Beyond the Will to Power:
Nietzsche and the Aporia of Performance
Keywords:
Friedrich Nietzsche, will to power, performative philosophy, aporia, self-reference, immanent critiqueAbstract
This article proposes a performative turn in interpreting Friedrich Nietzsche. It argues that tensions in his thought—between systematicity and fragmentation, critique and creation—are not mere contradictions but symptoms of an aporia inherent in grounding ontology in the will to power. Through immanent critique, the analysis exposes the will to power's logical vulnerabilities: its tautological structure, unfalsifiable status, and conflict between ateleological becoming and expansion. The article traces how these aporias replicate at the epistemological and axiological levels when applied reflexively, generating crises of self-reference in perspectivism and value foundation. The central argument, however, is that this impasse is not failure but catalyst for hermeneutic recalibration. It composes recognition that Nietzsche's philosophy operates as performative act rather than coherent doctrine. His agonistic writing, philosophy as life-creation, and biographical trajectory—culminating in mental collapse—are analyzed not as external illustrations but as the medium enacting philosophical content. Thus, moving beyond the will to power means interpreting Nietzsche's work as a performance staging the aporia it cannot resolve, transforming impasse into distinctive philosophical practice.
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