Artistic Power and the Will to Power as Art

Nietzsche’s teachings on power are often confined to his conception of the will to power, which has been narrowly interpreted as political power, ‘political’ understood in the limited sense of state ruling. Two things must be noted here: first, Nietzsche’s philosophy of power exceeds the will to power, regardless of the fact that this concept played a significant role in Nietzsche’s late writings. In this paper, I plan to show its broader context, including the feeling of power, affect, and other related notions. Second, the first time Nietzsche coins the term, the “will to power,” the first occurrence appears in his Nachlass, it is used within the context of artistic power, as he discusses Wagner and the power of music. While examining power in its broadest significance, I will focus on the power of creativity, that is, artistic power, and how that plays a crucial role in Nietzsche’s works from the beginning to the end, without dismissing other forms of power, or will to power.