Editing Will to power (section)

== Early influences ==

Nietzsche's early thinking was influenced by that of [[Arthur Schopenhauer]], whom he first discovered in 1865. Schopenhauer puts a central emphasis on will and in particular has a concept of the "[[will to live]]". Writing a generation before Nietzsche, he explained that the [[universe]] and everything in it is driven by a primordial will to live, which results in a desire in all living creatures to avoid death and to procreate. For Schopenhauer, this will is the most fundamental aspect of reality – more fundamental even than being.

Another important influence was [[Roger Joseph Boscovich]], whom Nietzsche discovered and learned about through his reading, in 1866, of [[Friedrich Albert Lange|Friedrich Albert Lange's]] 1865 ''[[Geschichte des Materialismus]]'' (''History of Materialism''). As early as 1872, Nietzsche went on to study Boscovich's book ''Theoria Philosophia Naturalis'' for himself.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Whitlock |first=Greg |title=Roger Boscovich, Benedict de Spinoza and Friedrich Nietzsche: The Untold Story |journal=Nietzsche Studien |volume=25 |year=1996 |issue=1 |pages=200–220 |doi=10.1515/9783110244441.200 |s2cid=171148597 }}</ref> Nietzsche makes his only reference in his published works to Boscovich in ''[[Beyond Good and Evil]]'', where he declares war on "soul-atomism".<ref>Nietzsche, ''Beyond Good and Evil'', trans. Walter Kaufmann (1886; New York: Vintage Books, 1966), §12.</ref>  Boscovich had rejected the idea of "materialistic atomism", which Nietzsche calls "one of the best refuted theories there is".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Anderson |first=R. Lanier |year=1994 |title=Nietzsche's Will to Power as a Doctrine of the Unity of Science |journal=Studies in History and Philosophy of Science |volume=25 |issue=5 |pages=738 <!--|access-date= 2008-10-13 -->|doi=10.1016/0039-3681(94)90037-X |bibcode=1994SHPSA..25..729A |postscript= "Boscovich's theory of centers of force was prominent in Germany at the time. Boscovich’s theory 'is echoed in [[Immanuel Kant|Immanuel Kant’s]] ''Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science'', which reduces matter to force altogether. Kant’s view, in turn, became very influential in German physics through the work of [[Hermann von Helmholtz]] and his followers. By the time Nietzsche wrote, treating matter in terms of fields of force was the dominant understanding of the fundamental notions of physics.{{'"}}}}</ref> The idea of centers of force would become central to Nietzsche's later theories of "will to power".