Friedrich Neitzsche (1844-1900)
<p><b>Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English">/ˈniːtʃə/</a>;<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup> <small>German:</small> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_German" title="Help:IPA for German">[ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈniːtʃə]</a>; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher" title="Philosopher">philosopher</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_critic" title="Cultural critic">cultural critic</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poet" title="Poet">poet</a>, philologist, Latin, and Greek scholar whose work has exerted a profound influence on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_philosophy" title="Western philosophy">Western philosophy</a> and modern intellectual history.<sup id="cite_ref-iep.utm.edu_5-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-iep.utm.edu-5">[5]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Raymond_A.Belliotti_2013_6-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-Raymond_A.Belliotti_2013-6">[6]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Russell_1945_766.26_770_7-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-Russell_1945_766.26_770-7">[7]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Friedrich_Nietzsche_8-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-Friedrich_Nietzsche-8">[8]</a></sup> He began his career as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_philology" class="mw-redirect" title="Classical philology">classical philologist</a> before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest ever to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Basel" title="University of Basel">University of Basel</a> in 1869, at the age of 24. Nietzsche resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life, and he completed much of his core writing in the following decade.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-9">[9]</a></sup> In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and a complete loss of his mental faculties.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-10">[10]</a></sup> He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother (until her death in 1897), and then with his sister <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_F%C3%B6rster-Nietzsche" title="Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche">Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche</a>, and died in 1900.<sup id="cite_ref-matthews_11-0" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-matthews-11">[11]</a></sup></p>
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Nietzsche's body of writing spanned philosophical <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polemic" title="Polemic">polemics</a>, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction, and drew widely on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art" title="Art">art</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philology" title="Philology">philology</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History" title="History">history</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion" title="Religion">religion</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science" title="Science">science</a>. </p>
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His writing displayed a fondness for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphorism" title="Aphorism">aphorism</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony" title="Irony">irony</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-12">[12]</a></sup> while engaging with a wide range of subjects including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morality" title="Morality">morality</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesthetics" title="Aesthetics">aesthetics</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy" title="Tragedy">tragedy</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology" title="Epistemology">epistemology</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism" title="Atheism">atheism</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consciousness" title="Consciousness">consciousness</a>. </p>
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Some prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason" title="Reason">reason</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth" title="Truth">truth</a> in favor of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perspectivism" title="Perspectivism">perspectivism</a>; his notion of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollonian_and_Dionysian" title="Apollonian and Dionysian">Apollonian and Dionysian</a>; his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy%28philosophy%29" title="Genealogy (philosophy)">genealogical</a> critique of religion and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_ethics" title="Christian ethics">Christian ethics</a>, and his related theory of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master%E2%80%93slave_morality" title="Master–slave morality">master–slave morality</a>;<sup id="cite_ref-iep.utm.edu_5-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-iep.utm.edu-5">[5]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-13">[13]</a></sup> his aesthetic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nietzschean_affirmation" title="Nietzschean affirmation">affirmation</a> of existence in response to the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_is_dead" title="God is dead">death of God</a>" and the profound crisis of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism" title="Nihilism">nihilism</a>;<sup id="cite_ref-iep.utm.edu_5-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-iep.utm.edu-5">[5]</a></sup> and his characterization of the human <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject%28philosophy%29" title="Subject (philosophy)">subject</a> as the expression of competing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_%28philosophy%29" title="Will (philosophy)">wills</a>, collectively understood as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_to_power" title="Will to power">will to power</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-14">[14]</a></sup> </p>
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In his later work, he developed influential concepts such as the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Cbermensch" title="Übermensch">Übermensch</a></i> and the doctrine of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_return" title="Eternal return">eternal return</a>, and became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome social, cultural, and moral contexts in pursuit of aesthetic health.<sup id="cite_ref-Friedrich_Nietzsche_8-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-Friedrich_Nietzsche-8">[8]</a></sup>
After his death, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_F%C3%B6rster-Nietzsche" title="Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche">Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche</a> became the curator and editor of her brother's manuscripts, reworking Nietzsche's unpublished writings to fit her own <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_nationalism#1871_to_World_War_I.2C_1914.E2.80.931918" title="German nationalism">German nationalist</a> ideology while often contradicting or obfuscating his stated opinions, which were explicitly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_Friedrich_Nietzsche#Nietzsche.27s_criticism_of_anti-Semitism_and_nationalism" title="Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche">opposed to antisemitism and nationalism</a>. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism" title="Fascism">fascism</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism" title="Nazism">Nazism</a>;<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-15">[15]</a></sup> 20th-century scholars contested this interpretation of his work and corrected editions of his writings were soon made available. His thought enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1960s, and his ideas have since had a profound impact on 20th and early-21st century thinkers across philosophy—especially in schools of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_philosophy" title="Continental philosophy">continental philosophy</a> such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism" title="Existentialism">existentialism</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism" title="Postmodernism">postmodernism</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-structuralism" title="Post-structuralism">post-structuralism</a>—as well as art, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature" title="Literature">literature</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology" title="Psychology">psychology</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics" title="Politics">politics</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture" title="Popular culture">popular culture</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Raymond_A.Belliotti_2013_6-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-Raymond_A.Belliotti_2013-6">[6]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Russell_1945_766.26_770_7-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-Russell_1945_766.26_770-7">[7]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-Friedrich_Nietzsche_8-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-Friedrich_Nietzsche-8">[8]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-16">[16]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#cite_note-17">[17]</a></sup></p>