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Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

Author of Thus Spoke Zarathustra

1,182+ Works 65,531 Members 473 Reviews 296 Favorited

About the Author

The son of a Lutheran pastor, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born in 1844 in Roecken, Prussia, and studied classical philology at the Universities of Bonn and Leipzig. While at Leipzig he read the works of Schopenhauer, which greatly impressed him. He also became a disciple of the composer Richard show more Wagner. At the very early age of 25, Nietzsche was appointed professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland. In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, Nietzsche served in the medical corps of the Prussian army. While treating soldiers he contracted diphtheria and dysentery; he was never physically healthy afterward. Nietzsche's first book, The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music (1872), was a radical reinterpretation of Greek art and culture from a Schopenhaurian and Wagnerian standpoint. By 1874 Nietzsche had to retire from his university post for reasons of health. He was diagnosed at this time with a serious nervous disorder. He lived the next 15 years on his small university pension, dividing his time between Italy and Switzerland and writing constantly. He is best known for the works he produced after 1880, especially The Gay Science (1882), Thus Spake Zarathustra (1883-85), Beyond Good and Evil (1886), On the Genealogy of Morals (1887), The Antichrist (1888), and Twilight of the Idols (1888). In January 1889, Nietzsche suffered a sudden mental collapse; he lived the last 10 years of his life in a condition of insanity. After his death, his sister published many of his papers under the title The Will to Power. Nietzsche was a radical questioner who often wrote polemically with deliberate obscurity, intending to perplex, shock, and offend his readers. He attacked the entire metaphysical tradition in Western philosophy, especially Christianity and Christian morality, which he thought had reached its final and most decadent form in modern scientific humanism, with its ideals of liberalism and democracy. It has become increasingly clear that his writings are among the deepest and most prescient sources we have for acquiring a philosophical understanding of the roots of 20th-century culture. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by Friedrich Nietzsche

Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1885) — Author — 13,010 copies
The Portable Nietzsche (1954) 3,313 copies
The Gay Science (1882) — Author — 3,189 copies
On the Genealogy of Morality (1887) — Author — 2,984 copies
The Birth of Tragedy (1872) — Author — 2,395 copies
The Antichrist (1888) — Author — 2,360 copies
Basic Writings of Nietzsche (1872) 2,341 copies
On the Genealogy of Morals / Ecce Homo (1887) — Author — 2,296 copies
Twilight of the Idols / The Anti-Christ (1888) — Author — 2,032 copies
Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is (1888) — Author — 2,008 copies
The Will to Power (1901) — Author — 1,937 copies
Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits (1878) — Author — 1,926 copies
The Birth of Tragedy / The Genealogy of Morals (1872) — Author — 1,119 copies
Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality (1881) — Author — 927 copies
Untimely Meditations (1967) 826 copies
Why I Am So Wise (2004) 757 copies
A Nietzsche Reader (1977) 731 copies
The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings (1999) — Author — 380 copies
Aphorisms On Love and Hate (1800) 241 copies
Beyond Good and Evil / On the Genealogy of Morality (1886) — Author — 170 copies
On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense (1997) — Author — 133 copies
Man Alone with Himself (2008) 117 copies
Humain, trop humain, tome 1 (1878) 104 copies
The Wanderer and His Shadow (1983) 103 copies
Zarathustra's Discourses (1996) — Author — 100 copies
Schopenhauer As Educator (1874) 94 copies
My Sister and I (1951) 93 copies
Dionysos-Dithyramben (1888) 86 copies
Gedichte (1964) 80 copies
The Case of Wagner (1973) 68 copies
Aforismos (1901) 60 copies
Friedrich Nietzsche (2005) 59 copies
Ecce Homo / Antichrist (1990) — Author — 56 copies
Hammer of the Gods (1995) 54 copies
Oeuvres (1993) 52 copies
Nietzsche contra Wagner (1994) 50 copies
The Case of Wagner / Nietzsche Contra Wagner (1888) — Author — 48 copies
Le livre du philosophe (1969) — Author — 30 copies
Umano, troppo umano vol. 1 (1979) 25 copies
Nietzsche Unpublished Letters (1959) — Author — 25 copies
Umano, troppo umano vol. 2 (1981) 24 copies
El anticristo--Cómo se filosofa a martillazos (1977) — Author — 24 copies
Waarheid en cultuur (1983) 23 copies
We Philologists (2006) 23 copies
Der Antichrist Ecce Homo Dionysos Dithyr (1978) — Author — 21 copies
Os Pensadores: Nietzsche (1996) 21 copies
Scritti su Wagner (1979) 20 copies
The Living Thoughts of Nietzsche (1939) — Author — 19 copies
Werke, 3 Bde. (1952) 18 copies
Nietzsche-Brevier (1987) 16 copies
Das Hauptwerk: 4 Bände (1999) 16 copies
The Essential Nietzsche (2006) 16 copies
Gesammelte Werke (1994) 15 copies
Uit mijn leven (1982) 14 copies
Prefaces To Unwritten Works (2005) 14 copies
Nietzsche zum Vergnügen (2000) 13 copies
Nietzsche's Werke (2010) 13 copies
Nagelaten fragmenten (2001) 12 copies
Ecce Homo / The Birth of Tragedy (1927) — Author — 12 copies
Lettere da Torino (2008) 12 copies
El libro del filósofo (2013) 11 copies
Nietzsche (1967) 11 copies
Opere 1870-1881 (1996) 11 copies
Lettres choisies (2008) 11 copies
Werke II (1976) 10 copies
Obras Selectas (2013) 10 copies
Uber Die Frauen (1992) 10 copies
Opere 1882/1895 (1996) 9 copies
Greek Music Drama (2013) 9 copies
Fragments et aphorismes (2003) 8 copies
The Gist of Nietzche. (1910) 8 copies
Insanca, Pek Insanca - 1 (2012) 8 copies
Werke IV (1991) 8 copies
Ideas fuertes (1999) 8 copies
Werke: 6 Bde. (1983) 7 copies
AURORA - EL ANTICRISTO (2000) 7 copies
Nietzsche für Boshafte (2007) 7 copies
Premiers écrits (1994) 7 copies
Selected Writings (2005) 7 copies
Escritos sobre retórica (2000) 7 copies
Escritos Sobre História (1900) 7 copies
Werke 6 copies
Duševní aristokratismus (1993) 6 copies
Escritos sobre Wagner (2003) 6 copies
Dernières lettres (1992) 5 copies
Fragmentos finais (2007) 5 copies
Slučaj Wagner (2012) 5 copies
Formel meines Glücks (2001) 5 copies
El Espíritu Libre (2001) 5 copies
Studienausgabe. Bd. 4 (1956) 5 copies
Gedichte (2010) 4 copies
Nietzsche (1987) 4 copies
Nietzsche für Freunde (2000) 4 copies
Poza dobrem i zlem (2015) 4 copies
Correspondencia (1989) 4 copies
Studienausgabe. Bd. 3 (1956) 3 copies
Escritos de juventud (2016) 3 copies
Thoughts out of season (2015) 3 copies
La lucha de Homero (2004) 3 copies
Escritos sobre direito (2014) 3 copies
Maximes et Pensées (1961) 3 copies
Gedichte Feldauswahl (1925) 3 copies
Hybride Kulturen (2006) 3 copies
Insanca Pek Insanca (2015) 2 copies
Carteggio (2003) 2 copies
Obras de madurez I (2014) 2 copies
Opere: 1870-1895 (1993) 2 copies
Arbeitsheft W I 8 (2012) 2 copies
Hundert Gedichte (2006) 2 copies
Plato amicus sed (1991) 2 copies
Intempestive 2 copies
El estado griego (2004) 2 copies
Poesie (Italian Edition) (2019) 2 copies
Rhétorique et langage (2008) 2 copies
Werke in vier Bänden (1985) 2 copies
Nietzsche - a nőkről (2006) 2 copies
Poemas De Nietzsche (2022) 2 copies
Niewczesne rozwazania (2020) 2 copies
La Mujer Griega (2004) 2 copies
Da Retórica 2 copies
La muerte de Dios (2004) 2 copies
DESPOJOS DE UMA TRAGÉDIA (1991) 2 copies
Beyond Good and Evil (2022) 2 copies
O Crepúsculo dos Ídolos (2000) 2 copies
Ecce homo-NED (2022) 2 copies
Las flores del mal (2018) 2 copies
Das Hauptwerk I 2 copies
Langsame Curen (2002) 2 copies
Notatki z lat 1882-1884 (2019) 2 copies
Antología (1981) 2 copies
Vi frygtløse 2 copies
Alemania (1984) — Contributor — 2 copies
La gaya ciencia — Author — 2 copies
Werke. Bd. 1 2 copies
Escritos Sobre Psicologia (2010) 2 copies
L'amore egoista (2010) 2 copies
Pisma pozostale (2009) 2 copies
Notatki z lat 1885-1887 (2012) 2 copies
Notatki z lat 1887-1889 (2012) 2 copies
Intorno a Leopardi (1999) 2 copies
Vie et verite (1992) 2 copies
Guc Istenci (2010) 2 copies
Gedichte und Sprüche, (1921) 2 copies
Briefe (German Edition) (2012) 2 copies
La mia vita 1 copy
Domande radicali (1995) 1 copy
Ecco Homo (2003) 1 copy
Aforisme 1 copy
Poesie (2005) 1 copy
Penseur intempestif (2008) 1 copy
Secilmis Mektuplar (2012) 1 copy
Inventario 1 copy
Rinktiniai raštai (1991) 1 copy
Werke 1 copy
of morals 1 copy
尼采生存哲学 (2012) 1 copy
Pesni Zaratustry (2017) 1 copy
Estudios sobre Grecia (1968) 1 copy
Opere 1 copy
O životě a umění (1995) 1 copy
Epistolario 1875-1879 (1995) 1 copy
De kaken van mijn tijd (1997) 1 copy
Pisma Salome 1 copy
Sammelsurium 1 copy
Poemas 1 copy
Nietzsche (1954) 1 copy
Nesmrtelné myšlenky (1999) 1 copy
Opere complete (1964) 1 copy
Teognide di Megara (1985) 1 copy
5: 1885-1889 (2011) 1 copy
Listy (2008) 1 copy
Prologue de Zoroastre (2000) 1 copy
Le cas Homère (2017) 1 copy
Visdom 1 copy
Lettres (1995) 1 copy
Epigrammes 1 copy
Ecrits posthumes (1975) 1 copy
Werke Band 3 1 copy
Werke Band 2 1 copy
Werke. Bd. 2 1 copy
Nietzsche - Lesebuch. (1994) 1 copy
Werke Band 1 1 copy
Studienausgabe. Bd. 1 (1968) 1 copy
Studienausgabe. Bd. 2 (1968) 1 copy
Die Unschuld Des Werdens — Author — 1 copy
Heraklit 1 copy
poesias 1871-1888 — Author — 1 copy
Mort parce que bête (2000) 1 copy
Breviár (1995) 1 copy
Friedrich Nietzsche (2003) 1 copy
Dizionario delle idee (1999) 1 copy
Nietzsche (1900) 1 copy
Máximas (1996) 1 copy
Nietzschiana 1 copy
Hymne à l'amitié (2019) 1 copy
Poèmes complets (2019) 1 copy
Cartas 1 copy

