Friedrich Nietzsche Biography

Introduction

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philosopher in the 19th century who challenged religion, Christianity in particular, and traditional morality. He expressed his ideas through the prolific articles that he wrote in an attempt to reform the western culture. His controversial works and conventional philosophical ideas were always welcomed by conflicting interpretations and became a key point for critical theories and debates. His uniquely provocative writing style and culture criticism earned him both considerable praises from others as well as many enemies in Europe. His arguments are believed to have hatched one of the most significant patriotic movements of the 20th century years after he was long dead. His ideas yielded values that brought about the regeneration of cultural moralities and inspired leading figures from different levels of society.

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Friedrich Nietzsche was a so-called antichrist European philosopher and philologist from Germany. He was a cultural critic and theoretician who gained his fame after he published most of his works in the 1870s and 1880s (Lanier, 2017). Many themes of his most significant works revolved around criticism of religion and traditional European morality. He possessed a doctorate in philosophy. In addition, he has authored several books, articles, essays, etcetera in which he made an asserting observation that "God is dead" and this landed him in trouble with the authority leading to charges of atheism, moral skepticism, relativism, and nihilism (Hollingdale, 1999). His works have inspired many modern thinkers who over time, have written about him. His significant influence was as a result of his originality and the fact that he was one of the most brilliant prose writers in the history of the German language. He was a profound writer until he went mad at the age of forty and later passed on in 1900. This paper will outline in detail the life of Friedrich Nietzsche, some of his most significant works, the challenges he encountered in the field of philosophy and finally his health issues that lead to his demise.

Nietzsche was born in a small town near Leipzig, in 1844, to a clergy family. He was always a delicate and sickly child since birth. His mother and sister practically raised him. He lost his father at an early age of 5 and his brother when he was six years old (Hollingdale, 1999). This events made him question God and also marked his initial doubts about Christianity. He enrolled in a private preparatory school in Naumburg and was later admitted to Schulpforta, a Protestant school in Germany. He pursued his education with zeal and this ensured academic excellence as he received an outstanding classical education (Young, 2010). He showed talents in music and language in his youthful years. He furthered his studies in theology and classical philology after his graduation from Schulpforta. He dropped theology and continued with philology and later went to the University of Leipzig where he published his first book. The works of philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer greatly influenced Friedrich. It was during this time in Leipzig that he began a friendship with Richard Wagner, whose music he adored. Friedrich was romantically involved with Andreas Salome who later turned down his offer of marriage. Friedrich was a very controversial man. He had expressed himself as a strong enemy of feminism. However, it had been noted that he preferred the company of feminist women (Young, 2010). This brought mixed feelings where he was referred to as a hypocrite.

To the modern day today, he is famously known for art that criticized traditional moral commitments and the Christian foundation as well as his ironic style that made most of his comments particularly brutal. He is also known for his significant achievements. For example, he was offered a professional position at The Swiss University at the age of 24 where he began teaching (Lanier, 2017). It was during this time that he published his first book. After his second book, he took more interest in values underlying modern-day civilization. This marked the beginning of his most productive period. He published one book every year from 1878 to 1888 (Lanier, 2017). His works were famous for his phrase, "God is dead" which showed his rejection of Christianity as a considerable force in life. Among his greatest works are; the birth of tragedy out of the spirit of music (1872), Human, all too human (1878), the gay silence (1882) among others. His most productive year was 1888 when he wrote and published, "The case of Wagner." Within the same year, he wrote a synopsis of his philosophy. This was the year before his illness. Friedrich is given credit for the National Socialism in Germany formed by patriots who got morale from his works in the 1930s, years after his death (Brett-Evans et al., 1968).

Friedrich had been born with severe myopia and was always a delicate and sickly child since then. Prolonged work was impossible for Friedrich due to frequent and painful attacks of illnesses. In 1889, he showed signs of mental illness when he wrote madness letters to his friends (Young, 2010). His illness made limited him from writing more. Despite being a respected professor in Basel, his deteriorating health necessitated his resignation in 1879 after being a professor for ten years (Brett-Evans, 1968). Besides, his reception and recognition enjoyed their first wave during the period he was ill as Overbeck and Gast published some of his unpublished work and withheld some due to their more radical content. Due to the influence, his work had and its association with anarchist movements, German conservatives wanted to ban his work terming it as being subversive (Brett-Evans, 1968).

Conclusion

Based on the facts outlined above, Friedrich Nietzsche can be regarded as one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century. His ideas and theories are among the most influential and contributed to the thinking of modern thinkers such as Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, two founding figures of the field of psychiatry. Also, certain aspects of his works were used by the Nazi party to justify some of its activities. This proves that his actions had made him a very influential figure in the 19th century. Friedrich lived a short but successful life proved by his inspiration of leading characters from all over Europe and beyond, from various cultural origins and career fields apart from philosophy. The fact that most of the criticisms relied on psychological diagnoses to expose false apprehension. This shows that most of his contributions were in psychology that they were philosophical. His view of good and evil ultimately derived the traditional morality that differentiates actions as good or bad from the same motive. This shows success in his promoting cultural renewal and an improved social and psychological life.

References

Brett-Evans, D., Marx, K., Nietzsche, F. W., & Freud, S. (1968). Makers of the twentieth century: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall.

Hollingdale, R. J. (1999). Nietzsche: The man and his philosophy. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press.Lanier, A. R. (2017, March). Friedrich Nietzsche. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/nietzsche/

Young, J. (2010). Friedrich Nietzsche: A philosophical biography. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press.