The first European strength-power motivation theory: Władysław Witwicki's theory and the Lvov-Warsaw School.

Abstract

This article presents the oldest theory of the striving for power in European psychology; it was created in the philosophical-psychological Lvov-Warsaw School which itself derived from the thinking of F. Brentano. Despite humanistic inspirations, the theory represents a biological position close to the evolutionary tradition. The core of the theory of striving for power is the concept of ambition, taken from Greek philosophy (Plato and Aristotle). It offers an original classification of interpersonal relationships in the light of the universal striving (common to all people) for a sense of power/strength. It also provides an original interpretation of religious and aesthetic experience. Despite them being similar, the theory was created several years before Alfred Adler's concept of striving for a sense of power. It emphasizes the aspect of competition and social comparisons more strongly than Adler but connects them closely with the ideas of value and ambition. Regardless of the passage of time, its potential still seems significant, primarily as a counterweight-or at least a complement-to contemporary theories of power because it also identifies power as personal growth and self-transcendence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).