Will to power and sexuality in Nietzsche's account of the ascetic ideal. Issue 1 (17th February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Clark, Maudemarie
• Is Part Of: Inquiry. Volume 60:Issue 1/2(2017)
• Page Start: 96
• Page End: 134
• Publication Date: 2017-02-17
• Subjects: Ascetic ideal -- interpretation -- philosophers -- sexuality -- value -- will to power; Philosophy -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; Philosophy -- Periodicals; Social Sciences -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; Philosophie -- Périodiques; Sciences sociales -- Philosophie -- Périodiques; 105
• DOI: 10.1080/0020174X.2016.1258145
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-174X

Abstract

Abstract: This paper challenges a near universal assumption regarding the third treatise of Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality (GM): that its main concern is to explain the attraction or power of the ascetic ideal. I argue that GM III's main concern is normative rather than descriptive-explanatory. An earlier paper argues that GM III's leading question – What is the meaning of the ascetic ideal? – is equivalent to the question: What is the value of the ascetic ideal? In the present paper, I interpret an aspect of GM III ignored in the earlier paper: the will to power principle of GM III 7, which seems to claim that all human behavior is to be explained in terms of the will to power. I argue that the principle's true function is normative rather than explanatory: to indicate how philosophers (and perhaps other humans) are best or ideally or healthily constituted, in particular, regarding sexuality. I also offer a normative account of what Nietzsche means by 'interpretation' in GM III and an argument against the surprisingly well-accepted view that a Nietzschean philosopher would either have little interest in sexual activity or would resist whatever interest he or she had in it. I end with brief suggestions as to the positive contribution Nietzsche thinks sexuality makes to philosophy.