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{{Infobox philosopher
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|region = Western Philosophy
|era = [[19th century philosophy]]
|color = #B0C4DE
<!-- Image -->
|image = Nietzsche187a.jpg
|caption = Nietzsche in [[Basel]], ca. 1875
|birth_date = October 15, 1844
|birth_place =[[Röcken]] bei [[Lützen]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1900|08|25|1844|10|15}}
|death_place = [[Weimar]], [[Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach|Saxony]], [[German Empire]]
|school_tradition = [[Weimar classicism]]; precursor to [[continental philosophy]], [[existentialism]], [[postmodernism]], [[individualism]], [[post-structuralism]]|
|main_interests = [[aesthetics]], [[expressionism]], [[ethics]], [[metaphysics]], [[tragedy]], [[Goodness and value theory|value-theory]], [[herd instinct|herd-instinct]], [[ontology]], [[philosophy of history]], [[psychology]], [[nihilism]], [[poetry]], [[anti-foundationalism]], [[fact–value distinction]]
|influences = [[Aristotle]]{{·}}[[Jacob Burckhardt|Burckhardt]]{{·}}[[Fyodor Dostoyevsky|Dostoyevsky]]<!-- PLEASE DON'T REMOVE DOSTOYEVSKY – SEE TALK PAGE -->{{·}}[[Ralph Waldo Emerson|Emerson]]{{·}}
[[Epicurus]]{{·}}[[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]{{·}}[[Jean-Marie Guyau|Guyau]]{{·}}[[G. W. F. Hegel|Hegel]]
{{·}}[[Heinrich Heine|Heine]]{{·}}
[[Heraclitus]]{{·}}[[Immanuel Kant|Kant]]{{·}}[[Friedrich Albert Lange|Lange]]{{·}}[[Gottfried Leibniz|Leibniz]]{{·}}[[Montaigne]]{{·}}
[[Blaise Pascal|Pascal]]{{·}}[[Plato]]{{·}}[[Paul Rée|Rée]]{{·}}[[Johann Joachim Winckelmann|Winckelmann]]{{·}}[[François de La Rochefoucauld (writer)|La Rochefoucauld]]{{·}}[[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Rousseau]]{{·}}[[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]]{{·}}[[Socrates]]{{·}}[[Baruch Spinoza|Spinoza]]{{·}}[[African Spir|Spir]]{{·}}[[Stendhal]]{{·}}[[Hippolyte Taine|Taine]]{{·}}[[Voltaire]]{{·}}[[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]{{·}}[[Georg Christoph Lichtenberg|Lichtenberg]]{{·}}[[Friedrich Hölderlin|Hölderlin]]
|influenced = [[Robert Musil|Musil]]{{·}}[[Max Weber|Weber]]{{·}}[[Thomas Mann|Mann]]{{·}}[[Jack London|London]]{{·}}[[Georges Bataille|Bataille]]{{·}}[[Sigmund Freud|Freud]]{{·}}[[Lu Xun|Xun]]{{·}}[[André Gide|Gide]]{{·}}[[Lev Shestov|Shestov]]{{·}}[[Rudolf Steiner|Steiner]]{{·}}[[Emil Cioran|Cioran]]{{·}}[[Fritz Lang|Lang]]{{·}}[[Georg Brandes|Brandes]]{{·}}[[Martin Heidegger|Heidegger]]{{·}}[[Stefan George|George]]{{·}}[[Lawrence Durrell|Durrell]]{{·}}[[Jim Morrison|Morrison]]{{·}}[[H.L. Mencken|Mencken]]{{·}}[[Herman Hesse|Hesse]]{{·}}[[Nikos Kazantzakis|Kazantzakis]]{{·}}[[Emma Goldman|Goldman]]{{·}}[[Carl Jung|Jung]]{{·}}[[Gabriele d'Annunzio|d'Annunzio]]{{·}}[[Joseph Campbell|Campbell]]{{·}}[[August Strindberg|Strindberg]]{{·}}[[Heiner Müller|Müller]]{{·}}[[H.P. Lovecraft|Lovecraft]]{{·}}[[Khalil Gibran|Gibran]]{{·}}[[Hans Freyer|Freyer]]{{·}}[[Albert Camus|Camus]]{{·}}[[Milan Kundera|Kundera]]{{·}}[[Ernesto Sabato|Sabato]]{{·}}[[Hart Crane|Crane]]{{·}}[[Mary Wigman|Wigman]]{{·}}[[Roland Barthes|Barthes]]{{·}}[[Giovanni Papini|Papini]]{{·}}[[Thierry Maulnier|Maulnier]]{{·}}[[Michel Foucault|Foucault]]{{·}}[[Ludwig Klages|Klages]]{{·}}[[Jean-Paul Sartre|Sartre]]{{·}}[[Mark Rothko|Rothko]]{{·}}[[Gilles Deleuze|Deleuze]]{{·}}[[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]]{{·}}[[Alfred Adler|Adler]]{{·}}[[Eugene O'Neal|O'Neil]]{{·}}[[George Bernard Shaw|Shaw]]{{·}}[[Wyndham Lewis|Lewis]]{{·}}[[Ernst Jünger|Jünger]]{{·}}[[Ken Kesey|Kesey]]{{·}}[[Jim Knipfel|Knipfel]]{{·}}[[Camille Paglia|Paglia]]{{·}}[[Richard Rorty|Rorty]]{{·}}[[Scipio Slataper|Slataper]]{{·}}[[Georges Sorel|Sorel]]{{·}}[[Arthur Moeller van den Bruck|van den Bruck]]{{·}}[[Jacques Derrida|Derrida]]{{·}}[[Knut Hamsun|Hamsun]]{{·}}[[Bernard Stiegler|Stiegler]]{{·}}[[Alain de Benoist|de Benoist]]{{·}}[[Ayn Rand|Rand]]{{·}}[[Bernard Williams|Williams]]{{·}}[[Carl Rogers|Rogers]]{{·}}[[Émile Armand|Armand]]{{·}}[[José Carlos Mariátegui|Mariátegui]]{{·}}[[Oscar Levy|Levy]]{{·}}[[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Kaufmann]]{{·}}[[Theodor W. Adorno|Adorno]]{{·}}[[Thomas Bernhard|Bernhard]]{{·}}[[Jean Baudrillard|Baudrillard]]{{·}}[[Dmitry Merezhkovsky|Merezhkovsky]]{{·}}[[Walter Benjamin|Benjamin]]{{·}}[[Rainer Maria Rilke|Rilke]]{{·}}[[Maurice Blanchot|Blanchot]]{{·}}[[F. Scott Fitzgerald|Fitzgerald]]{{·}}[[Felix Guattari|Guattari]]{{·}}[[Jürgen Habermas|Habermas]]{{·}}[[Oswald Spengler|Spengler]]{{·}}[[Pierre Drieu La Rochelle|Drieu]]{{·}}[[Andre Malraux|Malraux]]{{·}}[[Allan Bloom|Bloom]]{{·}}[[Miroslav Krleža|Krleža]]{{·}}[[Franz Kafka|Kafka]]{{·}}[[Richard Strauss|Strauss]]{{·}}[[Martin Buber|Buber]]{{·}}[[Simone De Beauvoir|Beauvoir]]{{·}}[[Anthony Ludovici|Ludovici]]{{·}}[[Peter Sloterdijk|Sloterdijk]]{{·}}[[Judith Butler|Butler]]{{·}}[[Gottfried Benn|Benn]]{{·}}[[Hubert Dreyfus|Dreyfus]]{{·}}[[Ferdinand Tönnies|Tönnies]]{{·}}[[Károly Kerényi|Kerényi]]{{·}}[[Renzo Novatore|Novatore]]{{·}}[[Muhammad Iqbal|Iqbal]]{{·}}[[Stephen Greenblatt|Greenblatt]]{{·}}[[Karl Jaspers|Jaspers]]{{·}}[[Yukio Mishima|Mishima]]{{·}}[[Gianni Vattimo|Vattimo]]{{·}}[[Jorge Luis Borges|Borges]]{{·}}[[Ivan Cankar|Cankar]]{{·}}[[Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov|Ivanov]]{{·}}[[Alexandre Kojeve|Kojeve]]{{·}}[[Herbert Marcuse|Marcuse]]{{·}}[[Julius Evola|Evola]]{{·}}[[Georges Palante|Palante]]{{·}}[[Michel Onfray|Onfray]]{{·}}[[Väinö Linna|Linna]]{{·}}[[Chuck Palahniuk|Palahniuk]]{{·}}[[Grigol Robakidze|Robakidze]]{{·}}[[Günter Grass|Grass]]{{·}}[[Leo Strauss|Strauss]]{{·}}[[Jože Javoršek|Javoršek]]{{·}}[[Christian Morgenstern|Morgenstern]]{{·}}[[Rudolf Rocker|Rocker]]{{·}}[[Peter Wessel Zapffe|Zapffe]]{{·}}[[Otto Rank|Rank]]{{·}}[[Hans Vaihinger|Vaihinger]]{{·}}[[Colin Wilson|Wilson]]{{·}}[[Robinson Jeffers|Jeffers]]{{·}}[[George Grant (philosopher)|Grant]]{{·}}[[Otto Gross|Gross]]
|notable_ideas = [[Apollonian and Dionysian]], [[God is dead|death of God]], [[eternal recurrence]], [[Master-Slave Morality|master-slave morality]], ''[[Übermensch]]'', [[transvaluation of values]], [[perspectivism]], [[will to power]], [[ressentiment]], ''[[Last Man|der letzte Mensch]]'', ''[[amor fati]]'', ''[[Nietzschean affirmation|Bejahung]]'', [[Herd behavior#Herd behavior in human societies|herd instinct]], [[tschandala]]
|signature=Friedrich Nietzsche Signature.svg
}}
'''Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche''' ({{IPAc-en|icon|ˈ|n|iː|tʃ|ə}};<ref>{{Cite book
|title=Longman pronunciation dictionary
|first=John C.
|last= Wells
|publisher=Longman
|location=Harlow, England
|year=1990
|isbn=0582053838
|page=478
}} entry "Nietzsche"
</ref>
{{IPA-de|ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈniːtsʃə}}; October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) was a 19th-century <!-- The question of whether to call Nietzsche a German or not has been extensively debated over several years and the consensus is to call him German. Records of this are in the archived talk pages (no. 10, 11, 12, 15). Please do not change this without gaining consensus on the talk page. -->[[Germans|German]] [[philosophy|philosopher]], [[poetry|poet]], [[composer]] and [[classical philology|classical philologist]]. He wrote [[critic]]al texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, displaying a fondness for [[metaphor]], [[irony]] and [[aphorism]].

