Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher, poet, and cultural critic whose work challenged the foundations of morality, of religion, and of Western philosophy. He was a prolific writer, and his ideas influenced existentialism, psychoanalysis, and much of twentieth-century thought.

Early Life and Education

Nietzsche was born in 1844 in Röcken, in Prussia, the son of a Lutheran pastor. He was educated at Pforta and at the universities of Bonn and Leipzig.

He was appointed professor of classical philology at Basel at the age of twenty-four, the youngest ever to hold the post. He resigned in 1879 because of ill health.

He suffered from severe headaches, from poor eyesight, and from other ailments throughout his life. He lived on a small pension and wandered between boarding houses in Switzerland, Italy, and France.

The Birth of Tragedy

His first book, The Birth of Tragedy, was published in 1872. It argued that Greek tragedy arose from the union of the Apollonian principle of order and the Dionysian principle of intoxication.

The book was attacked by the philological establishment, but it was admired by Richard Wagner and by the romantic circle. It influenced the later study of tragedy and of Greek religion.

Nietzsche later repudiated portions of the book. The theme of the two principles remained important in his thought.

The Critique of Morality

In Beyond Good and Evil and On the Genealogy of Morality, Nietzsche mounted a critique of traditional morality. He distinguished between master morality and slave morality.

He argued that the values of humility, compassion, and equality arose from the resentment of the weak against the strong. He called for a revaluation of all values.

He proclaimed the death of God and described the crisis of meaning that followed. He introduced the ideas of the will to power and of the overman.

The Style and the Aphorism

Nietzsche wrote in aphorisms and in poetic prose, and his works defy easy classification. His style is vivid, ironic, and often deliberately provocative.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a philosophical poem in the style of the Bible. It presents the teaching of the prophet Zarathustra and the idea of the eternal recurrence.

His works were poorly received during his lifetime. He became famous only after his mental collapse in 1889 and after his death.

Final Years and Legacy

Nietzsche suffered a mental breakdown in Turin in 1889 and never recovered. He was cared for by his mother and then by his sister Elisabeth, who edited his works.

Elisabeth's editing distorted his ideas and associated them with nationalist and antisemitic doctrines. His reputation was rehabilitated by later scholars, who corrected the distortions.

His influence on philosophy, literature, and psychology has been immense. The existentialists, the Frankfurt School, and the poststructuralists all engaged with his work.

The Early Philological Work

Nietzsche's academic work concerned the sources of the ancient Greek writers and the history of Greek literature. His early essays on the Greek state and on Homer were influential.

He admired the pre-Socratic philosophers, particularly Heraclitus and Empedocles. He saw in their thought a model of philosophy that was not separated from life.

His lectures on the history of Greek philosophy were published after his death. His philological work is now recognised as original and important.

The Middle Period

Human, All Too Human marked a break with the romanticism of his early work. The book is written in aphorisms and adopts a more sceptical and psychological approach.

He broke with Richard Wagner and with the Wagner cult. The break was painful and was reflected in his later polemics.

He wrote Daybreak and The Gay Science in the same manner. The Gay Science introduced the idea of the eternal recurrence and the parable of the madman who announces the death of God.

Beyond Good and Evil and the Genealogy

Beyond Good and Evil criticised the philosophical tradition and the prejudice of the philosophers. It developed the idea of the will to power and of the order of rank.

On the Genealogy of Morality traced the historical development of moral concepts. It distinguished the origin of different moral systems and analysed the role of asceticism.

These works were written in a more sustained and systematic style. They are among his most influential writings.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Thus Spoke Zarathustra is written in a prophetic and poetic style. It presents the teaching of the overman and the idea that God is dead.

The work includes the speech on the three metamorphoses of the spirit, from the camel to the lion to the child. It is his most famous and most literary work.

The book was poorly received and was ignored by the public. It became a classic of modern literature after his death.

Interpretation and Controversy

Nietzsche's work has been interpreted in many ways, and his ideas were appropriated by the Nazis for propaganda purposes. The appropriation distorted his philosophy, which was critical of nationalism and of antisemitism.

His influence on existentialism, on psychoanalysis, and on post-structuralism has been profound. Heidegger, Jaspers, Deleuze, and Foucault all engaged with his work.

He is regarded as a critic of modernity and of the values of the Enlightenment. His work raises disturbing questions about truth, morality, and meaning.

See also

• Will to power
• Existentialism