Abstract:
In a critical commentary on the final paragraph of The Will to Power (Der Wille zur Macht, ¶1067 (1885)) it is argued that Nietzsche ironically presupposes the metaphysics, and even the theology, he putatively eschews and repudiates. Nietzsche’s anti-realism about aesthetics, in its broadest extension, is refuted by showing that the Apollonian is not an illusion but a fundamental presupposition of the Dionysian. Pace Nietzsche, Being (Sein) is primordial with regard to Becoming (Werden). We may ask: Is there Becoming or no Becoming? If there is no Becoming, Nietzsche’s ontology is straightforwardly false. If there is (eg gibt, il y a) Becoming, then Becoming onto-logically presupposes Being. It follows that Nietzsche is a metaphysician and a theologian malgre lui. Some of his claims about art and the aesthetic may therefore be understood to unintentionally express profound truths.
Keywords:
Nietzsche, will to power, aesthetics, metaphysics, being, becoming, theology, beauty, realism, anti-realism, deconstruction, existence
How to cite:
Priest, Stephen. “The End of the Will to Power: From Aesthetics to Theology.” Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture 9, no. 3 (2025): 84-125. https://doi.org/10.14394/eidos.jpc.2025.0026.
Author:
Stephen Priest
Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford
St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LY, United Kingdom
stephen.priest@philosophy.ox.ac.uk
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