Nietzsche's influence remains substantial within and beyond philosophy, notably in [[existentialism]], [[nihilism]] and [[Postmodern philosophy|postmodernism]]. His style and radical questioning of the value and objectivity of truth have resulted in much commentary and interpretation, mostly in the [[continental philosophy|continental]] tradition. His key ideas include the [[death of God]], [[perspectivism]], the [[Übermensch]], [[amor fati]], the [[eternal recurrence]], and the [[The Will to Power (manuscript)|will to power]]. Central to his philosophy is the idea of "life-affirmation", which involves an honest questioning of all doctrines that drain life's expansive energies, however socially prevalent those views might be.<ref>Wicks, R. (Summer 2011) [http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2011/entries/nietzsche/ "Friedrich Nietzsche"]. ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', Edward N. Zalta (ed.) Retrieved on: 2011-10-06.</ref>

Nietzsche began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. In 1869, at the age of 24 he was appointed to the Chair of Classical Philology at the [[University of Basel]] (the youngest individual to have held this position), but resigned in the summer of 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life.<ref>Brobjer, Thomas. "Nietzsche's philosophical context: an intellectual biography", p. 42 University of Illinois Press. 2008.</ref> In 1889 he became mentally ill with what was then characterized as atypical general [[paresis]] attributed to [[tertiary syphilis]], a diagnosis that has since come into question.<ref>Bernd, Magnus. 2010. "Nietzsche, Friedrich." Britannica Biographies 1. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost.</ref> He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897, then under the care of his sister until his death in 1900.

==Life==
===Youth (1844–1869)===
Born on October 15, 1844, Nietzsche grew up in the small town of [[Röcken]], near [[Leipzig]], in the [[Prussia]]n [[Province of Saxony]]. He was named after King [[Frederick William IV of Prussia]], who turned 49 on the day of Nietzsche's birth. (Nietzsche later dropped his given middle name, "Wilhelm".)<ref>Kaufmann, Walter, ''Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist'', p. 22.</ref> Nietzsche's parents, Carl Ludwig Nietzsche (1813–1849), a [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] [[pastor]] and former teacher, and Franziska Oehler (1826–1897), married in 1843, the year before their son's birth, and had two other children: a daughter, [[Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche]], born in 1846, and a second son, Ludwig Joseph, born in 1848. Nietzsche's father died from a brain ailment in 1849; Ludwig Joseph died the next year, at age 2. The family then moved to [[Naumburg]], where they lived with Nietzsche's paternal grandmother and his father's two unmarried sisters. After the death of Nietzsche's grandmother in 1856, the family moved into their own house.

[[Image:Nietzsche1861.jpg|thumb|175px|left|Nietzsche, 1861]]

Nietzsche attended a boys' school and then later a private school, where he became friends with Gustav Krug, Rudolf Wagner and Wilhelm Pinder, all of whom came from very respected families.

In 1854, he began to attend ''Pforta'' in Naumburg, but after he showed particular talents in music and language, the internationally recognised [[Pforta|Schulpforta]] admitted him as a pupil, and there he continued his studies from 1858 to 1864. Here he became friends with [[Paul Deussen]] and Carl von Gersdorff. He also found time to work on poems and musical compositions. At Schulpforta, Nietzsche received an important introduction to literature, particularly that of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and for the first time experienced a distance from his family life in a small-town Christian environment. His end of semester exams in March 1864 showed a "straight I" in Religion and German, a 2a in Greek and Latin, 2b in French, History and Physics, and a "lackluster" 3 in Hebrew and Mathematics.<ref>Cate, Curtis. ''Friedrich Nietzsche''. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 2005 p.37.</ref>{{clarify|date=October 2011|reason= why are Roman numerals and arabic ones mixed? Should it not be a 1 instead of an I or IIs instead of 2s??}}

[[Image:1864c.jpg|thumb|175px|right|Nietzsche, 1864]]

After graduation in 1864 Nietzsche commenced studies in [[theology]] and classical philology at the [[University of Bonn]]. For a short time he and Deussen became members of the [[Burschenschaft]] ''Frankonia''. After one semester (and to the anger of his mother) he stopped his theological studies and lost his faith.<ref name=Schaberg>Schaberg, William, ''The Nietzsche Canon'', University of Chicago Press, 1996, p. 32</ref> This may have happened in part because of his reading around this time of [[David Strauss]]'s ''Life of Jesus'', which had a profound effect on the young Nietzsche,<ref name=Schaberg/> though in an essay entitled ''Fate and History'' written in 1862, Nietzsche had already argued that historical research had discredited the central teachings of Christianity.<ref>Jörg Salaquarda, "Nietzsche and the Judaeo-Christian tradition", in ''The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche'' (Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]], 1996), 99.</ref> Nietzsche then concentrated on studying philology under Professor [[Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl]], whom he followed to the [[University of Leipzig]] the next year. There he became close friends with fellow-student [[Erwin Rohde]]. Nietzsche's first philological publications appeared soon after.

In 1865 Nietzsche thoroughly studied the works of [[Arthur Schopenhauer]]. He owed the awakening of his philosophical interest to reading his ''Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung'' (The World as Will and Representation) and later admitted that he was one of the few thinkers that he respected, dedicating to him his essay ''Schopenhauer als Erzieher'' (''[[s:Schopenhauer as Educator|Schopenhauer as Educator]]''), one of his ''[[Untimely Meditations (Nietzsche)|Untimely Meditations]]''.

In 1866 he read [[Friedrich Albert Lange]]'s ''[[Geschichte des Materialismus|History of Materialism]]''. Schopenhauer and Lange influenced him. Schopenhauer was especially significant in the development of Nietzsche's later thought. Lange's descriptions of Kant's anti-materialistic philosophy, the rise of European Materialism, Europe's increased concern with science, [[Charles Darwin|Darwin's]] theory, and the general rebellion against tradition and authority greatly intrigued Nietzsche. The cultural environment encouraged him to expand his horizons beyond philology and to continue his study of philosophy.

In 1867 Nietzsche signed up for one year of voluntary service with the Prussian artillery division in Naumburg. However, a riding accident in March 1868 left him unfit for service.<ref>For Nietzsche's account of the accident and injury see his letter to Karl Von Gersdorff: [[s:Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche#To Freiherr Karl Von Gersdorff - June, 1868|Letter of Friedrich Nietzsche to Karl Von Gersdorff – June, 1868]]</ref> Consequently Nietzsche turned his attention to his studies again, completing them and first meeting with [[Richard Wagner]] later that year.<ref>[[s:Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche#To Rohde - November, 1868|A letter containing Nietzsche's description of the first meeting with Wagner.]]</ref>

===Professor at Basel (1869–1879)===
[[Image:Rohde Gersdorff Nietzsche.JPG|thumb|Mid-October 1871. From left: [[Erwin Rohde]], [[Karl von Gersdorff]], Nietzsche]]
In part because of Ritschl's support, Nietzsche received a remarkable offer to become professor of [[classical philology]] at the [[University of Basel]]. He was only 24 years old and had neither completed his doctorate nor received his teaching certificate. Despite the fact that the offer came at a time when he was considering giving up philology for science, he accepted.<ref>Kaufmann, p. 25.</ref> To this day, Nietzsche is still among the youngest of the tenured Classics professors on record.<ref>Paul Bishop, ''Nietzsche and Antiquity'', 2004, p117</ref> Before moving to Basel, Nietzsche renounced his Prussian citizenship: for the rest of his life he remained officially [[Stateless person|stateless]].<ref>Hecker, Hellmuth: "Nietzsches Staatsangehörigkeit als Rechtsfrage", ''Neue Juristische Wochenschrift'', Jg. 40, 1987, nr. 23, p. 1388&ndash;1391; and His, Eduard: "Friedrich Nietzsches Heimatlosigkeit", ''Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde'', vol. 40, 1941, p. 159-186. Note that some authors (among them Deussen and [[Mazzino Montinari|Montinari]]) mistakenly claim that Nietzsche became a Swiss citizen.
</ref>

Nevertheless, Nietzsche served in the Prussian forces during the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870 to 1871 as a medical [[orderly]]. In his short time in the military he experienced much, and witnessed the traumatic effects of battle. He also contracted [[diphtheria]] and [[dysentery]]. [[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufmann]] speculates that he might also have contracted [[syphilis]] along with his other infections at this time, and some biographers speculate that syphilis caused his eventual dementia, though there is some disagreement on this matter.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12522502|title=What was the cause of Nietzsche's dementia?}}</ref><ref>Richard Schain, The Legend of Nietzsche's Syphilis (Westwood: Greenwood Press, 2001</ref> On returning to Basel in 1870 Nietzsche observed the establishment of the [[German Empire]] and the following era of [[Otto von Bismarck]] as an outsider and with a degree of skepticism regarding its genuineness. At the University, he delivered his inaugural lecture, "[[s:Homer and Classical Philology|Homer and Classical Philology]]". Nietzsche also met [[Franz Overbeck]], a professor of [[theology]], who remained his friend throughout his life; [[Afrikan Spir]], a little-known Russian philosopher and author of ''Denken und Wirklichkeit'' (1873); and his colleague the historian [[Jacob Burckhardt]], whose lectures Nietzsche frequently attended, began to exercise significant influence on Nietzsche during this time.

Nietzsche had already met [[Richard Wagner]] in Leipzig in 1868, and (some time later) Wagner's wife [[Cosima Wagner|Cosima]]. Nietzsche admired both greatly, and during his time at Basel frequently visited Wagner's house in [[Tribschen]] in the [[Canton of Lucerne]]. The Wagners brought Nietzsche into their most intimate circle, and enjoyed the attention he gave to the beginning of the [[Bayreuth Festspielhaus|Bayreuth Festival Theatre]]. In 1870 he gave Cosima Wagner the manuscript of 'The Genesis of the Tragic Idea' as a birthday gift. In 1872 Nietzsche published his first book, ''[[The Birth of Tragedy]]''. However, his colleagues in the field of classical philology, including Ritschl, expressed little enthusiasm for the work, in which Nietzsche eschewed the classical philologic method in favor of a more speculative approach. In a [[polemic]], ''Philology of the Future'', [[Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff]] dampened the book's reception and increased its notoriety. In response, Rohde (by now a professor in [[Kiel]]) and Wagner came to Nietzsche's defense. Nietzsche remarked freely about the isolation he felt within the philological community and attempted to attain a position in philosophy at Basel, though unsuccessfully.

Between 1873 and 1876, Nietzsche published separately four long essays: ''David Strauss: the Confessor and the Writer'', ''On the Use and Abuse of History for Life'', ''Schopenhauer as Educator'', and ''Richard Wagner in Bayreuth''. (These four later appeared in a collected edition under the title, ''[[Untimely Meditations (Nietzsche)|Untimely Meditations]]''.) The four essays shared the orientation of a cultural critique, challenging the developing German culture along lines suggested by Schopenhauer and Wagner. In 1873, Nietzsche also began to accumulate notes that would be posthumously published as ''[[Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks]]''. During this time, in the circle of the Wagners, Nietzsche met [[Malwida von Meysenbug]] and [[Hans von Bülow]], and also began a friendship with [[Paul Rée]], who in 1876 influenced him in dismissing the pessimism in his early writings. However, he was deeply disappointed by the [[Bayreuth Festival]] of 1876, where the banality of the shows and the baseness of the public repelled him. He was also alienated by Wagner's championing of 'German culture', which Nietzsche thought a contradiction in terms, as well as by Wagner's celebration of his fame among the German public. All this contributed to Nietzsche's subsequent decision to distance himself from Wagner.

