Volontà di potenza come volontà di naufragio: quando il superamento passa dall’autodistruzione

• Main Author: Valentino Della Casa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rosenberg & Sellier 2014-06-01
• Series: Rivista di Estetica
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/estetica/896

The concept of will to power is one of the most important Nietzsche’s theories, that deals with the capacity of a person to face death and the thought of his own sacrifice without any fear, in order to obtain one’s self-overcoming. The so called will to wreck is the most powerful objectification of will to power, and it is deep-rooted in European society, especially German popular ideology. Actually, it is possible to find this conception of will to wreck in connection with will to power in Nibelungenlied, the greatest Nordic poem of 13th century, and, years and years later, in Nazi ideology (and of course Nietzsche himself), as a proof of the temporal continuity of this particular philosophy. A philosophy which is probably part of our psychology, and which is not likely to be easily forgotten though its terrible, destructive power.