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Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher, essayist, and cultural critic whose writings influenced philosophy, aesthetics, and psychology. Nietzsche’s key ideas include the will to power, the Übermensch, and eternal recurrence. His work has been the subject of intense scholarly debate and has been both praised and criticized.Nietzsche was born in Röcken, a small village in Prussia. His father, a Lutheran minister, died when Nietzsche was five years old, and his mother raised him and his sister in a strict Christian household. Nietzsche attended a prestigious boarding school, where he excelled academically. He went on to study classical philology at the University of Bonn.In 1864, Nietzsche met the philologist Franz Overbeck, who introduced him to the work of Arthur Schopenhauer.
Schopenhauer’s pessimism and his focus on the will as the driving force behind human behavior had a profound impact on Nietzsche. He also became friends with the composer Richard Wagner, whose music Nietzsche would later praise in his writings.After graduating from university, Nietzsche began his career as a professor of classical philology at the University of Basel. He was only 24 years old at the time, and he found the work to be unfulfilling. Nietzsche began to experience health problems, and he resigned from his teaching position in 1879.Nietzsche traveled extensively throughout Europe, and his health continued to decline. He suffered a mental breakdown in 1889, and he never fully recovered. He spent the last years of his life in seclusion, and he died in 1900.
Nietzsche’s work was largely ignored during his lifetime. It was not until the early 20th century that his ideas began to gain traction. Nietzsche has had a significant influence on many subsequent philosophers, and his work continues to be studied and debated.