With the publication in 1878, when he was 34, of ''[[Human, All Too Human]]'' (a book of [[aphorisms]] on subjects ranging from metaphysics to morality and from religion to the sexes) Nietzsche's reaction against the pessimistic philosophy of Wagner and Schopenhauer became evident, as well as the influence of Afrikan Spir's ''Denken und Wirklichkeit''.<ref>Rüdiger Safranski, ''Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography'' (trans. Shelley Frisch), W. W. Norton & Company, 2003, p. 161: "This work [''Denken und Wirklichkeit''] had long been consigned to oblivion, but it had a lasting impact on Nietzsche. Section 18 of ''Human, All Too Human'' cited Spir, not by name, but by presenting a "proposition by an outstanding logician" (2,38; HH I §18)</ref> Nietzsche's friendship with Deussen and Rohde cooled as well. In 1879, after a significant decline in health, Nietzsche had to resign his position at Basel. (Since his childhood, various disruptive illnesses had plagued him, including moments of shortsightedness that left him nearly blind, migraine headaches, and violent indigestion. The 1868 riding accident and diseases in 1870 may have aggravated these persistent conditions, which continued to affect him through his years at Basel, forcing him to take longer and longer holidays until regular work became impractical.)

===Independent philosopher (1879–1888)===
Because his illness drove him to find climates more conducive to his health, Nietzsche traveled frequently, and lived until 1889 as an independent author in different cities. He spent many summers in [[Sils im Engadin/Segl|Sils Maria]], near [[St. Moritz]] in Switzerland, and many winters in the Italian cities of [[Genoa]], [[Rapallo]] and [[Turin]] and in the French city of [[Nice]]. In 1881, when [[French occupation of Tunisia|France occupied Tunisia]], he planned to travel to [[Tunis]] to view Europe from the outside, but later abandoned that idea (probably for health reasons).<ref>
Stephan Güntzel, [http://www.hypernietzsche.org/navigate.php?sigle=sgunzel-4 "Nietzsche's Geophilosophy"], p.85 in: ''Journal of Nietzsche Studies'' 25 (Spring 2003), The [[Pennsylvania State University Press]], University Park (Penn State), 2003-10-15; re-published on HyperNietzsche's website {{en icon}}/{{de icon}}
</ref> While in [[Genoa]], Nietzsche's failing eyesight prompted him to explore the use of [[typewriter]]s as a means of continuing to write. He is known to have tried using the [[Hansen Writing Ball#Nietzsche's Hansen Writing Ball|Hansen Writing Ball]], a contemporary typewriter device.

Nietzsche occasionally returned to Naumburg to visit his family, and, especially during this time, he and [[Elisabeth Forster-Nietzsche|his sister]] had repeated periods of conflict and reconciliation. He lived on his pension from Basel, but also received aid from friends.

A past student of his, [[Peter Gast]] (born Heinrich Köselitz), became a sort of private secretary to Nietzsche. In 1876, Koselitz transcribed the crabbed, nearly illegible handwriting of Nietzsche for the first time with Richard Wagner in Bayreuth.<ref>Cate, p.221</ref> He would go on to both transcribe and proofread the galleys for almost all of Nietzsche's work from there on. On at least one occasion, February 23, 1880, the usually broke Koselitz received 200 marks from their mutual friend, Paul Ree.<ref>Cate, p.297</ref> Koselitz was one of the very few friends Nietzsche allowed to criticize him. In responding most enthusiastically to "Zarathusa," Koselitz did feel it necessary to point out that what were described as "superfluous" people were in fact quite necessary. He went on to list the number of people Epicurus, for example, had to rely on—even with his simple diet of goat cheese.<ref>Cate, p.415.</ref>

To the end of his life, Gast and Overbeck remained consistently faithful friends. Malwida von Meysenbug remained like a motherly patron even outside the Wagner circle. Soon Nietzsche made contact with the music-critic [[Carl Fuchs]]. Nietzsche stood at the beginning of his most productive period. Beginning with ''[[Human, All Too Human]]'' in 1878, Nietzsche would publish one book (or major section of a book) each year until 1888, his last year of writing, during which he completed five.

[[Image:Nietzsche paul-ree lou-von-salome188.jpg|thumb|left|[[Lou Andreas-Salomé|Lou Salomé]], [[Paul Rée]] and Nietzsche, 1882]]

In 1882 Nietzsche published the first part of ''[[The Gay Science]]''. That year he also met [[Lou Andreas Salomé]],<ref>[http://www.f-nietzsche.de/lou_e.htm Nietzsche and Lou Andreas-Salomé]</ref> through Malwida von Meysenbug and Paul Rée. Nietzsche and Salomé spent the summer together in [[Tautenburg]] in [[Thuringia]], often with Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth as a chaperone. Nietzsche, however, regarded Salomé less as an equal partner than as a gifted student. Salomé reports that he asked her to marry him and that she refused, though the reliability of her reports of events has come into question.<ref>Kaufmann, p.49</ref> Nietzsche's relationship with Rée and Salomé broke up in the winter of 1882/1883, partially because of intrigues conducted by Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth. Amidst renewed bouts of illness, living in near isolation after a falling-out with his mother and sister regarding Salomé, Nietzsche fled to Rapallo. Here he wrote the first part of ''[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]'' in only ten days.

By 1882, Nietzsche was taking huge doses of opium, but was still having trouble sleeping.<ref>Cate, p.389</ref> In 1883, while staying in Nice, he was writing out his own prescriptions for the sleeping powder chloralhydrate, signing them 'Dr Nietzsche'.<ref>Cate, p. 453</ref>

After severing his philosophical ties with Schopenhauer and his social ties with Wagner, Nietzsche had few remaining friends. Now, with the new style of ''Zarathustra'', his work became even more alienating and the market received it only to the degree required by politeness. Nietzsche recognized this and maintained his solitude, though he often complained about it. His books remained largely unsold. In 1885 he printed only 40 copies of the fourth part of ''Zarathustra'', and distributed only a fraction of these among close friends, including [[Helene von Druskowitz]].

In 1883 he tried and failed to obtain a lecturing post at the [[University of Leipzig]]. It was made clear to him that, in view of the attitude towards Christianity and the concept of God expressed in ''Zarathustra'', he had become in effect unemployable at any German University. The subsequent "feelings of revenge and resentment" embittered him. "And hence my rage since I have grasped in the broadest possible sense what wretched means (the depreciation of my good name, my character and my aims) ''suffice'' to take from me the trust of, and therewith the possibility of obtaining, pupils."<ref>[[s:Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche#Nietzsche To Peter Gast – August 1883 2|Letter to Peter Gast – August 1883]]</ref>

In 1886, when he was 42, Nietzsche broke with his editor, Ernst Schmeitzner, disgusted by his anti-Semitic opinions. Nietzsche saw his own writings as "completely buried and unexhumeable in this anti-Semitic dump" of Schmeitzner—associating the editor with a movement that should be "utterly rejected with cold contempt by every sensible mind".<ref>[http://thenietzschechannel.fws1.com/corresp.htm The Nietzsche Channel], Correspondences</ref> He then printed ''[[Beyond Good and Evil]]'' at his own expense, and issued in 1886–1887 second editions of his earlier works (''The Birth of Tragedy'', ''[[Human, All Too Human]]'', ''Dawn'', and ''The Gay Science''), accompanied by new prefaces in which he reconsidered his earlier works. Thereafter, he saw his work as completed for a time and hoped that soon a readership would develop. In fact, interest in Nietzsche's thought did increase at this time, if rather slowly and in a way hardly perceived by him. During these years Nietzsche met [[Barbara Margaretha von Salis-Marschlins|Meta von Salis]], [[Carl Spitteler]], and also [[Gottfried Keller]]. In 1886 his sister Elisabeth married the [[Anti-Semitic|anti-Semite]] [[Bernhard Förster]] and traveled to [[Paraguay]] to found [[Nueva Germania]], a "Germanic" colony—a plan to which Nietzsche responded with mocking laughter.<ref>Encyclopædia Britannica Online. "Förster-Nietzsche, Elisabeth." [http://www.search.eb.com.librarypx.lclark.edu/eb/article-9034925 Search.EB.com]. Retrieved October 10, 2008.</ref> Through correspondence, Nietzsche's relationship with Elisabeth continued on the path of conflict and reconciliation, but they would meet again only after his collapse. He continued to have frequent and painful attacks of illness, which made prolonged work impossible. In 1887 Nietzsche wrote the [[polemic]] ''[[On the Genealogy of Morals]]''.

During the same year Nietzsche encountered the work of [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]], with whom he felt an immediate kinship.<ref>[[s:Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche#Nietzsche To Peter Gast - March, 1887|Letter to Peter Gast, March 1887.]]</ref> He also exchanged letters with [[Hippolyte Taine]], and then also with [[Georg Brandes]]. Brandes, who had started to teach the philosophy of [[Søren Kierkegaard]] in the 1870s, wrote to Nietzsche asking him to [[Kierkegaard and Nietzsche comparisons|read Kierkegaard]], to which Nietzsche replied that he would come to Copenhagen and read Kierkegaard with him. However, before fulfilling this undertaking, he slipped too far into sickness. In the beginning of 1888, in Copenhagen, Brandes delivered one of the first lectures on Nietzsche's philosophy.

Although Nietzsche had in 1886 announced (at the end of ''On The Genealogy of Morality'') a new work with the title ''[[The Will to Power]]: Attempt at a [[transvaluation of all values|Revaluation of All Values]]'', he eventually seems to have abandoned this particular approach and instead used some of the draft passages to compose ''[[Twilight of the Idols]]'' and ''[[The Antichrist (book)|The Antichrist]]'' (both written in 1888).<ref>Mazzino Montinari, ''Friedrich Nietzsche'' (1974; translated into German in 1991, ''Friedrich Nietzsche. Eine Einführung.'', Berlin-New York, De Gruyter; and in French, ''Friedrich Nietzsche'', [[PUF]], 2001)</ref>

His health seemed to improve, and he spent the summer in high spirits. In the fall of 1888 his writings and letters began to reveal a higher estimation of his own status and "fate." He overestimated the increasing response to his writings, especially to the recent polemic, ''[[The Case of Wagner]]''. On his 44th birthday, after completing ''Twilight of the Idols'' and ''The Antichrist'', he decided to write the autobiography ''[[Ecce Homo (Nietzsche)|Ecce Homo]]''. In the preface to this work—which suggests Nietzsche was well aware of the interpretive difficulties his work would generate—he declares, "Hear me! For I am such and such a person. Above all, do not mistake me for someone else."<ref>From the Preface, section 1 (English translation by [[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufmann]])</ref> In December, Nietzsche began a correspondence with [[August Strindberg]], and thought that, short of an international breakthrough, he would attempt to buy back his older writings from the publisher and have them translated into other European languages. Moreover, he planned the publication of the compilation ''[[Nietzsche Contra Wagner]]'' and of the poems that composed his collection ''Dionysian-[[Dithyramb]]s.

