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Friedrich Nietzsche

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Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900) was a famous and influential German philosopher.

Born in a family of a priest, he was very pious as a child. A brilliant student, he became professor of classical philology at the University of Basel in 1869, but retired in 1879 due to poor health. From 1880 until his collapse in January 1889, Nietzsche led a wandering, gypsy-like existence as a "stateless" person, writing most of his major works during this period. His fame and influence came later, with the help of his sister. She has been associated with the Nazis in the 1930s, and is responsible for selective quoting and abuse of his philosophy in Nazi ideology.

Nietzsche is famous for his rejection of what he calls "slave morality" or altruism; his attacks on Christianity (he declared that "God is dead"); his origination of the Übermensch concept (translated as "Overman" or "Superman"); his embrace of a sort of irrationalism; and something he called "the Will to Power" (Wille zur Macht), possibly best regarded as an early attempt at psychology. Nietzsche was strongly influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer and his concept of "the Will to live".

Every human action, according to Nietzsche, is born of a basic instinct to exercise one's own power in some way. Gift-giving, love, praise, or harmful acts such as physical violence, carrying tales, etc. all stem from the same unconscious motive: to exert the will. The theory of the will to power is not limited to the psychology of human beings. Instead, it is the essential nature of the living universe, manifest in all things. Growth, survival, dominance in business or physical competition, all are seen as elements of this will.

Some see Nietzsche's "will to power" as life-affirming. Creatures affirm instinct in exerting power and dominance. The suffering born of conflict between competing wills and the efforts to overcome one's environment is not evil, but a part of existence to be embraced in that it signifies the healthy expression of the natural order. Enduring satisfaction and pleasure result from living by instinct and successfully exerting the will to power. This 'will to power' has some affinities with Hegel's theory of history.

Nietzsche is important as a precursor of existentialism and an inspiration for post-structuralism and an influence on postmodernism. However, dry academic summaries of his thought cannot capture the liveliness of his writing, and his extraordinary sense of humor, as in the famous exchange: "God is dead" - Nietzsche; "Nietzsche is dead" - God, and the riposte, "Some are born posthumously!" - Nietzsche.

Nietzsche contracted syphilis as a student (this is the generally recognized cause of his madness) and endured periods of illness during his adult life, which forced him to resign from the University of Basel. After the completion of Ecce Homo his health rapidly declined until he collapsed: In Italy he, wearing only underwear, cryingly embraced a horse, because it had been beaten by its owner.

From that moment on he never recovered. Nietzsche spent the last ten years of his life insane, and unaware of the immense success of his works.

Works:

  • Die Geburt der Tragödie, 1872 (The Birth of Tragedy)
  • Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen, 1876 (Untimely Meditations)
  • Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, 1878 (Human, All Too Human)
  • Morgenröte, 1881 (Daybreak, or The Dawn)
  • Die fröhliche Wissenschaft, 1882 (The Gay Science)
  • Also sprach Zarathustra, 1885 (Thus Spake Zarathustra)
  • Jenseits von Gut und Böse, 1886 (Beyond Good and Evil)
  • Zur Genealogie der Moral, 1887 (On the Geneaology of Morals)
  • Der Fall Wagner, 1888 (The Case of Wagner)
  • Götzen-Dämmerung, 1889 (The Twilight of the Idols)
  • Der Antichrist, 1895 (The Antichrist)
  • Nietzsche contra Wagner, 1895 (Nietzsche vs. Wagner)
  • Der Wille zur Macht, 1901 (The Will to Power, a highly selective collection of notes from various notebooks, not intended for publication by Nietzsche himself, but released by his sister)
  • Ecce Homo, 1908 (Behold the Man, an attempt at autobiography; the title refers to Pontius Pilate's statement upon meeting Jesus of Nazareth)


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