Friedrich Nietzsche: Life, Influences, and Philosophy

Friedrich Nietzsche: A Life in Philosophy

Friedrich Nietzsche was born in 1844 into a family where his father and maternal grandfather were Lutheran pastors. In 1869, he was appointed professor of Greek philology at Basel. He participated in the Franco-Prussian War, which extracted a profound rejection of nationalism that lasted all of his life.

He had health problems all his life, especially very strong headaches. This forced him to relinquish his chair in 1879 and begin a life of wandering: he spent the rest of his days traveling through Italy, Switzerland, and southern France in search of better climates. In 1889, he was admitted to a clinic in Basel. He died in 1900, completely lost to reason, under the care of his mother and sister. This had a deleterious effect on his work, as his sister forged many passages from Nietzsche’s writings and prevented the publication of others, intending to pass him off as a precursor of Nazism.

The 19th Century: A Time of Change

The 19th century was still a time of bourgeois revolutions, which caused reactions that sometimes resulted in autocratic regimes. Big business appeared to be benefiting from the launch of industrial and technological development. This resulted in the onset of colonialism, given the need for new markets to meet the overproduction.

So, the 19th century was dynamic, active, creative, and multifaceted. The scientific and technical development achieved over the century moved old patterns and led to a new approach for human life and cannot be explained through metaphysical thinking, but through material phenomena.

Cultural Shifts and Influences

Culturally, Romanticism dominated the first half of the century. In the second half, it was displaced by Realism and Positivism. The new century’s political ideologies had in common the absence of the old religious doctrines. Neither were necessary for technology or industry and were therefore relegated to the private sphere.

Impressionism in painting introduced a radical break with the tradition of painting since the Renaissance. Any event was now worthy of being painted. Light, time, and motion became key elements. The novel became a mass phenomenon, many of them published in brochures of the daily press. Authors such as Stendhal and Dostoevsky left a deep impression on Nietzsche. A decadent and nihilistic attitude often appeared in poets: looking for provocative and new experiences with alcohol and drugs.

Wagner’s Influence and Subsequent Break

Finally, Wagner. His music completely seduced Nietzsche as a prototype for the creation of a free spirit, but he broke with him when he interpreted that the old master had finished giving in to the farce of Christianity.

Marxism and Nietzsche’s Rejection

After Utopian Socialism appeared, scientific socialism emerged with Marx and Engels. Socialism became a science because of these two great discoveries of Marx: the materialist conception of history and appreciation of the capitalist mode of production. Marx described in his works that the basic course of history is developed following specific legislation: the infrastructure of society depends on the superstructure.

Nietzsche rejected everything to do with the workers’ struggle and, therefore, Marxism. He agreed with important aspects such as the materialist worldview or complaint about alienating elements of capitalist society.

Schopenhauer’s Profound Influence

Schopenhauer was the most important influence on Nietzsche. For Schopenhauer, things are merely apparent and illusory representations of an infinite and blind will. Nietzsche reacted against the spirit of pessimism and resignation of Schopenhauer, incompatible with his Dionysian vitalism. Yet it must be said that Nietzschean philosophy is the most independent, original, and radical of the end of the 19th century; therefore, we must avoid any kind of label.