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In order to understand how a transformation in our practice of truth can bring about a transformation in our will to truth, and how this transformation implies a transformation in what we are, we need to reach a deeper understanding about the underlying nature of the will to truth and its relation to the human. Given that Nietzsche makes the claim "This world is the will to power- and nothing besides! And you yourselves too are this will to power — and nothing besides!" (KSA 11: 611/ WP 1067), the task is to reach an interpretation of the nature and role of the will to power in Nietzsche's philosophy. This task is complicated by the scarcity of passages in Nietzsche's published works that provide detailed descriptions of what the will to power is. The expression "will to power" appears in the published work from Thus Spoke Zarathustra onwards, the passages I consider particularly significant for my analysis are: Z I: 15, II: 12; GM II: 12; BGE 13, 36 and 259. It is only in BGE 13 and 36, however, that the will to power is presented in its status as a theory or principle and related to Nietzsche's method. These passages, in particular the more extensive BGE 36, are, therefore, key to any reading of the will to power. Elsewhere is it not directly explicated but used to explicate various beliefs and practices. The context, however, in which the will to power is used, is still useful for understanding not only the role the will to power plays in Nietzsche's work but also what he understands it to be.

DOI: 10.1057/9781137357069_6

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