I just want to make a few comments about this subject, as I was thinking about it earlier today.
“Power” in english is semi-related to the concept of purely political and capital power. So “power hungry” equates in a negative light as someone hungry for becoming a king or a dictator, or taking away everyone’s money for their self. Then when someone comes across an english translation of nietszche and they read “will to power”, there might be some ideas like the will to power is for setting up authoritarian governments or capital monopolies, or dominating one person by another, or whatever, things like that.
Now, if nietszche was a perspectivist, I think it would be more accurate to say “The world is will-power towards better or stronger will-power”.
“Will-power” to me seems like less of a misunderstanding than the simple word “power”. Another way it could be put is that “The world is wills towards wills.”
“Will” in english has to do with desire and intent. The mind is driven by that. A perspective is driven by it as well.
I could be wrong about this, but I do believe there was a mistranslation issue.
Please correct me if I’m wrong here.
I’ll return to Sauwelios again. Sau, doesn’t ‘macht’ also mean ‘make’ as in ‘macht schnell’ – ‘make [it] quick?’
Forget it–I’m taking things out of context that should be left to the translators, but it’s kind of a fun exercise to replace ‘power’ with ‘make’. Not at all Nietzschean, though–unless one asks–“power to what?”
Kaufmann treats of this issue in his book on Nietzsche:
[size=95]“Why did Nietzsche call his basic principle a ‘will to power’ rather than, say, an instinct of freedom,’ considering that he did equate the two? (GM II 18) If the account here given of the will to power is correct, one may wonder why Nietzsche gave this force so unappealing a name. The answer is, to some extent, implicit in Nietzsche’s critique of Kant and the university scholars and in his emphasis on suffering and cruelty.
Nietzsche was keenly aware of the negative aspects of the ‘instinct of freedom’: those who are motivated by it, whether they be individuals or nations, shun no sacrifice and risk their lives, if need be. Often they do not shrink from violating the well-being of others, if it interferes with their aims; and independence is frequently to be had only after conflict and war.
Nietzsche had no mind to soft-pedal this element of egoism and strife. At the same time, he wished to make explicit his opposition to the Darwinistic conception of a ‘struggle for existence.’ He contended that all living creatures, far from tending to preserve their existence, strive to enhance themselves, to grow, and to generate more life. For this end, Nietzsche believed, most living creatures are willing to risk their existence. In unusual circumstance of need, in Notlagen, a creature might have to exert a great effort merely to preserve its life. Nietzsche’s prime examples of such exceptions are the chief protagonists of the striving for self-preservation and the struggle for existence: the ‘consumptive Spinoza’—whom he generally admired—and the Darwinists who were brought up in overpopulated cities; but he insisted that ‘one should not mistake Malthus for nature.’ (FW 349; G IX 14)
Beyond that, Nietzsche also wished to counteract the ostrich prudery of his age. His belief that even a single compromise with the tastes of public opinion might lead to a thinker’s eventual loss of his intellectual integrity invites comparison with Freud’s attitude. Freud did not speak of the ‘erotic,’ which might have been more acceptable to his generation, but insisted on the more offensive ‘sex’ impulse. Nietzsche and Freud both preferred terms which did not connote the sublimated manifestations at the expense of the more frequent and less cultured expressions of what they took to be a vastly underestimated drive.” (Source: Kaufmann, Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist 8 III.)[/size]
I like it. However, “will-power” is Willenskraft in German, not Willensmacht.
‘Will to power’ is indeed a mistranslation of der Wille zur Macht. A correct translation is ‘desire for power’. ‘Will to’ in English is used only before verbs (will to win, will to fight, etc.).
Those speculating need to have a far better understanding of German and English. The translation ‘will to power’ is wrong, but so are all of the proposed translations in the thread.
Der Wille zur Macht is not ‘will to power’. ‘Will to’ in English is always followed by a verb, and the ‘to’ is part of the infinitive. ‘Will to live’, ‘will to fight’, ‘will to win’ are typical usages of ‘will to’.
Der Wille can mean what one wants, intends, desires, etc. ‘Desire for power’ is the best approximation to Der Wille zur Macht .