Nietzsche, Volume 3: The Will to Power as Knowledge and as Metaphysics

Nietzsche #3

by Martin Heidegger, David Farrell Krell (Editor)

Part of a series of lectures, this work analyzes the philosophy of Heidegger as well as Nietzsche

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) was a German philosopher whose work is perhaps most readily associated with phenomenology and existentialism, although his thinking should be identified as part of such philosophical movements only with extreme care and qualification. His ideas have exerted a seminal influence on the development of contemporary European philosophy. They have also had an impact far beyond philosophy, for example in architectural theory (see e.g., Sharr 2007), literary criticism (see e.g., Ziarek 1989), theology (see e.g., Caputo 1993), psychotherapy (see e.g., Binswanger 1943/1964, Guignon 1993) and cognitive science (see e.g., Dreyfus 1992, 2008; Wheeler 2005; Kiverstein and Wheeler forthcoming).

Reviews

[Paul Adkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am more interested in Heidegger's ideas, and his manner of deeply analysing other's ideas, than his life. Of course his work on an equally great and undoubtedly more creative and intuitive thinker like Nietzsche is hard to resist.
Heidegger holds too many "humanist" concepts to be totally condemned and ignored for holding Nationalist Socialist sympathies. By bringing forth his metaphysics of being-in-the-world he reminds us of the true relationship we have with the planet, and his almost mystical thinking seems to be in a complete dimension apart from Nazism.
Nevertheless, in this work on Nietzsche he does "let slip" ideas on racial purity which do smell very foul indeed and in this volume he tries very hard to defend the two most central, but also, in my opinion, the weakest pillars of Nietzsche's philosophy: the will to power and the notion of eternal return.
I think he does better at explaining the latter than the former. As for the Will to Power, Heidegger tries very hard to explain that when Nietzsche is talking about Will to Power he's not really referring to will to power. Which may be true, but it is hardly flattering for the philosopher who strove to be, above all, lucid.
Despite these weaknesses though it is still a book by a great thinker analysing one of the greatest of thinkers, and for that reason, a necessary read for anyone interested in great thoughts.

[Blaze-Pascal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the book that really got me excited about Heidegger. The revaluation of values, turning into a constructive force to schematize the chaos of Being. Being is becoming. F the nothingness. I love this book.