Affektivität und Hermeneutik der Macht
Affectivity and Hermeneutics of Power.
Résumé
The section 13 of The Gay Science is devoted to the doctrine of the feeling of power, which recapitulates the main results of the previous years and already presents them in the form of a doctrine that does not yet bear the name “will to power”. Hence, FW 13 is a turning point in the development of Nietzsche’s philosophy of power, which, from the perspective of feeling, points to two essential components of all power: affectivity and hermeneutics. This article retraces the structure of the section and the main features of the feeling of power with special attention to the progression of the first twelve sections. It provides a better understanding of The Gay Science and of Nietzsche’s philosophy of power by paying due consideration to a severely underestimated concept, which most commentators have reduced to a mere psychological and draft version of the famous later concept of “will to power”. Albeit the purpose of this article is not to confront both formulations, some analyses (e.g. on vanity, sacrifice, hedonism, on the continuity and complementarity of strong and weak natures as well as of their moralities) will prove useful to gain a better insight into Nietzsche’s overall conception of power.