Where There is a Will: Nietzschean and Schopenhauerian Readings of Disability in The Three Spinners

Rigid, baseless, and outdated are the stereotypes which imply that the ‘weak’ cannot ‘win’, the ‘disabled’ cannot ‘do’, or the ‘crippled’ simply ‘cannot’. Strength does not lie in physical ability or power, but in an abstract sense of empowerment. The strongest are not defined by their abilities, but by their will. It is not through power, but through will, that the human spirit triumphs. This research article, which aims to dismantle ableist perspectives, analyzes the fairy tale The Three Spinners through the critical lens of Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy of Will and Power, intertwined with Arthur Schopenhauer’s notion of the ‘metaphysical will’. It argues that it is the will that truly empowers individuals, rather than mere physical abilities or ableist conceptions of power.