will to truth

is injurious, dangerous, or fatal to be deceived.

injurious, dangerous, or fatal to be deceived.

is merely the longing for a stable world.

is the central impulse that has driven most philosophers to date in search of philosophical truths that they see as being completely objective, and which can therefore be 'discovered' impartially'.

Here Nietzsche introduces the idea of what he calls the 'will to truth'. By this he means the central impulse that has driven most philosophers to date in search of philosophical truths that they see as being completely objective, and which can therefore be 'discovered' impartially.' (Southwell 2009: 16)

is the desire to know the world for what it is and not to be deceived by it.

the drive, need, tendency and desire to know the world for what it is and not to be deceived about it' (nehamas)

is the ethical substance, or the prime material of moral conducts.

Rabinow defines the ethical substance 'the prime material of moral conducts' as the will to truth. The will to truth is not defined in a very precise manner by Foucault. Thus, in making it the concept behind the ethical substance, one still has the burden to develop what this will to truth covers. I choose a sentence of the Discourse on Language as one of the more helpful mentions of the will to truth in relationship to Foucault's understanding of his work.

is the metaphysical drive to know the world. It wrongheadedly prefers a handful of 'certainty' to a whole cartload of beautiful possibilities.

In rare and isolated cases, it may really have happened that such a Will to Truth a certain extravagant and adventurous pluck, a metaphysician's ambition of the forlorn hope has participated therein: that which in the end always prefers a handful of 'certainty' to a whole cartload of beautiful possibilities... (Nietzsche 'beyond' 14)

is the wrong-headed hunger for certainty about things. It is an illusion and fantasy that is only possible because of a hidden and far stronger will... a will to ignorance, to the uncertain, to the untrue.

from the beginning we have contrived to retain our ignorance in order to enjoy an almost inconceivable freedom, lack of scruple and caution, heartiness and gaiety of life -in order to enjoy life! and only on this solid, granite foundation of ignorance could knowledge rise so far -the will to knowledge on the foundation of a far more powerful will: the will to ignorance, to the uncertain, to the untrue! Not as its opposite, but -as its refinement' (5:41 BGE 24)

will to truth, n.All

will to truth