Philosophy Above God: Heidegger’s Interpretation of Nietzsche

A deep exploration of Heidegger’s encounter with Nietzsche’s thought, the “death of God,” and why both thinkers saw philosophy — not theology — as the true path toward uncovering Being

Emergence of Being II Photo by David De Hannay

Der Wille zur Macht ist das Grundprinzip alles Seienden.”

(The will to power is the fundamental principle of all beings.)

Martin Heidegger regards Friedrich Nietzsche as the final, decisive figure in the long arc of Western metaphysics. For Heidegger, Nietzsche is not the destroyer of metaphysics, as so many readers suppose, but its completion. He does not escape metaphysical thinking; he drives it to its most radical and self-conscious formulation. In Nietzsche, metaphysics uncovers its ultimate essence and simultaneously exposes its historical exhaustion.

What draws Heidegger to Nietzsche is precisely this dual movement: the profundity with which Nietzsche confronts metaphysical crises, and the fact that he nonetheless remains within the metaphysical horizon he seeks to overcome.

I. Will to Power as Ontology

At the center of Heidegger’s interpretation stands Nietzsche’s notion of the will to power, which he refuses to interpret psychologically or biologically. For Heidegger, will to power is an ontological principle: it expresses what all beings fundamentally are.

In the GA 47 lectures (Nietzsche I & II), Heidegger argues that Nietzsche understands being itself as self-willing power, an inner drive to expand, overcome, and intensify itself. Becoming is not opposed to being; becoming is being enacted as force.

Nietzsche’s own note from 1888 captures the metaphysical ambition:

“To stamp Becoming with the character of Being — that is the highest will to power.”

Heidegger emphasizes that Nietzsche does not celebrate mere change or flux; he seeks a form of becoming that endures, that sustains itself, that returns. Will to power is not movement toward a goal; it is self-affirming, self-grounding dynamism, the engine of beings as such.

Thus for Heidegger, Nietzsche presents the most radical doctrine of being since antiquity — a dynamic, agonistic ontology in which the ground of reality is nothing but power willing itself.

II. Eternal Recurrence as Metaphysics of Time

Heidegger takes Nietzsche’s doctrine of eternal recurrence with full philosophical seriousness. It is not a myth, not a poetic experiment, not an ethical test. It is a metaphysical vision of time.

If all events recur eternally in the same form, then time is no longer linear. It is the circle of power returning to itself. Recurrence stabilizes becoming, turning it into a kind of eternity without transcending the world.

The will to power and eternal recurrence thus disclose one another:

• Will to power: the metaphysics of being as self-overcoming force.
• Eternal recurrence: the metaphysics of time as the cyclical return of that same force.

Heidegger sees in this a heroic response to nihilism: Nietzsche gives the world no transcendent ground, but bestows upon becoming a form of self-sufficient eternity.

III. “God Is Dead”: The Collapse of the Suprasensory

In Nietzsche’s Word: ‘God Is Dead’ (GA 5), Heidegger insists that Nietzsche’s phrase is not a cultural insult or theological claim. It names the end of the suprasensory world — the Platonic-Christian realm of eternal truth, value, and ground.

When Nietzsche says “God,” he means the entire metaphysical edifice that guarantees meaning. Its death signifies that:

• Values no longer possess an unquestioned origin.
• Truth has no eternal sanction.
• Morality lacks metaphysical grounding.

This is the consummation of nihilism: the highest values devalue themselves.

But Nietzsche does not merely diagnose this collapse; he advances will to power as the new grounding principle. In doing so, Heidegger says, Nietzsche internalizes metaphysics: he creates a new absolute in place of the old one, not overcoming but reconfiguring metaphysics.

IV. What “God” Means for Heidegger

In Heidegger’s language, “God” signifies the supreme grounding principle upon which the metaphysical tradition has relied. Its death is the historical moment at which metaphysics becomes impossible in its classical form.

Nietzsche perceives this moment more clearly than any thinker before him. But his response — the elevation of will to power — still belongs to metaphysics, because it posits a new foundational principle.

Thus Nietzsche both:

• ends metaphysics by destroying its suprasensory ground, and
• completes metaphysics by offering the will to power as the final metaphysical ground.

V. Why Heidegger Admires Nietzsche

Heidegger’s admiration is genuine, and it arises from five major sources:

1. Courage in the Face of Nihilism

Nietzsche does not retreat to religious consolation or nostalgic metaphysics. He confronts the void directly.

2. Highest Metaphysical Ambition

Nietzsche offers a bold redefinition of being — not as substance, idea, or God, but as power.

3. Existential and Creative Depth

His philosophy is not a cold ontology; it is an invitation to affirmation, transformation, and self-creation.

4. Historical Consciousness

Nietzsche recognizes that the “death of God” is the fate of Western history, not a personal crisis.

5. Provocation Toward New Thinking

Nietzsche leaves unfinished questions. He awakens the need for another origin of thought.

VI. Heidegger’s Path Beyond Nietzsche

Despite his admiration, Heidegger insists that Nietzsche remains within metaphysics. His criticisms include:

1. Nietzsche Grounds Being in Will to Power

A “ground” is still metaphysical. Power becomes a new absolute.

2. Nietzsche Never Questions Being Itself

He interprets beings (what-is), not Being (that-is).

3. Heidegger Seeks a Post-Metaphysical Opening

His later concept of Ereignis (the event of appropriation) is an attempt to think Being as an unfolding, without grounding principles.

4. Nietzsche Reduces Being to Struggle

For Heidegger, Being cannot be reduced to force or conflict. It is more primordial than any metaphysical determination.

Conclusion

In Heidegger’s view, Nietzsche is both the end and the fulfillment of Western metaphysics. He offers the most radical ontology of the modern era — being as will to power — and the most daring conception of time — eternal recurrence. He proclaims the death of the metaphysical God and rethinks value, truth, and meaning without transcendence.

This is why Heidegger admires Nietzsche: because Nietzsche embraces the peril of metaphysics at the very moment it collapses. Yet this is also why Heidegger criticizes him: Nietzsche, for all his audacity, does not leave the metaphysical terrain. He does not yet ask the Seinsfrage — the question of Being itself.

Thus Nietzsche becomes for Heidegger both a boundary and a beginning: the last metaphysician, and the one who compels philosophy toward its future.

Emergence of Being II Photo by David De Hannay