Friedrich Nietzsche

P. A. Schons

originally published by the Germanic-American Institute in November, 1998

Germany has often been nicknamed "das Land der Dichter und Denker" (the land of poets and philosophers). One of the most influential but at the same time most controversial philosophers was Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche wrote in a very poetic style with many highly provocative "one liners". His objective in this was to stimulate thinking with a rhetoric he knew full well would often be misunderstood, but it would, he reasoned, be remembered and would stimulate thought. It would seem that he was quite correct. Many of his statements are alive today throughout the world, even though people often do not know where the statements came from or necessarily what they mean. The same is true of a good many of Nietzsche's provocative thought patterns. They influence our modern way of thinking quite strongly, even though the origin of the thoughts are not remembered. Two very common "one liners" from Nietzsche are: "Was mich nicht umbringt macht mich stärker." (Whatever doesn't kill me makes me stronger.) and "Gott ist tot." (God is dead.) The space available here will not allow an analysis of what Nietsche intended with his many provocative quotes and concepts, but Nietzsche is very much with us in our modern culture and it would seem that even though one may be offended by some of his rhetoric, we should at least know something about him.

Nietzsche was born in 1844 in Röcken, a village not far from Leipzig. His father was a Lutheran pastor. The death of his father during Nietzsche's boyhood had, of course, profound effect and in some respects influenced his philosophy as it developed. He was an extraordinarily bright lad and attended one of the exclusive schools of the day, Schulpforta. Schulpforta, like many of the outstanding schools of those times emphasized Latin and Greek language and literature.

When Nietzsche started university studies he had decided to follow in his father's footsteps and undertook the study of theology at the University of Bonn. However a particularly talented classics teacher, Friedrich Ritschl, and Nietzsche's training at Schulpforta soon inclined him to the study of classics. When Ritschl accepted a new position at the University of Leipzig, Nietzsche followed him there and completed a doctorate in classics at Leipzig.

By chance a position in his field opened at the University of Basel before Nietzsche had even planned to graduate. Upon the strong recommendation of Professor Ritschl, Nietzsche was offered and accepted the position at Basel where he taught Latin and Greek for 10 years.

His health had begun to deteriorate already as a student, however, due to a riding accident while he did his mandatory military service. While he was at Basel, the Franco-Prussian war broke out and Nietzsche served as a medic in the Prussian army. He was infected with diphtheria and his health never recovered. His declining health made his career as a professor very short. He had to retire from teaching at age 34, an age at which many have not yet begun their academic career.

While at the University of Basel his interests had begun to shift from classics to philosophy. He had read deeply of Shopenhauer, Kant and the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers while a student and continued his reading in philosophy as a professor. Even his first book, "Die Geburt der Tragödie" (The Birth of Tragedy), is as much a work of philosophy as philology. Each book he wrote became more philosophical in character. By the time his health forced his retirement from Basel he was clearly a philosopher and continued to write in that mode as long as he was able. He retreated into the Alps and continued to think and write until 1889. Some of the noted books he produced include "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (Thus Spoke Zarathustra), "Die Geneologie der Moral" (The Geneology of Morals), "Die fröhliche Wissenschaft", (The Cheerful Wisdom) and "Morgenröte" (Dawn).

His health continued to deteriorate with severe digestive distress, intolerable headaches and periodic blindness. Finally in 1889 his mind snapped and he fell into an insanity which was to last until his death in 1900.

At the time of the insanity his manuscripts were taken over by persons who had radical political agendas which led to the changing of texts and the active promotion of the books to the Nazi party. The Nazis accepted Nietzsche as their philosopher with their own very utilitarian interpretation of the meaning of Nietzsche's works. As a result they soiled his name and reputation as they did to so many fine and valuable aspects of the German cultural past which they decided to take as their own. It was not until into the 1960's that the distortions and alterations to Nietzsche's works were finally able to be removed and the original works made available. Thus it has been very late that scholars have been able to deal with Nietzsche's philosophy in its true form. Even today the stereotypes, popular perceptions and associations with the Nazi party make it hard to deal with Nietzsche in a proper way. And yet, as stated in the first paragraph, his thoughts have had very powerful impact on our way of thinking in the 20^th century either directly or through intellectuals and writers who have been influenced by him.