Will to Nothingness and Will to Health in Nietzsche’s later Writings

Abstract

In his writings of 1888, Nietzsche resumes, with renewed interest, two antagonistic forms of will: the will to health and the will to nothingness. Here we investigate, from the discussion with Scarlett Marton, if and how the healthy attitudes of Nietzsche himself arise from his physiological conditions and, within the context of the two first chapters of Ecce Homo, the extent to which Nietzsche’s drive configuration dictates his therapeutics and his philosophical task. From the perspective of the ‘healthy’ Nietzsche, the will to health would prevail over the will to nothingness. In a second moment, we will question Nietzsche’s affirmation that he was ‘fundamentally healthy’, from the texts of 1885-1888, in which he also investigates the will to nothingness. While a sick man, could he be his own doctor and, thus, the culture’s doctor? Admitting his double nature, could the sick Philosopher investigate the secret work of the instinct of decadence without being influenced by it?

Key Words
Will to Health; Will to Nothingness; Instinct; Nihilism; Revaluation.