=== Mental breakdown and death (1889–1900) ===
[[File:Nietzsche Olde 04 (cropped).JPG|thumb|right|Photo by Hans Olde from the photographic series, ''The Ill Nietzsche'', mid-1899]]
[[File:NietzscheHouseTurin.jpg|right|thumb|The house Nietzsche stayed in while in [[Turin]] (background, right), as seen from across Piazza Carlo Alberto, where he is said to have had his breakdown. To the left is the rear façade of the [[Palazzo Carignano]]]]

On January 3, 1889, Nietzsche suffered a mental collapse. Two policemen approached him after he caused a public disturbance in the streets of [[Turin, Italy|Turin]]. What happened remains unknown, but an often-repeated tale states that Nietzsche witnessed the whipping of a horse at the other end of the Piazza Carlo Alberto, ran to the horse, threw his arms up around its neck to protect it, and then collapsed to the ground.<ref>Kaufmann, p. 67.</ref><!--The first dream-sequence from [[Fyodor Dostoevsky|Dostoyevsky's]] ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'' has just such a scene in which [[Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov|Raskolnikov]] witnesses the whipping of a horse around the eyes.<ref>On whips, see also [[Paolo d'Iorio]]'s discussion of whipping in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' and in Schopenhauer's ''[[Parerga und Paralipomena]]'', II, chap XXX: ''Über Lärm und Geräusch'': [http://www.hypernietzsche.org/navigate.php?sigle=pdiorio-1 "Genèse, parodie et modernité dans ''Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra''"], published on the ''HyperNietzsche'' website {{fr icon}}
</ref><ref>[[s:Crime and Punishment/Part I/Chapter V|Crime and Punishment, I, 5.]]</ref>){{Citation needed|date=August 2008}} Ed. note – for restoration criteria see comment here:[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Friedrich_Nietzsche&diff=231451308&oldid=231346346]-->

In the following few days, Nietzsche sent short writings—known as the ''Wahnbriefe'' ("Madness Letters")—to a number of friends (including [[Cosima Wagner]] and [[Jacob Burckhardt]]). To his former colleague Burckhardt, Nietzsche wrote: "I have had [[Caiaphas]] put in [[fetters]]. Also, last year I was crucified by the German doctors in a very drawn-out manner. Wilhelm, [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]], and all anti-Semites abolished."<ref>''The Portable Nietzsche'', trans. Walter Kaufmann.</ref> Additionally, he commanded the German emperor to go to Rome to be shot, and summoned the European powers to take military action against Germany.<ref>[[Stefan Zweig|Zweig, Stefan]] (1939) ''Master Builders [trilogy], The Struggle with the Daimon'', Viking Press, p. 524.</ref>

On January 6, 1889, Burckhardt showed the letter he had received from Nietzsche to Overbeck. The following day Overbeck received a similarly revealing letter, and decided that Nietzsche's friends had to bring him back to Basel. Overbeck traveled to Turin and brought Nietzsche to a psychiatric clinic in Basel. By that time Nietzsche appeared fully in the grip of a serious mental illness, and his mother Franziska decided to transfer him to a clinic in [[Jena]] under the direction of [[Otto Binswanger]]. From November 1889 to February 1890 the art historian [[Julius Langbehn]] attempted to cure Nietzsche, claiming that the methods of the medical doctors were ineffective in treating Nietzsche's condition. Langbehn assumed progressively greater control of Nietzsche until his secretiveness discredited him. In March 1890 Franziska removed Nietzsche from the clinic, and in May 1890 brought him to her home in Naumburg. During this process Overbeck and Gast contemplated what to do with Nietzsche's unpublished works. In January 1889 they proceeded with the planned release of ''Twilight of the Idols'', by that time already printed and bound. In February they ordered a fifty copy private edition of ''Nietzsche contra Wagner'', but the publisher [[C. G. Naumann]] secretly printed one hundred. Overbeck and Gast decided to withhold publishing ''The Antichrist'' and ''Ecce Homo'' because of their more radical content. Nietzsche's reception and recognition enjoyed their first surge.

In 1893 Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth returned from [[Nueva Germania]] (in Paraguay) following the suicide of her husband. She read and studied Nietzsche's works, and piece by piece took control of them and of their publication. Overbeck eventually suffered dismissal, and Gast finally co-operated. After the death of Franziska in 1897, Nietzsche lived in [[Weimar]], where Elisabeth cared for him and allowed people, including [[Rudolf Steiner]] (who in 1895 had written one of the first books praising Nietzsche)<ref>Rudolf Steiner: ''Friedrich Nietzsche, ein Kämpfer gegen seine Zeit.'' Weimar 1895</ref> to visit her uncommunicative brother. Elisabeth at one point went so far as to employ Steiner – at a time when he was still an ardent fighter against any mysticism – as a tutor to help her to understand her brother's philosophy. Steiner abandoned the attempt after only a few months, declaring that it was impossible to teach her anything about philosophy.<ref>Andrew Bailey, ''First Philosophy: Fundamental Problems and Readings in Philosophy'', Broadview Press, 2002, p704</ref>

[[Image:Eh-dm-27.JPG|thumb|[[Peter Gast]] would "correct" Nietzsche's writings even after the philosopher's breakdown and did so without his approval—an action severely criticized by {{As of| 2007|alt=contemporary}} Nietzsche scholars.]]

Nietzsche's mental illness was originally diagnosed as tertiary syphilis, in accordance with a prevailing medical paradigm of the time. Although most commentators regard his breakdown as unrelated to his philosophy, [[Georges Bataille]] drops dark hints ("'man incarnate' must also go mad")<ref>Georges Bataille & Annette Michelson, ''Nietzsche's Madness'', October, Vol. 36, Georges Bataille: Writings on Laughter, Sacrifice, Nietzsche, Un-Knowing. (Spring, 1986), pp. 42–45.</ref> and [[René Girard]]'s postmortem psychoanalysis posits a worshipful rivalry with [[Richard Wagner]].<ref>René Girard, ''Superman in the Underground: Strategies of Madness—Nietzsche, Wagner, and Dostoevsky'', ''MLN'', Vol. 91, No. 6, Comparative Literature. (December, 1976), pp. 1161–1185</ref> The diagnosis of syphilis was challenged, and manic-depressive illness with periodic psychosis, followed by vascular dementia was put forward by Cybulska<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Cybulska EM |title=The madness of Nietzsche: a misdiagnosis of the millennium? |journal=Hospital Medicine |volume=61 |issue=8 |pages=571–575 |year=2000 |month=August |pmid=11045229}}</ref> prior Schain's;<ref>{{Cite book| last = Schain | first = Richard | title = The Legend of Nietzsche's Syphilis | publisher = Greenwood Press | location = Westport | year = 2001 | isbn = 0313319405 }}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref> and Sax's studies;.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/05/1051987657451.html|title=Nietzsche 'died of brain cancer' | work=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=May 6, 2003}}</ref> Orth and Trimble postulate [[frontotemporal dementia]],<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Orth M, Trimble MR |title=Friedrich Nietzsche's mental illness—general paralysis of the insane vs. frontotemporal dementia |journal=Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica |volume=114 |issue=6 |pages=439–444; discussion 445 |year=2006 |month=December |pmid=17087793 |doi=10.1111/j.1600-0447.2006.00827.x}}</ref> while other researchers<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Hemelsoet D, Hemelsoet K, Devreese D |title=The neurological illness of Friedrich Nietzsche |journal=Acta Neurologica Belgica |volume=108 |issue=1 |pages=9–16 |year=2008 |month=March |pmid=18575181 |url=http://www.actaneurologica.be/acta/article.asp?lang=en&navid=133&id=14389&mod=acta}}</ref> propose a syndrome called [[CADASIL syndrome|CADASIL]].

In 1898 and 1899 Nietzsche suffered at least two strokes, which partially paralysed him and left him unable to speak or walk. After contracting pneumonia in mid-August 1900 he had another stroke during the night of August 24 / August 25, and died about noon on August 25.<ref>Concurring reports in Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche's biography (1904) and a letter by Mathilde Schenk-Nietzsche to [[Meta von Salis]], August 30, 1900, quoted in Janz (1981) p. 221. Cf. Volz (1990), p. 251.</ref> Elisabeth had him buried beside his father at the church in [[Röcken]] bei [[Lützen]]. His friend, Gast, gave his funeral oration, proclaiming: "Holy be your name to all future generations!"<ref>[http://www.philosophos.com/philosophy_article_31.html Schain, Richard. "Nietzsche's Visionary Values — Genius or Dementia?]</ref> Nietzsche had written in ''Ecce Homo'' (at the time of the funeral still unpublished) of his fear that one day his name would be regarded as "holy".

Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche compiled ''[[The Will to Power (manuscript)|The Will to Power]]'' from Nietzsche's unpublished notebooks, and published it posthumously. Because his sister arranged the book based on her own conflation of several of Nietzsche's early outlines, and took great liberties with the material, the consensus holds that it does not reflect Nietzsche's intent. Indeed, [[Mazzino Montinari]], the editor of Nietzsche's ''[[Nachlass]]'', called it a forgery in ''The 'Will to Power' Does Not Exist''. For example, Elisabeth removed aphorism 35 of ''The Antichrist'', where Nietzsche rewrote a passage of the Bible (see ''[[The Will to Power]]'' and [[Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche#Nietzsche's criticisms of anti-Semitism and nationalism|Nietzsche's criticisms of anti-Semitism and nationalism]]).

