#14 - Nietzsche Contra Freud: Towards A Nietzschean Psychology: A Dialogue with Tyler VanOstrand

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a in-depth dialogue with Tyler VanOstrand on his recently finished thesis discussing the divergence between the ideas of Nietzsche and Freud. At the start of this dialogue, Tyler provides a summary of the juxtaposition of Nietzsche and Freud's ideas. There is a discussion about Nietzsche's main concept of will to power and how this is an active idea along with the dimensions and extensions of this concept. They also talk about will to power as sitting within a super structure/hierarchy and some of the directionality that it encompasses. There is also a discussion about will to power as observational and descriptive but also some of its prescriptive elements. 

Freud's formulation of life and death through tension reduction is also discussed. There is a discussion on the death instinct as a primary way of returning to the inanimate primordial origins. There is also a discussion about the role of sex as tension reduction and how this corresponds with the expenditure of power. 

Throughout this dialogue there is a discussion about how Nietzsche's ideas and Freud's ideas intersect and then diverge. There is a discussion about the misreading of Nietzsche by Deleuze and Derrida, specifically on difference. There is also a discussion about pleasure and pain within the instincts for both Nietzsche and Freud. Finally, there is a discussion about Nietzsche's complex concept of the eternal recurrence of the same and some of the nuances within this concept. 

Tyler VanOstrand is a former seminarian and has a Master of Arts in New Testament. He also has a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and a Master of Arts in Philosophy, with a minor in psychoanalysis. He is currently pursuing studies towards a Ph.D. in Philosophy analyzing Nietzsche's thought. 

Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe