The Will to Nothingness: A Nietzschean Concept

Abstract This paper explores Nietzsche’s notion of nihilism by centering on the neglected lens of the will to nothingness. Contrary to dominant interpretations that reduce nihilism to the modern crisis of meaninglessness following the death of God or to the logic of metaphysics, this paper argues that the will to nothingness corresponds to the very logic of nihilism, and studies its continuing role in contemporary capitalist civilization. Sketched in Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals (GM), then, the will to nothingness emerges as a paradoxical volitional response to surplus suffering in early human history: a will that seeks power by rejecting power, justifying existence through moral and metaphysical gestures of world-denial. This paper then explores how this paradox informs the self-weakening unfolding and broader historical dynamics of nihilism, situating Nietzsche’s insights in dialogue with Heidegger’s metaphysical interpretation of nihilism and other related perspectives, like Deleuze’s recuperation and elaboration on the notion. Ultimately, the will to nothingness is rescued as the driving paradox of nihilism and thus as an overlooked element of Nietzsche’s broader civilizational critique and project of revaluation that demands renewed attention in our contemporary context.