Abstract:

The article proposes a new reading of the “Wille zur Macht” in the work of Nietzsche, looking for its premises in the early writings, the first occurrences in the texts and in the posthumous fragments, and underlining the meaning that it gradually acquires, with particular regard to the work, designed and never built, which was supposed to be dedicated to this concept. The philological and philosophical reconstruction allows us to highlight the strategic significance of the “will to power” for Nietzsche’s thought, which, with theGenealogy of MoralityandThe Antichrist, through the critique of metaphysics, culminates in a radical theory of decadence.

Keywords:
Friedrich Nietzsche; Will to power; Metaphysics; Ontology; Decadence