Difference between revisions of "Friedrich Nietzsche"
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'''Friedrich Nietzsche''' (1844-1900) was a [[Germany|German]] [[atheism|atheist]] philosopher whose work set a foundation the [[existentialism|existentialist]] movement of the 1900's.<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/ Stanford's Biography on Nietzsche]</ref> Nietzsche was critical of religion in general, though especially Christianity, which he described as the "religion of pity."<ref>[http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Friedrich_Nietzsche/ Nietzsche Quotations]</ref> Nietzsche is famous for his statement that “God is dead.” Nietzsche instead urged a new kind of ethical development that would go beyond "Good" and "Evil." Nietzsche suffered a mental collapse in 1889, and spent the last ten years of his life unable to care for himself. During this time, his sister Elizabeth Förster-Nietzsche took over his affairs, and worked to falsify and re-edit his writings in order to support her virulent Anti-Semitism (a view which Nietzsche consistently abhorred, and often mocked, during his lifetime). It was her distorted version of culled and mis-quoted statements which later provided an intellectual fig-leaf for the Nazi regime. | '''Friedrich Nietzsche''' (1844-1900) was a [[Germany|German]] [[atheism|atheist]] philosopher whose work set a foundation the [[existentialism|existentialist]] movement of the 1900's.<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/ Stanford's Biography on Nietzsche]</ref> Nietzsche was critical of religion in general, though especially Christianity, which he described as the "religion of pity."<ref>[http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Friedrich_Nietzsche/ Nietzsche Quotations]</ref> Nietzsche is famous for his statement that “God is dead.” Nietzsche instead urged a new kind of ethical development that would go beyond "Good" and "Evil." Nietzsche suffered a mental collapse in 1889, and spent the last ten years of his life unable to care for himself. During this time, his sister Elizabeth Förster-Nietzsche took over his affairs, and worked to falsify and re-edit his writings in order to support her virulent Anti-Semitism (a view which Nietzsche consistently abhorred, and often mocked, during his lifetime). It was her distorted version of culled and mis-quoted statements which later provided an intellectual fig-leaf for the Nazi regime. | ||
Revision as of 01:29, April 5, 2007
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German atheist philosopher whose work set a foundation the existentialist movement of the 1900's.[1] Nietzsche was critical of religion in general, though especially Christianity, which he described as the "religion of pity."[2] Nietzsche is famous for his statement that “God is dead.” Nietzsche instead urged a new kind of ethical development that would go beyond "Good" and "Evil." Nietzsche suffered a mental collapse in 1889, and spent the last ten years of his life unable to care for himself. During this time, his sister Elizabeth Förster-Nietzsche took over his affairs, and worked to falsify and re-edit his writings in order to support her virulent Anti-Semitism (a view which Nietzsche consistently abhorred, and often mocked, during his lifetime). It was her distorted version of culled and mis-quoted statements which later provided an intellectual fig-leaf for the Nazi regime.
The Uebermensch (overman, superman) was a literary device used in his magnum opus, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The Overman was to be a new kind of being which would overcome resentment and affirm the Eternal Recurrence of the same
The statement "God is dead" is often taken out of context. Originally, it appeared in Nietzsche's "The Gay Science." The story was of a mad man entering a church in day light, a lantern held aloft in his hand, telling everyone that he was looking for God. They laughed at him asking if God was lost. He told them that he was looking because "God is Dead" and every church his tomb. The man was upset, going on about how the death of God meant the lose of all meaning, as though some one had wiped away the horizon and taken the back drop away from existence.
Nietzsche's father Carl Ludwig Nietzsche, was a Lutheran pastor.
In his first Papal Encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est" (God is Charity/Love) Pope Benedict XVI quotes from Nietzche's Beyond Good and Evil, taking very seriously Nietzsche's claim that the Church has poisoned eros (love) with dogma, and responding to it.
References
- Entry on Nietzsche from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Entry on Nietzsche's Moral and Political Philosophy from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Nietzsche Chronicle
- Nietzsche: The Problem of Autumn
- "The Case for Nietzschean Moral Psychology"
- Deus Caritas Est, from the Vatican website
Thus Spake Zarasustra, Trans. R.J. Hollingdale Thus Spake Zarasustra, Trans. Walter Kaufmann The Gay Science, Trans. Walter Kaufmann