An idea · Nineteenth Century · first attested 1888
Will to Power
All life is the will to grow, expand, dominate, become more.
Nietzsche's name for the basic drive of all living things. Not merely will-to-survive (Darwin) or will-to-live (Schopenhauer), but will to more — to assert, to overcome, to expand. The concept is ambiguous in his writings and has been variously read as a metaphysical principle, a psychological one, or a regulative ideal for culture.