Introduction to The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche by Chaz Bufe
Another, more important, place in which Mencken’s description of Nietzsche is incorrect is in his equation of Schopenhauer’s “will” (to live) with Nietzsche’s “will to power”: Now, this will to continue living [Schopenhauer’s “will”], if we are to accept words at their usual meaning, is plainly identical, in every respect, with Nietzsche’s will to power. Therefore, Nietzsche’s amendment was nothing more than the coinage of a new phrase to express an old idea. (p. 37) Mencken is dead wrong here. Nietzsche expressed his “will to power” concept as follows: “[W]here there is struggle, it is struggle for power.”[12] And there is a difference between “power” and mere survival. In fact, the difference between the two is crucial, and Nietzsche formulated his “will to power” concept at least in part because he considered the “will” (to live) concept inadequate to explain human behavior. To put this briefly, Schopenhauer asserted that the foundation of human behavior is the drive for simple survival, while Nietzsche posited that human behavior is rooted in the drive to exert control over oneself and one’s environment — the “will to power.” This explains certain actions — such as heroic actions in battle that lead, foreseeably, to the hero’s death — which would be inexplicable under Schopenhauer’s simpler “will” (to survive) doctrine. Like the Superman concept, “will to power” has been woefully misunderstood, and not by Mencken alone. All too often, it’s been misinterpreted as meaning power over others (a mistake Mencken also makes — see page 61), whereas Nietzsche intended it to mean power over the environment and power over oneself. ^^^^ CB: Doesn't Nietzsche want the Supermen to have control over the naturally inferior caste ?
Doesn't Foucault mean by "power" control over others ?
^^^
Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins explain this matter well in What Nietzsche Really Said: [T]he word Nietzsche uses is Macht, not Reich, and thus might better be understood as personal strength rather than political power. It does not mean ‘power’ in the nasty, jackbooted sense . . . The term means something like effective self-realization and expression.[13]
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