• DOI:10.5325/JNIETSTUD.47.1.0101
• Corpus ID: 170590787

Julius Bahnsen’s Influence on Nietzsche’s Wills-Theory

@article{Jensen2016JuliusBI,
  title={Julius Bahnsen’s Influence on Nietzsche’s Wills-Theory},
  author={Anthony K. Jensen},
  journal={The Journal of Nietzsche Studies},
  year={2016},
  volume={47},
  pages={101 - 118}
}

• Anthony K. Jensen
• Published 25 February 2016
• Psychology, Philosophy
• The Journal of Nietzsche Studies

This article traces the development of Nietzsche’s early adoption and later rejection of Schopenhauer’s theory of Will. I argue that Nietzsche’s break with Schopenhauer was coextensive with his acceptance of explanatory naturalism about both external and internal activities. I argue further that a major source for four of his specific arguments against the Schopenhauerian primacy of the one Will was the little-known neo-Schopenhauerian thinker Julius Bahnsen. Using Bahnsen, Nietzsche argues (1) that there is no empirical evidence of a transcendent Will; (2) that explanations of behavior do not require a transcendent Will; (3) that what explains behavior is not a “thing” at all, but a fluid dynamic of strivings; and (4) that these strivings are “guided” even absent a distinct guiding principle.