Nietzsche himself did not consider himself a philosopher, at least until the last years of his life. He had an inner need to comprehend and share the fruits of this comprehension with people. Nietzsche's own views on many things changed over the years, but he always expressed them in a very figurative and non-standard way, in no way limiting himself to authorities. His views were influenced by both Schopenhauer and Wagner, but Nietzsche, in the movement of his thoughts, easily stepped over the ideas that impressed him, developing them as his own consciousness changed.
The beginning of the biography
Friedrich Nietzsche was born on October 15, 1844 in the German village of Röcken, 30 kilometers from Leipzig. The father of the future philosopher was a Lutheran pastor, but he died when Frederick was 5 years old. The upbringing of his son and his younger sister was taken care of by the mother of Francis Eler-Nietzsche. At the age of 14, Friedrich entered the Pfort Gymnasium. It was a very famous school that gave an excellent education. Among its graduates, for example, besides Friedrich Nietzsche himself, are the famous mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius and the Reich Chancellor of Germany Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg.
In 1862, Friedrich entered the University of Bonn, but soon transferred to Leipzig. Frederick's complicated relationship with fellow students played an important role among the reasons for the change of university. In Leipzig, Nietzsche demonstrated remarkable academic excellence. So great that he was invited to teach Greek philology at the University of Basel, a still undergraduate student. This has never happened in the history of European universities.
In his youth, he dreamed of becoming a priest like his father, but during his university years his views on religion changed to militant atheism. Philology also quickly ceased to appeal to the young Nietzsche.
In the year he began his teaching career, Nietzsche became friends with the famous composer Richard Wagner. Wagner was almost thirty years older than Nietzsche, but they quickly found a common language, discussing various issues of interest to both: from the art of ancient Greece, to the philosophy of Schopenhauer, which both were passionate about, and thoughts about the reorganization of the world and the revival of the German nation. Wagner viewed his composer's work as a way to express views on life and the structure of the world. Nietzsche and Wagner became very close to each other, but this friendship lasted only three years. In 1872, Wagner moved to another city and his relationship with Nietzsche became cooler. The further, the more their understanding of the structure of the world and the meaning of life diverged. In 1878, Wagner spoke ill of Nietzsche's new book, calling it a sad manifestation of mental illness. This led to the final breakup. A few years later, Nietzsche published the book "Casus Wagner", where he called the art of his former friend sick and inadequate for beauty.
Army
In 1867, Nietzsche was drafted into the army. He did not perceive the call for military service as a tragedy, but, rather, on the contrary, was glad of it. He liked the romanticism of military adventures and the ability to show strength, strict discipline and short, precise wording of orders. Nietzsche never excelled in health, and the army service undermined what little was in his body. After an incomplete year of service in the cavalry artillery regiment, he was seriously injured and was discharged. However, when the Franco-Prussian War broke out two years later, Frederick voluntarily went to the front, despite his own renunciation of Prussian citizenship when he entered the teaching position at Basel University. The philosopher was hired as an orderly at a field hospital.
This time, Nietzsche saw the bloody reality of war. He greatly rethought his attitude to wars, which, nevertheless, he considered the driving force of progress until the end of his life.# Love peace as a means to new wars,”he later wrote in his famous book, As Zarathustra Spoke.
Illness and early retirement
Health problems accompanied Friedrich Nietzsche from his youth. He inherited a weak nervous system. At the age of 18 he started having severe headaches. Trauma during his first military service and diphtheria, which he contracted in the war, led to the final destruction of his body. At the age of 30, he almost went blind, he suffered from terrible headaches. Nietzsche was treated with opiates, which led to severe digestive upsets. As a result, in 1879, while still very young, Nietzsche retired for health reasons. The university paid him a pension. For the rest of his life, Nietzsche struggled with illness, but after retiring, he was able to devote more time to comprehending life and everything that happened around him.
In fact, poor health and illness helped Friedrich Nietzsche become what history knows him - a philosopher who made a breakthrough in understanding the world.
Creativity and new philosophy
Nietzsche was a philologist by profession. His books are written in a style that is very different from the prevailing style of presentation of philosophical teachings. Nietzsche often expressed his thoughts in aphorisms and poetic stanzas. A free attitude to the style of presentation has long served as an obstacle to the publication of the works of the young Nietzsche. The publishers refused to print his books, not knowing what to attribute them to.
Nietzsche was considered a great nihilist. He was accused of denying morality. He wrote about the decline of art and the self-destruction of religion. He accused the world around him of plunging into mouse fuss, of the meaninglessness of being. However, Nietzsche did not see the end of civilization in these phenomena. On the contrary, in his mind, everything superficial and artificial in life opens up the possibility of the appearance of a superman, one who can discard everything unnecessary, rise above the crowd and see the truth.
“Truly, man is a dirty stream. You have to be a sea in order to receive the dirty stream and not become unclean.
Look, I teach you about the superman: he is the sea where your great contempt can be drowned."
Written in an aphoristic and light style, Nietzsche's works, however, cannot be called easy to understand. His thought often rushes at a frantic pace and it is difficult to keep up with his conclusions without stopping or comprehending. Nietzsche himself was aware that they would not understand him soon: "I know too well that on the day when they begin to understand me, I will not get any profit from it."
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
In 1883, the first part of Nietzsche's philosophical novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra was published. The book tells about the life of a wandering philosopher who calls himself Zarathustra after the ancient Persian prophet. Through the lips of Zarathustra, the author expresses his thoughts on the place of man in nature and the meaning of life. In the novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra, he praises people who walk their own path, without looking back or sacrifice. "Only a superman is able to readily accept the endless return of the once experienced, including the most bitter moments." Nietzsche argued that the superman is a new stage of evolution, which differs from the modern man as much as he differs from the ape. Nietzsche contrasts his book with the obsolete, in his opinion, Judeo-Christian morality.
In this book, the last part of which was published after the death of the philosopher, Nietzsche presented the quintessence of his reflections on the structure of the world. He questioned the current norms of morality, art, and social relations. The aphoristic presentation of the novel allows readers to conjecture many quotes from Nietzsche, find new meanings in them and discover new levels of truth.
Personal life of Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche began to write the book Thus Spoke Zarathustra under the influence of his acquaintance with the Russian and German writer Lou Salome. Her feminine charm and her flexible mind won over Nietzsche. He proposed to her twice, but both times he was refused and an offer of sincere friendship in return.
Nietzsche never married. Throughout his life, his relationships with women did not work out. With only two of them, he was happy, at least for a short time. And they were prostitutes.
Nietzsche maintained a tender relationship with his mother all his life, but it cannot be said that she always understood him. I took it as it is. He had a very difficult relationship with his sister Elizabeth, who devoted her whole life to him and replaced his family. She also published all of his books written in recent years. In many books, she, at the same time, made her own editing - in accordance with her understanding of philosophy.
Friedrich was in love with Wagner's wife and later with Lou Salom, but both of these hobbies did not result in a relationship.
Madness and death
In early 1898, Friedrich Nietzsche witnessed a horse being beaten in the street. This picture provoked a clouding of his mind in him. The philosopher was placed in a psychiatric hospital. After his condition stabilized, his mother took him home, but she died soon after. Friedrich suffered a stroke, as a result of which he lost the ability to move and speak. This was followed by two more strokes. On August 25, 1990, Friedrich Nietzsche died at the age of 55.