===Citizenship, nationality, ethnicity===
Nietzsche is considered a German philosopher.<ref>General commentators and Nietzsche scholars, whether emphasizing his cultural background or his language, overwhelmingly label Nietzsche as a "German philosopher". For example: [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/ ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'']; [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0192854143 Source: Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction (See Preview on Amazon)]; [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9108765/Friedrich-Nietzsche#387226.hook ''Britannica'']; [http://books.google.com/books?id=Xeb80itrlRIC&pg=PA1&dq=%22German+philosopher%22+Nietzsche&lr=&sig=TGo0nlA9H07fxr4GbfMlDcFRgrQ ''The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche'', page 1]. Others do not assign him a [[nationalism|nationalist]] category. For example: Edward Craid (editor): ''The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of philosophy''. Abingdon: Routledge, 2005, pages 726–741; Simon Blackburn: ''The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy''. Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]], 2005, pages 252–253; {{Cite book
|editor= Jonathan Rée and J. O. Urmson
|title= The Concise encyclopedia of western philosophy
|origyear= 1960
|edition= 3rd
|year= 2005
|publisher= Routledge
|location= London
|isbn= 0-415-32924-8
|pages= 267–270
}}</ref> Although Germany had not yet been unified into a nation-state, the [[German Confederation]], which Nietzsche ''was'' born a [[citizen]] of - [[Prussia]].<ref name="Mencken2008">{{cite book|author=Henry Louis Mencken|title=The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=dyOwIOqoopkC&pg=PA11|date=18 December 2008|publisher=Wilder Publications|isbn=978-1-60459-331-0|pages=11–}}</ref> When he accepted his post at Basel, Nietzsche applied for the annulment of his Prussian citizenship.<ref>''Er beantragte also bei der preussischen Behörde seine Expatrierung'' [Translation:] "He accordingly applied to the Prussian authorities for expatrification". Curt Paul Janz: ''Friedrich Nietzsche: Biographie'' volume 1. Munich: Carl Hanser, 1978, page 263.</ref> The official response confirming the revocation of his citizenship came in a document dated April 17, 1869,<ref>German text available as ''Entlassungsurkunde für den Professor Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche aus Naumburg'' in Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari: ''Nietzsche Briefwechsel: Kritische Gesamtausgabe''. Part I, Volume 4. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1993. ISBN 3 11 012277 4, page 566.</ref> and for the rest of his life he remained officially [[Statelessness|stateless]].

A common myth is that Nietzsche's ancestors ''were'' [[Polish people|Polish]].<ref name="Mencken1913">{{cite book|author=Henry Louis Mencken|title=Friedrich Nietzsche|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=_r71AzHvf64C&pg=PA6|year=1913|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-1-56000-649-7|pages=6–}}</ref> Nietzsche himself subscribed to this story toward the end of his life. He wrote in 1888, "My ancestors were Polish noblemen (Nietzky); the type seems to have been well preserved despite three generations of German mothers."<ref name=hollingdalep6>Hollingdale, R.J: Nietzsche: The Man and His Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, 1999. p.6</ref> At one point Nietzsche becomes even more adamant about his Polish Identity. "I am a pure-blooded Polish nobleman, without a single drop of bad blood, certainly not German blood."<ref>Some recently translations use this latter text. See: Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. The Anti-Christ, Ecce Homo, Twilight of the Idols, and Other Writings: And Other Writings. Translated by Judith Norman, Aaron Ridley. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 77.</ref> On yet another occasion Nietzsche stated "Germany is a great nation only because its people have so much Polish blood in their veins [...] I am proud of my Polish descent."<ref>Henry Louis Mencken, "The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche", T. Fisher Unwin, 1908, reprinted by University of Michigan 2006, pg. 6, [http://books.google.com/books?id=nnEOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA6&dq=Nietzsche+Polish&as_brr=3]</ref> Nietzsche believed his name might have been [[Germanized]], in one letter claiming, "I was taught to ascribe the origin of my blood and name to Polish noblemen who were called Niëtzky and left their home and nobleness about a hundred years ago, finally yielding to unbearable suppression: they were Protestants."<ref>Letter to Heinrich von Stein, December 1882, ''KGB'' III 1, Nr. 342, p. 287; ''KGW'' V 2, p. 579; ''KSA'' 9 p. 681</ref>

Most scholars dispute Nietzsche's account of his family's origins. Hans von Müller debunked the genealogy put forward by Nietzsche's sister in favor of a Polish noble heritage.<ref>von Müller, "Nietzsches Vorfahren", reprinted ''Nietzsche-Studien'' 31 (2002): 253&ndash;275.</ref> [[Max Oehler]], the curator of [[Nietzsche Archive]] at [[Weimar]], argued that all of Nietzsche's ancestors bore German names, even the wives' families.<ref name=hollingdalep6/> Oehler claims that Nietzsche came from a long line of German [[Lutheran Church|Lutheran]] clergymen on both sides of his family, and modern scholars regard the claim of Nietzsche's Polish ancestry as a "pure invention".<ref name=mencken>H.L. Mencken: The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzche. Introduction and comments by Charles Q. Bufe. See Sharp Press, USA, 2003. p.2</ref> Colli and Montinari, the editors of Nietzsche's assembled letters, gloss Nietzsche's claims as a "mistaken belief" and "without foundation."<ref>Letter to Heinrich von Stein, December 1882, ''KGB'' III 7.1 p. 313, and Letter to Georg Brandes, 10. 4. 1888, ''KGB'' III 7.3/1 p. 293.</ref> The name ''Nietzsche'' itself is not a Polish name, but an exceptionally common one throughout central Germany, in this and cognate forms (such as ''Nitsche'' and ''Nitzke''). The name derives from the forename ''Nikolaus'', abbreviated to ''Nick''; assimilated with the Slavic ''Nitz'', it first became ''Nitsche'' and then ''Nietzsche''.<ref name=hollingdalep6/>

It is not known why Nietzsche wanted to be thought of as Polish nobility. According to biographer [[R. J. Hollingdale]], Nietzsche's propagation of the Polish ancestry myth may have been part of the latter's "campaign against Germany".<ref name=hollingdalep6/>

==Philosophy==
[[File:Nietzsche187c.jpg|thumb|175px|Friedrich Nietzsche, 1869]]
{{Main|Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche}}

A few of the themes that Nietzsche scholars have devoted the most attention to include Nietzsche's views on [[master and slave morality|morality]], his view that "[[God is dead]]" (and along with it any sort of God's-eye view on the world thus leading to [[perspectivism]]), his notions of the [[will to power]] and [[Übermensch]], and his suggestion of [[eternal return]].

Nietzsche's works remain controversial, due to interpretations and misinterpretations of his work. Common misinterpretations of Nietzsche include the notion that he rejected religious spirituality in its entirety, that he was anti-Semitic, or that he was entirely opposed to Christian beliefs. Nietzsche's concept that "God is dead" applies to the doctrines of Christendom, though not to all other faiths: he claimed that [[Buddhism]] is a successful religion that he compliments for fostering critical thought.<ref name="Peter R. Sedgwick 2009. Pp. 26">Peter R. Sedgwick. ''Nietzsche: the key concepts''. Routledge, Oxon, England, UK: Routledge, 2009. Pp. 26.</ref> While Nietzsche attacked the principles of [[Judaism]], Nietzsche was not anti-Semitic: in his work ''[[On the Genealogy of Morality]]'', he explicitly condemns anti-Semitism, and pointed out that his attack on Judaism was not an attack on Jews as a people but specifically an attack upon the ancient Jewish priesthood whom he claims anti-Semitic Christians paradoxically based their views upon.<ref>Peter R. Sedgwick. ''Nietzsche: the key concepts''. Routledge, Oxon, England, UK: Routledge, 2009. Pp. 69.</ref> He did not attack the teachings and examples of [[Jesus]], but claimed that the Christian faith as practiced was not a proper representation of Jesus' teachings, as it forced people merely to believe in the way of Jesus but not to act as Jesus did, in particular his example of refusing to judge people, something that Nietzsche claimed Christians had deliberately done the opposite of.<ref name="Peter R. Sedgwick 2009. Pp. 26"/> He condemned institutionalized Christianity for emphasizing a morality of [[pity]], which assumes an inherent illness in society.<ref>Peter R. Sedgwick. ''Nietzsche: the key concepts''. Routledge, Oxon, England, UK: Routledge, 2009. Pp. 27.</ref>

===Morality===
In ''[[The Dawn (book)|Daybreak]]'' Nietzsche begins his "Campaign against Morality".<ref>Kaufmann, p.187. (Ecce Homo-M I)</ref> He calls himself an "immoralist" and harshly criticizes the prominent moral schemes of his day: Christianity, [[Kantianism]], and [[utilitarianism]]. In ''[[Ecce Homo (book)|Ecce Homo]]'' Nietzsche called the establishment of moral systems based on a dichotomy of good and evil a "calamitous error",<ref>Nietzsche, Ecce Homo, "Why I Am a Destiny", §3</ref> and wished to initiate a [[transvaluation of all values|re-evaluation]] of the [[Value (personal and cultural)|values]] of the Judeo-Christian world.<ref>Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. ''The Antichrist''. Grand Rapids: Kessinger, 2004: 4,8,18,29,37,40,51,57,59. Print.</ref> He indicates his desire to bring about a new, more naturalistic source of value in the vital impulses of life itself.

In ''[[Beyond Good and Evil|Beyond Good And Evil]]'' and ''[[The Genealogy of Morals|On The Genealogy Of Morality]]'', Nietzsche's genealogical account of the development of [[master-slave morality]] occupies a central place. Nietzsche presents master-morality as the original system of morality—perhaps best associated with Homeric Greece. Here, value arises as a contrast between good and bad, or between 'life-affirming' and 'life-denying': wealth, strength, health, and power, the sort of traits found in a Homeric hero, count as good; while bad is associated with the poor, weak, sick, and pathetic, the sort of traits conventionally associated with slaves in ancient times.

Slave-morality, in contrast, comes about as a reaction to master-morality. Nietzsche associates slave-morality with the Jewish and Christian traditions. Here, value emerges from the contrast between good and ''evil'': good being associated with other-worldliness, charity, piety, restraint, meekness, and submission; evil seen as worldly, cruel, selfish, wealthy, and aggressive. Nietzsche sees slave-morality born out of the [[ressentiment]] of slaves. It works to overcome the slave's own sense of inferiority before the (better-off) masters. It does so by making out slave weakness to be a matter of choice, by, e.g., relabeling it as "meekness." This is viewed as a misinterpretation of the essence of Christian morality by G.K. Chesterton, who believes it signifies a reckless sense of charity of the naturally powerful to his neighbor in need. <ref> G.k Chesterton, Heretics 1905 </ref>

Nietzsche sees the slave-morality as a source of the nihilism that has overtaken Europe. In Nietzsche's eyes, modern Europe, and its Christianity, exists in a hypocritical state due to a tension between master and slave morality, both values contradictorily determining, to varying degrees, the values of most Europeans (who are "motley"). Nietzsche calls for exceptional people to no longer be ashamed of their uniqueness in the face of a supposed morality-for-all, which Nietzsche deems to be harmful to the flourishing of exceptional people. However, Nietzsche cautions that morality, per se, is not bad; it is good for the masses, and should be left to them. Exceptional people, on the other hand, should follow their own "inner law." A favorite motto of Nietzsche, taken from [[Pindar]], reads: "Become what you are."

===Death of God, nihilism, perspectivism===
{{Main|God is dead|nihilism|perspectivism}}

The statement "[[God is dead]]", occurring in several of Nietzsche's works (notably in ''[[The Gay Science]]''), has become one of his best-known remarks. On the basis of it, most commentators<ref>{{Cite book|last=Morgan|first=George Allen|title=What Nietzsche Means|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|year=1941|page=36|isbn=083717404X}}</ref> regard Nietzsche as an [[atheism|atheist]]; others (such as Kaufmann) suggest that this statement reflects a more subtle understanding of divinity. In Nietzsche's view, recent developments in modern science and the increasing [[secularization]] of European society had effectively 'killed' the Abrahamic God, who had served as the basis for meaning and value in the West for more than a thousand years.

