s studies arguably refute Harari\u2019s argument, or at least his conclusion that free will is unimportant, and support Zarathustra\u2019s position.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Free Will Is Lost<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

No matter how resolutely you take the initiative to direct your own life, sometimes things that you don\u2019t want to happen still happen because other people cause them. In Nietzsche’s novel, Zarathustra observes that this tends to offend your free will or \u201cwill to power.\u201d When something happens that you didn\u2019t want, your free will becomes frustrated because, while it can shape the future, it can\u2019t change the past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, suppose you decide to take a vacation at a beach-front resort in another country. But the taxi driver who\u2019s supposed to take you from the airport to the resort instead takes you out into the jungle and robs you, taking your money, identification, and passport. After he disappears, you feel angry and frustrated\u2014this is not what you had in mind when you planned your vacation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zarathustra says that when this happens, the only way to truly resolve the problem is to convince yourself that what happened was what you wanted after all. You can\u2019t change the past, but you can change what you want,<\/em> both for the future and in the past. In our example, maybe you learned some jungle survival skills and made friends with some locals who helped you get home. In hindsight, you\u2019re actually glad it happened because you ended up building valuable relationships, feeling more self-reliant, and having a much better story to tell your grandchildren than if your vacation had gone as planned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is Friedrich Nietzsche’s free will philosophy? What does the “will to power” mean? According to Friedrich Nietzsche, free will is the essence of life, driving animals and humans to compete and evolve. In the novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche creatively explains his philosophy of free will through the teachings of the novel’s protagonist Zarathustra. Read on to learn about free will and Nietzsche’s “will to power,” according to Thus Spoke Zarathustra.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":18693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,43],"tags":[913],"class_list":["post-93013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy","category-self-improvement","tag-thus-spoke-zarathustra","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nFree Will: Nietzsche's Philosophy of the "Will to Power" - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy of free will? 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