Friedrich_Nietzche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born October 15, 1844 in a small town in the Prussian Province of Saxony. His parents had two children after him, a girl named Elisabeth and a boy named Ludwig who died at the age of two. Nietzsche's father died a year after the death of his younger son, when Nietzsche was five years old. As a boy, Nietzsche studied at the internationally known Schulpforta, which introduced him to the literary world, and allowed him to experience life away from the small-town Christian environment of his hometown. At the University of Bonn, Nietzsche studied theology and classical philosophy and for a short time he became a member of the Burschenschaft Frankonia. In his 1862 essay Fate and History, he argued that historical research discredited the fundamental teachings of Christianity. In 1864 after one semester at Bonn, Nietzche stopped his theological studies and lost his faith. He then studied philology under Professor Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl, whom he followed to the University of Leipzig. After being inspired by the works and theories of Schopenhauer, Darwin, and Friedrich Albert Lange, specifically Darwin’s opposition to tradition and authority, he began to expand his studies in philology and continued his studies in philosophy as well. He became a professor of philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of twenty-four, although he had not yet completed his doctorate or received his teaching certificate. Before he moved to Basel, he renounced his Prussian citizenship and remained officially stateless for the rest of his life. Although he was no longer a citizen, Nietzsche served as a medical orderly for Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to 1871 contracted diphtheria and dysentery. It was speculated by some that he may have also contracted syphilis, which could have been the cause of his eventual madness. From 1873 to 1876, Nietzsche published four separate essays which were later released collectively under the title Untimely Meditations. In 1879, a year after he published Human, All Too Human, he resigned his post at Basel due to his declining health. He traveled frequently for the next ten years of his life as an independent author, writing and publishing more works. In 1886 he stopped business with his editor due to his anti-Semitic views which disgusted Nietzsche. The same year, his sister Elisabeth married Bernhard Förster, a leading figure in anti-Semitism, which caused a deep rift in his relationship with his sister. They did not meet in person again until after his mental collapse. Nietzsche suffered a mental breakdown in 1889. In the few days after the collapse, he wrote a series of letters to friends, now referred to as the Wahnbriefe , or “Madness Letters.” In the last few years of his life, Nietzsche became incapable of communication, suffering at least two strokes in 1898 and 1899. He contracted pneumonia and died in shortly after in August of 1900 as the result of another stroke. In Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality, Nietzsche strongly criticizes Christian morals. He continues his criticism of the moral schemes of his day in Ecce Homo, and calls for a re-evaluation of the values of the Judeo-Christian world. Nietzsche repeatedly rejects Judeo-Christian tradition and liberal ethics in his work, and discusses undermining moral prejudices and the shortcomings of the Judeo-Christian tradition in On the Genealogy of Morals as well; noting that the way the tradition had developed interferes with the happiness and will power of a strong-minded individual. He noticed conflict between the ideologies of Greece and Judeo-Christian history such as their differing approaches to human suffering. Judeo-Christian belief centers all blame on sin, citing it as the reason for any misfortune. The ancient Greeks, on the other hand, saw suffering simply as a concrete example of the irrefutably tragic nature of life. Nietzsche valued the Greek’s more ethical contrasting views, which stresses human advancement, striving for greatness. In Nietzsche’s opinion, there are two types of morality: master morality judges good and bad consequences, while slave morality on good or bad intentions. Master morality values pride and nobility. Slave morality values humility and kindness. According to Nietzsche, the Judeo-Christian standards for morality were quite lacking. Their views cite the unexceptional, average person who does no harm, commits no crime, but also does nothing of great accomplishment, as the model citizen for morality. The views regarding good and evil toward the afterlife were skewed: One who does nothing of great value in their life but avoided sin may be granted access into Heaven, while an individual who chose not to follow the herd may be punished severely for creating their own path. Nietzsche urged people to strive for judgment beyond simply good and evil, and toward a more innovative, naturalistic outlook on life. In addition to denouncing the black-and-white views of good and evil, Nietzsche also denounced the entire idea of an all-powerful deity, instead suggesting the concept of “eternal recurrence,” where time repeats itself cyclically, allowing one to hold more value in their life. He was opposed to any and all views that infringe on the ability of any person to achieve their goals or forge their own path, and any mindset which allowed one to reject what is true, what is proven, and what is right. As he said, “In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.”