Nietzsche claimed the death of God would eventually lead to the loss of any universal perspective on things, and along with it any coherent sense of objective truth.<ref>Lampert, ''Nietzsche's Teaching, 17–18; Heidegger, "The Word of Nietzsche."</ref> Instead we would retain only our own multiple, diverse, and fluid perspectives. This view has acquired the name "[[perspectivism]]".

Alternatively, the death of God may lead beyond bare perspectivism to outright [[nihilism]], the belief that nothing has any inherent importance and that life lacks purpose. As Heidegger put the problem, "If God as the suprasensory ground and goal of all reality is dead, if the suprasensory world of the Ideas has suffered the loss of its obligatory and above it its vitalizing and upbuilding power, then nothing more remains to which man can cling and by which he can orient himself."<ref>Heidegger, "The Word of Nietzsche", 61.</ref> Developing this idea, Nietzsche wrote ''[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]'', therein introducing the concept of a value-creating [[Übermensch]]. According to Lampert, "the death of God must be followed by a long twilight of piety and nihilism (II. 19; III. 8). […] Zarathustra's gift of the superman is given to a mankind not aware of the problem to which the superman is the solution."<ref>Lampert, ''Nietzsche's Teaching'', 18.</ref>

===Will to power===
{{Main|Will to power}}

A basic element in Nietzsche's philosophical outlook is the "will to power" (''der Wille zur Macht''), which provides a basis for understanding human behavior. In a wide sense of a term, the will to power is a more important element than pressure for adaptation or survival.<ref>Beyond Good & Evil 13, Gay Science 349 & Genealogy of Morality II:12</ref> It expresses itself as the desire to be wealthy, powerful, secure and to have social status. According to Nietzsche, only in limited situations is the drive for conservation of life precedent over the will to power. The natural condition of life, according to him, is one of profusion.<ref>Twilight of the Idols; Skirmishes of an untimely man; §14</ref> In its later forms Nietzsche's concept of the will to power applies to all living things, suggesting that adaptation and the struggle to survive is a secondary drive in the evolution of animals, less important than the desire to expand one's power. Nietzsche eventually took this concept further still, and speculated that it may apply to inorganic nature as well. He transformed the idea of matter as centers of force into matter as centers of will to power. Nietzsche wanted to dispense with the atomistic theory of matter, a theory which he viewed as a relic of the metaphysics of substance.<ref>Nietzsche comments in many notes about matter being a hypothesis drawn from the metaphysics of substance, see G. Whitlock, "Roger Boscovich, Benedict de Spinoza and Friedrich Nietzsche: The Untold Story", ''Nietzsche-Studien'' 25, 1996 p207</ref> One study of Nietzsche defines his fully developed concept of the will to power as "the element from which derive both the quantitative difference of related forces and the quality that devolves into each force in this relation" revealing the will to power as "the principle of the synthesis of forces."<ref>Gilles Deleuze, Nietzsche ad Philosophy, translated by Hugh Tomlinson, 2006, p46</ref>.

Nietzsche's notion of the will to power can also be viewed as a response to [[Schopenhauer]]'s "will to live." Writing a generation before Nietzsche, Schopenhauer had regarded the entire universe and everything in it as driven by a primordial will to live, thus resulting in all creatures' desire to avoid death and to procreate. Nietzsche, however, challenges Schopenhauer's account and suggests that people and animals really want power; living in itself appears only as a subsidiary aim—something necessary to promote one's power. Defending his view, Nietzsche describes instances where people and animals willingly risk their lives to gain power—most notably in instances like competitive fighting and warfare. Once again, Nietzsche seems to take part of his inspiration from the ancient Homeric Greek texts he knew well: Greek heroes and aristocrats or "masters" did not desire mere living (they often died quite young and risked their lives in battle) but wanted power, glory, and greatness. In this regard he often mentions the common Greek theme of ''agon'' or contest.

In addition to Schopenhauer's psychological views, Nietzsche contrasts his notion of the will to power with many of the other most popular psychological views of his day, such as that of [[utilitarianism]]. Utilitarianism—a philosophy mainly promoted, in Nietzsche's days and before, by British thinkers such as [[Jeremy Bentham]] and [[James Mill]]—claims that all people fundamentally want to be happy. But this conception of happiness found in utilitarianism Nietzsche rejected as something limited to, and characteristic of, English society only.<ref>[[Brian Leiter]], ''Routledge guide to Nietzsche on morality'', pp. 121</ref> Also Platonism and Christian neo-Platonism–which claim that people ultimately want to achieve unity with The Good or with God–are philosophies he criticizes. In each case, Nietzsche argues that the "will to power" provides a more useful and general explanation of human behavior.

===Übermensch===
{{Main|Übermensch}}

Another concept important to an understanding of Nietzsche's thought is the ''[[Übermensch]]''. While interpretations of Nietzsche's overman vary wildly, here is one of his quotations from ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' (Prologue, §§3–4):

<blockquote>"I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him? … All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood, and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is ape to man? A laughing stock or painful embarrassment. And man shall be that to overman: a laughingstock or painful embarrassment. You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now, too, man is more ape than any ape.... The overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the overman ''shall be'' the meaning of the earth.... Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman—a rope over an abyss … what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end."</blockquote>

===Eternal return===
{{Main|Eternal return}}

The idea of [[eternal return]] occurs in a parable in Section 341 of ''[[The Gay Science]]'', and also in the chapter "Of the Vision and the Riddle" in ''[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]'', among other places.<ref>Nietzsche, Friedrich. ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and For None.'' Trans. R. J. Hollingdale. New York: Penguin Classics, pg. 176-80.</ref> Nietzsche contemplates the idea as potentially "horrifying and paralyzing", and says that its burden is the "heaviest weight" imaginable ("''das schwerste Gewicht''").<ref>Kundera, Milan. ''The Unbearable Lightness of Being''. 1999, page 5.</ref> The wish for the eternal return of all events would mark the ultimate affirmation of life, a reaction to [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]]'s praise of denying the will&ndash;to&ndash;live. To comprehend eternal recurrence in his thought, and to not merely come to peace with it but to embrace it, requires ''[[amor fati]]'', "love of fate":<ref name=dudl>Dudley, Will. ''Hegel, Nietzsche, and Philosophy: Thinking Freedom''. 2002, page 201.</ref>

==Reading and influence==
[[Image:Nietzsche Archives in Weimar.jpg|thumb|240px|right|The residence of Nietzsche's last three years, along with archive in [[Weimar]], Germany, which holds many of Nietzsche's papers]]
{{Main|Library of Friedrich Nietzsche}}
As a [[philologist]], Nietzsche had a thorough knowledge of [[Greek philosophy]]. He read [[Immanuel Kant]], [[John Stuart Mill]], [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] and [[African Spir]],<ref>Brobjer, Thomas. ''Nietzsche's Reading and Private Library, 1885–1889.'' Published in ''Journal of History of Ideas.'' Accessed via JSTOR on May 18, 2007.</ref> who became his main opponents in his philosophy, and later [[Spinoza]], whom he saw as his "precursor" in some respects<ref>Letter to Franz Overbeck, July 30, 1881</ref> but as a personification of the "ascetic ideal" in others. However, Nietzsche referred to Kant as a "moral fanatic", Mill as a "blockhead", and of Spinoza he said: "How much of personal timidity and vulnerability does this masquerade of a sickly recluse betray?"<ref>Russell, Bertrand, History of Western Philosophy, Routledge, 2004, pp 693–697</ref>

Nietzsche's philosophy, while highly innovative and revolutionary, was indebted to many predecessors. While at Basel, Nietzsche offered lecture courses on the "Pre-Platonic Philosophers" for several years, and the text of this lecture series has been characterized as a "lost link" in the development of his thought. "In it concepts such as the will to power, the eternal return of the same, the overman, gay science, self-overcoming and so on receive rough, unnamed formulations and are linked to specific pre-Platonics, especially Heraclitus, who emerges as a pre-Platonic Nietzsche."<ref>Friedrich Nietzsche (Greg Whitlock trans.), ''The Pre-Platonic Philosophers", 2001, xxxvii</ref> The [[pre-Socratic]] Greek thinker [[Heraclitus]] was known for the rejection of the concept of [[being]] as a constant and eternal principle of universe, and his embrace of "flux" and incessant change. His symbolism of the world as "child play" marked by amoral spontaneity and lack of definite rules was appreciated by Nietzsche.<ref>Roochnik, David. ''Retrieving the Ancients'' (2004) pg. 37–39</ref> From his Heraclitean sympathy Nietzsche was also a vociferous detractor of [[Parmenides]], who opposed Heraclitus and believed all world is a single Being with no change at all.<ref>Roochnik, pg. 48</ref>

In his ''[http://www.archive.org/details/egotismingerman00santuoft Egotism in German Philosophy]'', [[George Santayana|Santayana]] claimed that Nietzsche's whole philosophy was a reaction to Schopenhauer. Santayana wrote that Nietzsche's work was "an emendation of that of
Schopenhauer. The will to live would become the
will to dominate; pessimism founded on reflection
would become optimism founded on courage; the
suspense of the will in contemplation would yield to
a more biological account of intelligence and taste;
finally in the place of pity and asceticism (Schopenhauer's two principles of morals) Nietzsche would
set up the duty of asserting the will at all costs and
being cruelly but beautifully strong.
These points of difference from Schopenhauer
cover the whole philosophy of Nietzsche."<ref>''Egotism in German Philosophy'', Chapter XI.</ref>

