Friedrich Nietzsche Research Paper

September 17, 2013
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche was a philosopher born in the small German village of Röcken bei Lützen, located in a farmland area southwest of Leipzig, Germany. Nietzsche was named after the Prussian King, Friedrich Wilhelm IV and was coincidentally born on the Kings birthday. According to www.britannica.com , when Nietzsche was 5 years old his father Karl Ludwig Nietzsche (1813–1849) died from a brain ailment , leaving Nietzsche to live with his mother Franziska Nietzsche (1826–1897) his grandmother (Erdmuthe) his two aunts (Auguste and Rosalie) and his younger sister Therese Elisabeth Alexandra (1846–1935). From the ages of 14 to 19 (1858–1864) Nietzsche attended boarding school; Schulpforta, where he prepared
for university studies. After graduating from Schulpforta, Nietzsche entered the University of Bonn in 1864 as a theology and philology student, and his interests soon gravitated more exclusively towards philology. After attending lectures by Friedrich Wilhelm Ritschl (1806–1876), inspired Nietzsche followed him to the University of Leipzig in 1865. In 1867, the age of 23, Nietzsche entered his required military service and was assigned to an equestrian field artillery close to Naumburg. While attempting to mount onto the saddle, he suffered a serious chest injury and was put on sick leave, and left the military. He returned shortly thereafter to the University of Leipzig, and studied an interest in music. During his second time at the University of Leipzig, Nietzsche met Richard Wagner (1813–1883). Nietzsche admired Wagner for his musical genius, magnetic personality and cultural influence, the Nietzsche-Wagner relationship was great and sometimes bad, and it affected Nietzsche deeply: writing in 1869 that his friendship with Wagner was the “greatest achievement” of his life. I am truly amazed to see how dedicated Nietzsche was to school, he really wanted to succeed and become someone.
Generally, when you look at Friedrich Nietzsche a philosopher comes to mind.
Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philologist, philosopher, author, cultural critic, poet and composer. According to www.wikepedia.com, a few of the books Nietzsche has written are; Thus Spoke Zarathustra, The Anti-Christ, The Gay Science, and The Birth of Tragedy. Nietzsche, was a composer as well with hundreds of compositions some including; Allegretto, for piano, Hoch tut euch auf, chorus, Presto, piano duet, and Mazurka, piano. Nietzsche was also an poet, couple of his works include; Parable Of The Madman, and Aftersong. This proves how Nietzsche was a genius, it takes so much talent, knowledge, and skill to be able to write books, poetry and compose music.
One of the many other achievements Nietzsche accomplished was his widely conversed theory: God is dead. www.britannica.com stated: the meaning of the phrase is often misinterpreted; many have inferred that Nietzsche believed in a literal death or end of God. Instead, the phrase points to the western world’s reliance on religion as a moral compass and source of meaning. A quote from his book The Gay Science (section 125, The Madman): “God is dead. God remains dead. And we
have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves?
What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”(Nietzsche) Nietzsche’s works express a fear that the decline of religion, the rise of atheism, and the absence of God would drive the world into chaos. The western world had depended on the rule of God for thousands of years; it gave order to society and meaning to life. Without it, Nietzsche writes, society will move into an age of nihilism. I completely agree with this. Society takes for granted so many things daily that at one point was a blessing to society. Not only do some take for granted what god has given to them, they don’t fear his power or show him respect. www.dictionary.com states: Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy. Nietzsche may have been considered a nihilist by definition; he was critical of it and warned that accepting nihilism would be dangerous. www. Plato.stanford.edu showed; another philosophy Nietzsche suggested was; the will to power. The will to power describes what Nietzsche may have believed to be the main driving force in humans: achievement, ambition, the striving to reach the highest possible position in life; these are all manifestations of the will to power. A different philosophy from Nietzsche was the Master–slave morality. Nietzsche argued that there were two fundamental types of morality: Master morality and slave morality. Slave morality values things like kindness, humility and sympathy, while master morality values pride, strength, and nobility. Master morality weighs actions on a scale of good or bad consequences unlike slave morality which weighs actions on a scale of good or evil intentions. Nietzsche also found that Perspectivism is the philosophical view that all ideations take place from particular perspectives. This means that there are many possible conceptual schemes, or perspectives in which judgment of truth or value can be made. This is often taken to imply that no way of seeing the world can be taken as definitively true, but does not necessarily entail that all perspectives are equally valid.
While Friedrich Nietzsche was alive he accomplished many things.
In January 1889 Nietzsche suffered a mental breakdown in Turin, Italy. He was found in a street, weeping and embracing a horse. Nietzsche lived first in an asylum and then in his family 's care. During his disease Nietzsche was almost invariably gentle and pleasant, and in articulate in hours he engaged in conversation. Nietzsche spent his last decade in mental darkness and died in Weimar, Germany on August 25,
1900.

Citation Page
"Friedrich Nietzsche Bibliography." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Aug. 2013. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.
"Friedrich Nietzsche (German Philosopher)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. Die Fröhliche Wissenschaft: La Gaya Scienza. Trans. Peter Pütz. [München]: Goldmann, 1987. Print.
Wicks, Robert, Wicks,. "Friedrich Nietzsche." Stanford University. Stanford University, 30 May 1997. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.