ABSTRACT
Friedrich Nietzsche stakes his faith in the union of robust will to power and a maximally affirmative attitude toward life. After advancing and defending interpretations of robust, moderate, and attenuated wills to power, and connecting these versions to prospects for constructing meaning in human life, both the insights and shortcomings of Nietzsche's account blossom. As recognition of "the death of God" gains currency, Nietzsche anticipates that human beings will acknowledge that the cosmos is inherently meaningless. Nietzsche is concerned with the links between culture and a tragic view of life. This chapter describes various levels of will to power in terms of the intensity of their desire to overcome serious resistance that directly affects the possibilities for self-overcoming, the pursuit of excellence, and experiencing feelings of power. Nietzsche insists that all human beings embody will to power to some extent. Although Nietzsche often excoriates romanticism as an intellectual movement, his own work exudes much of the same impulses.