Nietzsche expressed admiration for [[French literature of the 17th century|17th century French moralists]] such as [[François de La Rochefoucauld (writer)|La Rochefoucauld]], [[Jean de La Bruyère]] and [[Vauvenargues (writer)|Vauvenargues]],<ref>Brendan Donnellan, [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0016-8831%28197905%2952%3A3%3C303%3ANALR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6&size=LARGE "Nietzsche and La Rochefoucauld"] in ''[[The German Quarterly]]'', Vol. 52, No. 3 (May, 1979), pp. 303–318 {{en icon}}</ref> as well as for [[Stendhal]].<ref name=EHC3>See for example ''[[Ecce Homo (book)|Ecce Homo]]'', "Why I am So Clever", §3</ref> The [[organicism]] of [[Paul Bourget]] influenced Nietzsche,<ref>Johan Grzelczyk, [http://www.hypernietzsche.org/navigate.php?sigle=jgrzelczyk-4 "Féré et Nietzsche : au sujet de la décadence"], ''HyperNietzsche'', 2005-11-01 {{fr icon}}. Grzelczyk quotes Jacques Le Rider, ''Nietzsche en France. De la fin du XIXe siècle au temps présent'', Paris, PUF, 1999, pp.8–9</ref> as did that of [[Rudolf Virchow]] and [[Alfred Espinas]].<ref>Johan Grzelczyk, [http://www.hypernietzsche.org/navigate.php?sigle=jgrzelczyk-4 "Féré et Nietzsche : au sujet de la décadence"], ''HyperNietzsche'', 2005-11-01 {{fr icon}}. Grzelczyk quotes B. Wahrig-Schmidt, "Irgendwie, jedenfalls physiologisch. Friedrich Nietzsche, Alexandre Herzen (fils) und Charles Féré 1888" in ''Nietzsche Studien'', Band 17, Berlin: [[Walter de Gruyter]], 1988, p.439
</ref> Nietzsche early learned of [[Darwinism]] through [[Friedrich Albert Lange]].<ref name=Fouillee>
[http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Note_sur_Nietzsche_et_Lange_:_%C2%AB_le_retour_%C3%A9ternel_%C2%BB Note sur Nietzsche et Lange : « le retour éternel »], [[Albert Fouillée]], ''Revue philosophique de la France et de l'étranger''. An. 34. Paris 1909. T. 67, S. 519–525 (on French Wikisource)
</ref> Notably, he also read some of the posthumous works of [[Charles Baudelaire]],<ref name="Mazzino Montinari 1996">Mazzino Montinari, ''"La Volonté de puissance" n'existe pas'', Éditions de l'Éclat, 1996, §13</ref> [[Leo Tolstoy|Tolstoy]]'s ''My Religion'', [[Ernest Renan]]'s ''Life of Jesus'' and [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]]'s ''The Possessed''.<ref name="Mazzino Montinari 1996"/><ref>Walter Kaufmann, ''Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist'', pp. 306–340.</ref> Nietzsche called Dostoevsky "the only psychologist from whom I have anything to learn."<ref>''Twilight of the Idols'', Friedrich Nietzsche, 1889, §45).</ref> [[Harold Bloom]] has often claimed, particularly in ''Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?'', that the essays of [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] had a profound and favourable influence on Nietzsche. While Nietzsche never mentions [[Max Stirner]], the similarities in their ideas have prompted a minority of interpreters to suggest a [[Relationship between Friedrich Nietzsche and Max Stirner|relationship between the two]].<ref>K. Löwith, ''From Hegel To Nietzsche'', New York, 1964, p187; S. Taylor, ''Left Wing Nietzscheans, The Politics of German Expressionism 1910–1920'', p144, 1990, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York; G. Deleuze, ''[[Nietzsche and Philosophy]]'', (translated by Hugh Tomlinson), 2006, pp153-154; R. C. Solomon & K. M. Higgins, ''The Age of German Idealism'', p300, Routledge, 1993; R. A. Samek, ''The Meta Phenomenon'', p70, New York, 1981; T. Goyens, ''Beer and Revolution: The German Anarchist Movement In New York City'', p197, Illinois, 2007; a special treatise on that question is: [http://www.lsr-projekt.de/poly/ennietzsche.html Bernd A. Laska: ''Nietzsche's initial crisis''] In: Germanic Notes and Reviews, 33 (2): 109–133.</ref> In 1861 Nietzsche wrote an enthusiastic essay on his "favorite poet", [[Friedrich Hölderlin]], mostly forgotten at that time.<ref>http://kirjasto.sci.fi/holderli.htm</ref> He also expressed deep appreciation for [[Adalbert Stifter]]'s ''[[Der Nachsommer|Indian Summer]].<ref>Meyer-Sickendiek, Burkhard, "Nietzsche's Aesthetic Solution to the Problem of Epigonism in the Nineteenth Century", ed. Paul Bishop, ''Nietzsche and Antiquity: His Reaction and Response to the Classical Tradition'', Woodbridge, UK: Boydell & Brewer, 2004. p. 323</ref>

==Reception==
[[File:Nietzsche-munch.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Friedrich Nietzsche by [[Edvard Munch]], 1906]]
{{Main|Influence and reception of Friedrich Nietzsche}}

Nietzsche's works did not reach a wide readership during his active writing career. However, in 1888 [[Georg Brandes]] (an influential Danish critic) aroused considerable excitement about Nietzsche through a series of lectures he gave at the [[University of Copenhagen]]. Then in 1894 [[Lou Andreas-Salomé]] published her book, ''Friedrich Nietzsche in seinen Werken'' (''Friedrich Nietzsche in His Works''). Andreas-Salomé had known Nietzsche well in the early 1880s, and she returned to the subject of Nietzsche, years later, in her work ''Lebensrückblick&nbsp;– Grundriß einiger Lebenserinnerungen'' (''Looking Back: Memoirs'') (written in 1932), which covered her intellectual relationships with Nietzsche, [[Rainer Maria Rilke|Rilke]], and [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]]. Nietzsche himself had acquired the publication-rights for his earlier works in 1886 and began a process of editing and re-formulation that placed the body of his work in a more coherent perspective.

In the years after his death in 1900, Nietzsche's works became better known, and readers have responded to them in complex and sometimes controversial ways. Many Germans eventually discovered his appeals for greater [[individualism]] and personality development in ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'', but responded to those appeals divergently. He had some following among left-wing Germans in the 1890s; in 1894–1895 German conservatives wanted to ban his work as [[subversive]]. During the late 19th century [[Anarchism and Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche's ideas were commonly associated with anarchist movements]] and appear to have had influence within them, particularly in France and the United States.<ref>O. Ewald, "German Philosophy in 1907", in The Philosophical Review, Vol. 17, No. 4, July, 1908, pp. 400–426; T. A. Riley, "Anti-Statism in German Literature, as Exemplified by the Work of John Henry Mackay", in PMLA, Vol. 62, No. 3, September, 1947, pp. 828–843; C. E. Forth, "Nietzsche, Decadence, and Regeneration in France, 1891–1895", in Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 54, No. 1, January, 1993, pp. 97–117</ref> The poet [[W.B. Yeats]] helped to raise awareness of Nietzsche in Ireland.<ref>{{Cite book|title= The First Moderns |last= Everdell |first= William |year= 1998 |publisher= U Chicago Press |location= Chicago |isbn= 0226224813 |page= 508}}</ref> [[H.L. Mencken]] produced translations of Nietzsche's works that helped to increase knowledge of his philosophy in the United States.

By World War I, Nietzsche had acquired a reputation as an inspiration for right-wing German [[militarism]]. German soldiers received copies of ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' as gifts during World War I.<ref>Steven E. Aschheim notes that "[a]bout 150,000 copies of a specially durable wartime ''Zarathustra'' were distributed to the troops" in ''The Nietzsche Legacy in Germany, 1890–1990'', Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1992, p135</ref><ref>Kaufmann, p.8</ref> The [[Dreyfus Affair]] provides another example of his reception: the French anti-semitic Right labelled the Jewish and Leftist intellectuals who defended [[Alfred Dreyfus]] as "Nietzscheans".<ref>Schrift, A.D. (1995). ''Nietzsche's French Legacy: A Genealogy of Poststructuralism''. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-91147-8.</ref> Nietzsche had a distinct appeal for many [[Zionism|Zionist]] thinkers at the turn of the century. It has been argued that his work influenced [[Theodore Herzl]],<ref>Francis R. Nicosia, ''Zionism and Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany'', Cambridge University Press, 2008, p36; Jacob Golomb, ''Nietzsche and Zion'', Cornell University Press, 2004, pp 25–27; against the view of particular influence on Herzl, see: Gabriel Sheffer, ''U.S.-Israeli Relations at the Crossroads'', Routledge, 1997, p170</ref> and [[Martin Buber]] went so far as to extoll Nietzsche as a "creator" and "emissary of life".<ref>Jacob Golomb (Ed.), ''Nietzsche and Jewish Culture'', Routledge, 1997, pp 234–235</ref> [[Israel Eldad]], the ideological chief of the Stern Group that fought the British in Palestine in the 1940s, wrote about Nietzsche in his underground newspaper and later translated most of Nietzsche's books into Hebrew.<ref>Zev Golan, ''God, Man and Nietzsche'', iUniverse, 2007, p169: "It would be most useful if our youth climbed, even if only briefly, to Zarathustra's heights..."</ref> [[Bertrand Russell]], in his ''[[History of Western Philosophy (Russell)|History of Western Philosophy]]'' was scathing about Nietzsche, calling his work the "mere power-phantasies of an invalid", referring to him as a "megalomaniac", and writing that he was a philosophical progenitor of the Nazis and fascists.<ref>[[Bertrand Russell]], ''History of Western Philosophy'', Routledge, 2004</ref>

Nietzsche's growing prominence suffered a severe setback when his works became closely associated with [[Adolf Hitler]] and the German Reich. Many political leaders of the twentieth century were at least superficially familiar with Nietzsche's ideas, although it is not always possible to determine whether or not they actually read his work. Hitler, for example, probably never read Nietzsche, and if he did, his reading was not extensive,<ref>Weaver Santaniello, ''Nietzsche, God, and the Jews'', [[SUNY Press]], 1994, p41: "Hitler probably never read a word of Nietzsche"; Berel Lang, ''Post-Holocaust: Interpretation, Misinterpretation, and the Claims of History'', Indiana University Press, 2005, p162: "Arguably, Hitler himself never read a word of Nietzsche; certainly, if he did read him, it was not extensively"; Jacob Golomb, ''Nietzsche and Jewish Culture'', Routledge, 1997, p9: "To be sure, it is almost certain that Hitler either never read Nietzsche directly or read very little."; Andrew C. Janos, ''East Central Europe in the Modern World'', [[Stanford University Press]], 2002, p184: "By all indications, Hitler never read Nietzsche. Neither ''Mein Kampf'' nor Hitler's ''Table Talk'' (''Tischgesprache'') mentions his name. Nietzschean ideas reached him through the filter of Alfred Rosenberg's ''Myth of the Twentieth Century'', and, more simply, through what was coffeehouse ''Quatsch'' in Vienna and Munich. This at least is the impression he gives in his published conversations with Dietrich Eckart."</ref> although he was a frequent visitor to the Nietzsche museum in Weimar and did use expressions of Nietzsche's, such as "lords of the earth" in [[Mein Kampf]].<ref>William L. Shirer, ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, a History of Nazi Germany'', Touchstone, 1959, p100-101</ref> The Nazis made selective use of Nietzsche's philosophy. [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]] and [[Charles de Gaulle]] read Nietzsche.<ref>Simonetta Falasca-Zamponi, ''Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini's Italy'', University of California Press, 2000, p44: "In 1908 he presented his conception of the superman's role in modern society in a writing on Nietzsche entitled, "The Philosophy of Force."; Philip Morgan, ''Fascism in Europe, 1919–1945'', Routledge, 2003, p21: "We know that Mussolini had read Nietzsche"</ref><ref>J. L. Gaddis, P. H. Gordon, E. R. May, J. Rosenberg, ''Cold War Statesmen Confront the Bomb'', Oxford University Press, 1999, p217: "The son of a history teacher, de Gaulle read voraciously as a boy and young man—Jacques Bainville, Henri Bergson, Friederich [sic] Nietzsche, Maurice Barres—and was steeped in conservative French historical and philosophical traditions."</ref> It has been suggested that [[Theodore Roosevelt]] read Nietzsche and was profoundly influenced by him,<ref>H. L. Mencken (Ed.), ''The Selected Writings of Friedrich Nietzsche'', Wilder Publications, 2008, p153 (referring to Roosevelt's published speech [[The Strenuous Life]]): "It is inconceivable that Mr. Roosevelt should have formulated his present confession of faith independently of Nietzsche".; Georges Sorel (trans. J. Stanley), ''Essays in Socialism and Philosophy'', Transaction Publishers, 1987, p214 "J. Bourdeau has pointed out the strange similarity between the ideas of Andrew Carnegie and Roosevelt, and those of Nietzsche: Carnegie deploring the wasting of money on the support of incompetents, Roosevelt appealing to Americans to become conquerors, a race of predators."</ref> and in more recent years, [[Richard Nixon]] read Nietzsche with "curious interest".<ref>Monica Crowley, Nixon in Winter, I.B.Tauris, 1998, p351: "He read with curious interest the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche [...] Nixon asked to borrow my copy of ''Beyond Good and Evil'', a title that inspired the title of his final book, ''Beyond Peace''."</ref>

