A study on will to power and power in Nietzsche and Foucault

This study aims to reveal the scope of Nietzsche's will to power and Foucault's power concepts considering how these concepts determined their philosophies and their connections with other concepts in the general course of their thoughts. In connection with this, understanding the possibilities that Nietzsche and Foucault's thoughts pointed out for man in our age has constituted the focal point of this study. In the first chapter Nietzsche's thought of truth in relation to his view of the world as an expression of the will to power and his critique of the tradition of metaphysical philosophy which is based on this view have been discussed. The attempt of metaphysical philosophical tradition to design the truth through another World or an area of "being in itself" has resulted in the worthlessness of life, which is the only reality; and thus, the existence of the modern age's man, who has established and organized his life with respect to the truth design of such a tradition, also has suffered from this corruption and collapse. Based on these determinations, some basic concepts of Nietzsche and their connections with the concept of will to power, which he sees as the most fundamental reality have been discussed. In the second chapter of this study, Foucault's concepts of subject, subjective experience and identity have been discussed in relation to his thoughts on "power". Also, the determining position of the concept of power in his thoughts had been tried to be clarified. Foucault's objection to the comprehension of the subject as a substantial entity and to the assumption of a given, unchanging human nature of every design for the subject has been tried to be revealed with reference to his analyzes aimed at revealing that a man can make himself an object of knowledge at what cost.