“God is Dead.” - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

FrE-drikh vihelm nE’che

Friedrich Nietzsche was born in the Prussian city of Röcken Bei Lützen (Saxony) on the 15th of October 1844. His name was derived from the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm. Though later on in his life he dropped the Wilhelm.

Friedrich Nietzsche’s father was a Lutheran Minister. Unfortunately his father died when Nietzsche was only 5. He was then taken care of by his mother and two aunts. He also had a sister, Elisabeth.

When he was 14 he attended Schulpforta. It was a first class boarding school. He remained there until he was 19. He later went on to study at the Universities of Bonn as a theology and philology student. Later in 1865 he left the University of Bonn and attended the University of Leipzig.

At the age of 23 Friedrich Nietzsche was called for military service. He was part of an Equestrian Field Artillery Unit close to Naumberg. He was placed on sick leave when he had attempted to leap-mount an unruly horse. This resulted in a chest injury that didn’t heal. So he returned to the University of Leipzig.

At the age of 24 after being recommended by Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl, Nietzsche became a professor of classical philology at the University of Basel. This placed him closer to his long time friend Richard Wagner.

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 - 1871 Nietzsche served as a hospital attendant. He witnessed the traumatic effects of battle, took close care of wounded soldiers, contracted diphtheria and dysentery and subsequently experienced a variety of health difficulties for the remainder of his life. After the war he returned to the University of Basel.

In 1876 at the age of 32 Nietzsche proposed marriage to a Geneva pianist, Mathilde Trampedach. His proposal was refused.

Three years later in 1879 Nietzsche retired from his position at the University of Basel. He continued his life as a full time philosopher and author. His life was gypsy like. In 1882 he made a second marriage proposal to Lou Salomé. This proposal was refused as well. He continued being a full time philosopher until the morning of January 3rd 1889 in the Italian town of Turin. This event was a mental breakdown when he tearfully embraced a horse that had being beaten in the street by its owner. From that moment on Nietzsche was left invalid.

The cause of his breakdown was unknown. It may have been caused by one of a variety of problems or a combination of them. Possibly reasons include; a syphilis infection, use of chloral hydrate - a sedative that cripples the nervous system - or possibly a mental disease he contracted from his father. Either way he never returned to full sanity.

After the collapse Nietzsche was hospitalized in Basel and later a sanatorium in Jena at the Binswagner Clinic. In March 1890 his mother took him to Naumberg. He was under her care until she died 7 years later. This caused the return of his sister Elizabeth. She had returned from and Aryan, anti-Semitic German colony. She then took custody of her brother. In an effort to promote her brother’s work she rented a large house on a hill near Weimar. The house named “Villa Silberlick” became the housing of the complete Nietzsche Archives containing all of his manuscripts.

On August 25th 1900 Nietzsche died. The cause of his death was a combination of pneumonia and a stroke. Friedrich Nietzsche was 56. He was buried in the church in Saxony which he had lived beside in his childhood along with his mother.

Many people influenced Nietzsche through his life. One of Nietzsche’s long standing friends was Richard Wagner. Another large influence on Nietzsche was Arthur Schopenhauer’s works. Other influences were his studies, classic philosophy - mainly Plato and Aristotle -, Lange readings and frustration with contemporary German culture.

Nietzsche’s ideas weren’t generally accepted . They rivaled the views of many other philosophers. His harsh criticism of religion, specifically Christianity, added even more critics.

Nietzsche influenced many people of the 20th century. Some of which he might not have intended. These were the Nazis and Italian Fascists. They used selective quoting and distorted versions of his works done by his sister Elisabeth and Nazi propagandists. He was also considered a racist and anti-Semitic because of his siter’s distortions of his works. Nietzsche also influenced many other people of the 20th century especially in Continental Europe. His reception in English speaking countries was less resonant. During the last decade of Nietzsche's life and the first decade of the 20th century, his thought was particularly attractive to avant-garde artists who saw themselves on the periphery of established social fashion and practice. Here, Nietzsche's advocacy of new, healthy beginnings, and of creative artistry in general stood forth. His tendency to seek explanations for commonly-accepted values and outlooks in the less-elevated realms of sheer animal instinct was also crucial to Sigmund Freud's development of psychoanalysis. Until the 1960's in France, Nietzsche appealed mainly to writers and artists, since the academic philosophical climate was dominated by G.W.F. Hegel's, Edmund Husserl's and Martin Heidegger's thought, along with the structuralist movement of the 1950's. Nietzsche became especially influential in French philosophical circles during the 1960's-1980's, when his "God is dead" declaration, his perspectivism, and his emphasis upon power as the real motivator and explanation for people's actions revealed new ways to challenge established authority and launch effective social critique. Figures who were influenced, either quite substantially, or in a significant part, by Nietzsche include painters, dancers, musicians, playwrights, poets, novelists, psychologists, sociologists, literary theorists, historians, and philosophers.

Nietzsche wrote many books throughout his lifetime. These were his major achievements and contributions to society. These include; Kritische Gesamtausgabe Briefwechsel, The Antichrist, Beyond Good and Evil, The Birth of Tragedy, The Case of Wagner, Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality, Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is, The Gay Science, Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits, Philosophy and Truth: Selections from Nietzsche's Notebooks of the Early 1870's, Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Twilight of the Idols, Untimely Meditations and The Will to Power. Nietzsche is remembered as well through his works as a philosopher.

If Nietzsche failed in anything it was one thing. This was keeping his philosophies from being changed into something he had never intended they become.

Bibliography:

Wicks, Robert, "Friedrich Nietzsche", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2003 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), forthcoming URL = http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2003/entries/nietzsche/

Unknown, “Friedrich Nietzsche”, Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Nov 2003, forthcoming URL = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche

Unknown, Friedrich Nietzsche , World Book Encyclopedia. (Vol. , pp.407)

Unknown, Friedrich Nietzsche, Microsoft Encarta 2004 Edition.