A decade after World War II, there was a revival of Nietzsche's philosophical writings thanks to exhaustive translations and analyses by [[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufmann]] and [[R.J. Hollingdale]]. Others, well known philosophers in their own right, wrote commentaries on Nietzsche's philosophy, including [[Martin Heidegger]], who produced a four-volume study. Many 20th century thinkers (particularly in the tradition of [[continental philosophy]]) cite him as a profound influence, including [[Martin Heidegger]], [[Jean-Paul Sartre]], [[Leo Strauss]], [[Albert Camus]], [[Michel Foucault]], [[Jacques Derrida]], and [[Gilles Deleuze]], whose philosophy of immanence has significant similarities to Nietzsche's will to power. In the Anglo-American tradition he has had a profound influence on [[Bernard Williams]] due to the scholarship of [[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufmann]] and [[R. J. Hollingdale]], which rehabilitated Nietzsche as a philosopher, and American philosophers such as [[Alexander Nehamas]], [[William E. Connolly]], [[Judith Butler]], [[Brian Leiter]], [[Ruth Abbey]] and [[Michael Allen Gillespie]] continue to study him today.

==Works==
{{Main|List of works by Friedrich Nietzsche}}
{{see also|List of works about Friedrich Nietzsche}}
*''The Greek State'' (1871)
*''[[The Birth of Tragedy]]'' (1872)
*''[[On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense]]'' (1873)
*''[[Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks]]'' (1873)
*''[[Untimely Meditations (Nietzsche)|Untimely Meditations]]'' (1876)
*''[[Human, All Too Human]]'' (1878; additions in 1879, 1880)
*''[[The Dawn (book)|The Dawn]]'' (1881)
*''[[The Gay Science]]'' (1882)
*''[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]'' (1883–1885)
*''[[Beyond Good and Evil (book)|Beyond Good and Evil]]'' (1886)
*''[[On the Genealogy of Morality]]'' (1887)
*''[[The Case of Wagner]]'' (1888)
*''[[Twilight of the Idols]]'' (1888)
*''[[The Antichrist (book)|The Antichrist]]'' (1888)
*''[[Ecce Homo (book)|Ecce Homo]]'' (1888)
*''[[Nietzsche contra Wagner]]'' (1888)
*''[[The Will to Power (manuscript)|The Will to Power]]'' (Unpublished manuscripts edited by [[Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche]])

==References==
===Footnotes===
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin|2}}
*{{Cite book| last = Baird | first = Forrest E. | authorlink = | coauthors = Walter Kaufmann | title = From Plato to Derrida | publisher = Pearson Prentice Hall | year = 2008 | location = Upper Saddle River, New Jersey | pages =1011–1038 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-13-158591-6 }}
*{{Cite book|last = Benson | first = Bruce Ellis | authorlink = | title = Pious Nietzsche: Decadence and Dionysian Faith | publisher = [[Indiana University Press]] | year = 2007 | location = | page = 296 |url= |doi=|id=| isbn=}}
*{{Cite book|last = Cate | first = Curtis | authorlink = | title = Friedrich Nietzsche | publisher = [[The Overlook Press]] | year = 2005}}
*{{Cite book|last=Deleuze|first=Gilles|title=[[Nietzsche and Philosophy]]|publisher=Athlone Press|year=1983|others=trans. Hugh Tomlinson|isbn=0485112337}}
* [[Ken Gemes|Gemes, Ken]] and Simon May (Editors) (2002) Nietzsche on Freedom and Autonomy, Oxford University Press
*{{Cite book|last=Kaufmann|first=Walter|title=Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1974|isbn=0691019835}}
*{{Cite book|last=Lampert|first=Laurence|title=Nietzsche's Teaching: An Interpretation of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra"|publisher=New Haven: Yale University Press|year=1986|isbn=0300044305}}
*Magnus and Higgins, "Nietzsche's works and their themes", in ''The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche'', Magnus and Higgins (ed.), University of Cambridge Press, 1996, pp.&nbsp;21–58. ISBN 0-521-36767-0
*O'Flaherty, James C., Sellner, Timothy F., Helm, Robert M., "Studies in Nietzsche and the Classical Tradition" ([[University of North Carolina Press]])1979 ISBN 0-08078-8085-X
*O'Flaherty, James C., Sellner, Timothy F., Helm, Robert M., ""Studies in Nietzsche and the Judaeo-Christian Tradition" (University of North Carolina Press)1985 ISBN 0-8078-8104-X
*Porter, James I. "Nietzsche and the Philology of the Future" (Stanford University Press, 2000). ISBN 0-8047-3698-7
* Porter, James I. "The Invention of Dionysus: An Essay on The Birth of Tragedy" (Stanford University Press, 2000). ISBN 0-8047-3700-2
*[[T. K. Seung|Seung, T.K.]] ''Nietzsche's Epic of the Soul: Thus Spoke Zarathustra''. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2005. ISBN 0-7391-1130-2
*{{Cite book|author=Tanner, Michael|title=Nietzsche|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1994|isbn=0192876805}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia|author=Wicks, Robert|title=Friedrich Nietzsche|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|edition=Fall 2004|editor=Edward N. Zalta|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2004/entries/nietzsche/}}
* Emilio Carlo Corriero, ''Nietzsche olter l'abisso. Declinazioni italiane della 'morte di Dio''', Marco Valerio, Torino, 2007
* Young, Julian. ''Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography'' (Cambridge University Press; 2010) 649 pages.
* von Vacano, Diego, "The Art of Power: Machiavelli, Nietzsche and the Making of Aesthetic Political Theory", Lanham MD: Lexington: 2007.

{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|Friedrich Nietzsche}}
*[http://www.nietzschesource.org/ Nietzsche Source: Digital version of the German critical edition of the complete works and Digital facsimile edition of the entire Nietzsche estate]
*{{gutenberg author|Friedrich_Nietzsche}}
*{{worldcat id|lccn-n79-21132}}
*{{librivox author|Friedrich+Nietzsche}}
*[http://www.lexido.com/ Lexido: Searchable Database index of Public Domain editions of all Nietzsche's major works]
*Walter Kaufmann 1960 {{Cite web|title=Prof. Nietzsche and the Crisis in Philosophy |url=http://www.archive.org/details/NietzscheAndTheCrisisInPhilosophy|accessdate=2010-09-19}} Audio
*{{cite journal | last=Kierans | first=Kenneth | title=On the Unity of Nietzsche's Philosophy| journal=[[Animus (journal)|Animus]] | year=2010 | volume=14 | url=http://www2.swgc.mun.ca/animus/Articles/Volume%2014/9_Kierans.pdf|issn=1209-0689|accessdate=August 17, 2011}}
*{{SEP|nietzsche|Friedrich Nietzsche|Robert Wicks|2007-11-14}}
**{{SEP|nietzsche-moral-political|Nietzsche's Moral and Political Philosophy|[[Brian Leiter]]|2007-07-27}}
*{{IEP|nietzsch|Friedrich Nietzsche|Dale Wilkerson|2009}}
*[http://www.philosophytalk.org/pastShows/Nietzsche.htm Nietzsche] from the radio program [[Philosophy Talk]]
*{{dmoz|Society/Philosophy/Philosophers/N/Nietzsche,_Friedrich}}
*{{IMSLP|id=Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm}}
*[http://www.brianleiternietzsche.blogspot.com/ Brian Leiter's Nietzsche Blog]: News, polls, and discussion about Nietzsche and current events in Nietzsche scholarship from [[Brian Leiter]] (University of Chicago).
*[[BBC]] (1999). "[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-184240591461103528# Beyond Good and Evil]". ''[[Human, All Too Human (TV series)|Human, All Too Human]]''.
* [http://www.weple.org/timeline.html#ids=14631,12007,12598,700,10671,9518,37304,95184,&title=8%20German%20Philosophers Timeline of German Philosophers]

{{Nietzsche}}
{{continental philosophy}}
{{Metaphysics}}
{{Ethics}}
{{philosophy of religion}}
{{aesthetics}}

{{Authority control|PND=118587943|LCCN=n/79/21132|VIAF=89798474}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
|NAME = Nietzsche, Friedrich
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
|SHORT DESCRIPTION = 19th century philosopher
|DATE OF BIRTH = 1844-10-15
|PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Röcken]], near [[Leipzig]], [[Saxony]]
|DATE OF DEATH = 1900-8-25
|PLACE OF DEATH = [[Weimar]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nietzsche, Friedrich}}
[[Category:1844 births]]
[[Category:1900 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Lützen]]
[[Category:Friedrich Nietzsche| ]]
[[Category:19th-century German people]]
[[Category:19th-century philosophers]]
[[Category:Anti-Christianity]]
[[Category:Aphorists]]
[[Category:Atheist philosophers]]
[[Category:Atheist existentialism]]
[[Category:Continental philosophers]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia]]
[[Category:Determinists]]
[[Category:Existentialists]]
[[Category:German atheists]]
[[Category:German classical philologists]]
[[Category:German composers]]
[[Category:German philologists]]
[[Category:German philosophers]]
[[Category:German-language philosophers]]
[[Category:Hellenists]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Saxony]]
[[Category:Philosophers of art]]
[[Category:Postmodernists]]
[[Category:Romantic composers]]
[[Category:Stateless persons]]
[[Category:University of Bonn alumni]]
[[Category:University of Leipzig alumni]]
[[Category:Psychiatric patients]]
[[Category:Former Lutherans]]

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[[bat-smg:Frīdrėks Nīčė]]
[[zh:弗里德里希·尼采]]

Revision as of 18:57, 31 January 2012

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