Eros e Dionísio: o problema da vontade em Freud e Nietzsche

Abstract

The present work aims to investigate the notion of will and its foundations in the theories of Freud and Nietzsche, focusing more specifically on what these authors identify as the foundations of human will, that is, the tendencies that drive the subject to action and guide their psychodynamics. In doing so, we propose a comparative analysis between their respective theories of the Trieb: the doctrine of the will to power and the theory of drives. To this end, we used both the authors’ own writings on the respective topics and those of some of their commentators, as well as the existing literature on the possible relationships between these theories. As a result, we found in the literature a range of opinions regarding the relationship between Freud’s theory and Nietzsche’s theory: some categorically deny the plausibility of considering their ideas as compatible or sympathetic to one another, while others affirm a very significant convergence between them. From our own reading of both authors’ texts, we conclude that the convergence between their theories of Trieb appears to be significant, aligning with the latter group of theorists and disagreeing with the former. We then seek to justify this assertion based on textual evidence that supports this interpretation.