Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche was a famous German philosopher and philologist known for his critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science.
Friedrich Nietzsche was born on October 15, 1844 in Röcken, near Leipzig, in the Prussian Province of Saxony, which is now in Germany. His father, Carl Ludwig Nietzsche was a Lutheran pastor and former teacher. His mother’s name was Franziska Oehler. Friedrich Nietzsche had two siblings, a sister, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche and a younger brother, Ludwig Joseph. His father died with a minor brain ailment in 1849 when Nietzsche was barely five. His younger brother died the following year. After the death of his younger brother, the family moved to live with Nietzsche's paternal grandmother. In year 1856, his grandmother died and the family had to move back to their own house.

Friedrich Nietzsche first attended his primary education in a boy’s school and then, moved to a private school. It was here, he became friends with Gustav Krug, Rudolf Wagner and Wilhelm Pinder who were from respected families. In the year 1854, Nietzsche began to attend Pforta in Naumburg. But he did not stay there for long as no sooner did he show particular talents in music and language, he was admitted in the internationally-renowned first-rate boarding school, Schulpforta. During his stay in Schulpforta from 1858 to 1864, he was acquainted with Paul Deussen and Carl von Gersdorff. In Schulpforta, he was exposed to ancient Greek and Roman literature. He also worked on poems and music compositions during this time.

After passing out from Schulpforta, Friedrich Nietzsche joined the University of Bonn in 1864 as a theology and philology student. Very soon his interest gravitated towards philology and he dropped from theology after one semester. It was also said that Nietzsche had lost faith due to partial influence of David Strauss's “Life of Jesus”. He started concentrating on his philological studies under the guidance of Professor Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl, whom he followed to the University of Leipzig. It was during this time that Nietzsche's first philological publication was released.

Nietzsche’s frequent illness and prolonged health problems forced him to look for favorable climates suitable for his health. He traveled to many cities and worked as independent author until 1889. Occasionally, he returned back to his family in Naumburg. For livelihood, he had to rely on his pension from Basel with frequent aids from friends. In 1882, Nietzsche published the first part of “The Gay Science”. In the same year, he met Lou Andreas Salomé, who was considered as the love interest of Nietzsche. Even the two spent a summer together in Tautenburg in Thuringia. His relationship with Lou Andreas Salomé ended in the winter of 1882/1883 after the intrusion of his sister Elisabeth.

He finished his first part of “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” during this period. However, his work was not too well-received by people. Despite the fact, he continued to write and came out with the second and the third edition of Zaruthustra. In 1883, Nietzsche tried to get a lecturing post in University of Leipzig but was rejected for his anti-Christian faith.

The following year, in 1886, Nietzsche and his publisher, Ernst Schmeitzner, rubbed each other wrongly on the grounds of the latter’s anti-Semitic opinions. As such, Nietzsche self published his book “Beyond Good and Evil”. During this time, in 1886-87, he brought out the second edition of his earlier works second editions of his earlier works “The Birth of Tragedy”, “Human, All Too Human”, “Dawn”, and “The Gay Science”. After the death of his mother in 1897, his sister took care of him who had already returned from Nueva Germania in 1893. He suffered two strokes consecutively in 1898 and 1899 which partially paralyzed him and he was unable to speak or walk. During mid-August 1890, Nietzsche contracted pneumonia which worsened his condition. Nietzsche suffered a stroke during midnight of August 24/25 and was declared dead by noon on August 25.