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 very figuratively and unconventionally, not at all limiting himself to authority. Schopenhauer and Wagner influenced his views, but Nietzsche easily moved over the ideas that impressed him, developing them as his 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 the son and his younger sister was the mother of Francis Ehler-Nietzsche. At the age of 14, Friedrich enters the Pfort school. It was a very famous school, which gave an excellent education. Among its graduates, for example, in addition to Friedrich Nietzsche himself, the famous mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius and the German Reich Chancellor Theobald von Betman-Holweg.
In 1862, Frederick enrolled at the University of Bonn, but soon transferred to Leipzig. Among the reasons for the change of university, Friedrich’s complex relationship with fellow students played an important role. In Leipzig, Nietzsche demonstrated remarkable academic success. So remarkable that he, a student who had not yet completed his studies, was invited to teach Greek philology at the University of Basel. This has never happened in the history of European universities.
In his youth, he dreamed of becoming a priest, like a father, but in his university years his views on religion changed to militant atheism. Philology also quickly ceased to attract young Nietzsche.
In the year of the beginning of his teaching career, Nietzsche made 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 that interested both of them: from the art of ancient Greece, to the philosophy of Schopenhauer, which both were passionate about, and thoughts about rebuilding the world and reviving the German nation. Wagner considered his composing 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 relations with Nietzsche became cooler. The farther, the more they diverged their understanding of the structure of the world and the meaning of life. In 1878, Wagner spoke badly of Nietzsche’s new book, calling it a sad manifestation of mental illness. This led to a final break. A few years later, Nietzsche published the book "Case Wagner", where he called the art of a former friend sick and does not meet the requirements of the beautiful.
Army
In 1867, Nietzsche was drafted into the army. He did not perceive the draft for military service as a tragedy, but rather, on the contrary, was glad of him. He liked the romanticism of military adventures and the possibility of manifestation of strength, strict discipline and short precise wording of orders. Nietzsche was never distinguished by his health, and the army service undermined even the little that was in his body. After an incomplete year of service in the equestrian artillery regiment, he received a serious injury and was commissioned. However, when the Franco-Prussian War broke out two years later, Frederick voluntarily went to the front, despite his own renunciation of Prussian citizenship while enrolling for teaching at the University of Basel. The philosopher was taken by the orderly of the field hospital.
This time Nietzsche saw the bloody reality of war. He greatly rethought his attitude to wars, which, nevertheless, until the end of his life he considered a driving force for progress. “Love the world as a means to new wars, ” he wrote later in his famous book “As Zarathustra said.”
Diseases and Early Retirement
Health problems have accompanied Friedrich Nietzsche since his youth. He inherited a weak nervous system. At age 18, he began to have severe headaches. The trauma during the first term of the army and diphtheria, which he contracted in the war, led to the final destruction of his body. At 30, he was almost blind; he was tormented by terrible headaches. Nietzsche was treated with opiates, leading to serious digestive upsets. As a result, in 1879, while still very young, Nietzsche retired for health reasons. The university paid him a pension. Nietzsche struggled with illnesses for the rest of his life, but when he retired, he was able to devote more time to understanding life and everything around him.
In fact, poor health and illnesses helped Friedrich Nietzsche become what history knows him to be - a philosopher who made a breakthrough in understanding the world.
Creativity and a new philosophy
Nietzsche was a philologist by profession. His books are written in a syllable that is very different from the prevailing style of presentation of philosophical teachings. Often Nietzsche expressed his thoughts with aphorisms and poetic stanzas. A free attitude to the style of presentation has long served as an obstacle to the publication of works by young Nietzsche. Publishers refused to print his books, not understanding what they belong 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 of immersion in 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 drop all that is unnecessary, rise above the crowd and see the truth.
“Truly, man is a dirty stream. One must be a sea in order to receive a dirty stream and not become unclean.
Look, I’m teaching you about the superman: he is the sea where your great contempt can drown."
Written by an aphoristic and easy syllable, Nietzsche’s works, however, cannot be called easy to read. His thought often rushes at a frantic pace and to keep pace with his conclusions, without stopping or understanding, is difficult. Nietzsche himself was aware that he would not be understood soon: "I know too well that on the day when they begin to understand me, I will not get any profit from this."
"So said Zarathustra"
In 1883, the first part of Nietzsche’s philosophical novel, “So Said Zarathustra, ” was published. The book tells about the life of a wandering philosopher who calls himself Zarathustra in honor of the ancient Persian prophet. Through the lips of Zarathustra, the author expresses his thoughts about the place of man in nature and the meaning of life. In the novel "So Said Zarathustra, " he sings of people walking their own way, without looking back not at the victim. "Only the superman is able to readily accept the endless return of the once experienced, including the most bitter minutes." Nietzsche argued that the superman is a new stage of evolution that differs from the modern man as much as he differs from the monkey. Nietzsche contrasts his book with his 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 thoughts on the structure of the world. He questioned the current norms of morality, art, social relations. The aphorism of the 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
The book "So Said Zarathustra" Nietzsche began to write under the influence of his acquaintance with the Russian and German writer Lou Salome. Her feminine charm and her flexible mind conquered Nietzsche. He twice proposed to her, but both times received a refusal and an offer of sincere friendship in return.
Nietzsche was never married. Throughout his life, his relationship with women did not work out. With only two of them he was happy, even for a short time. And these 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 published all his books written in recent years. In many books, she, however, introduced her own editing - in accordance with her understanding of philosophy.
Friedrich was in love with Wagner's wife and later in Lou Salom, but both of these hobbies did not result in a relationship.