Associated Works

When Nietzsche Wept (1992) — Contributor — 2,284 copies
Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre (1956) — Contributor — 2,049 copies
The European Philosophers from Descartes to Nietzsche (1960) — Contributor — 428 copies
Critical Theory Since Plato (1971) — Contributor, some editions — 394 copies
Dracula (Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism) (2002) — Contributor — 352 copies
Criticism: Major Statements (1964) — Contributor — 211 copies
Atheism: A Reader (2000) — Contributor — 181 copies
Western Philosophy: An Anthology (1996) — Author, some editions — 181 copies
Man and Spirit: The Speculative Philosophers (1947) — Contributor — 172 copies
Deutsche Gedichte (1956) — Contributor, some editions — 135 copies
God (Hackett Readings in Philosophy) (1996) — Contributor, some editions — 58 copies
Sophocles: A Collection of Critical Essays (1966) — Contributor — 40 copies
Philosophy now : an introductory reader (1972) — Contributor — 24 copies
German Essays on Music (1994) — Contributor — 18 copies
Son of Man: Great Writing About Jesus Christ (2002) — Contributor — 17 copies
Von Raben und Krähen (2021) — Contributor — 7 copies
Makers of the twentieth century: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud (1968) — some editions — 4 copies
Am Borne deutscher Dichtung (1927) — Contributor — 1 copy
Carmen (Opera di Roma 2013/2014) — Contributor — 1 copy
Natale raccontato da ... — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

19th century (922) 19th century philosophy (111) aesthetics (212) anthology (325) atheism (130) Christianity (112) classic (199) classics (339) continental philosophy (148) ebook (179) essays (164) ethics (631) existentialism (1,151) fiction (417) Friedrich Nietzsche (274) German (981) German literature (487) German philosophy (394) Germany (365) history (197) Kindle (167) literary criticism (125) literature (398) Modern Philosophy (185) morality (119) Nietzsche (2,110) nihilism (223) non-fiction (2,032) own (160) Penguin Classics (106) philosophy (14,120) poetry (246) political theory (124) psychology (231) read (266) religion (364) theory (160) to-read (2,179) translation (222) unread (260)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Nietzsche, Friedrich
Legal name
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
Birthdate
1844-10-15
Date of death
1900-08-25
Burial location
Röcken Churchyard, Röcken, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Gender
male
Nationality
Prussia (birth)
Germany
Country (for map)
Germany
Birthplace
Röcken, Saxony, Prussia
Place of death
Weimar, Germany
Places of residence
Basel, Switzerland
Weimar, Germany
Röcken, Saxony, Prussia
Turin, Italy
Sils-Maria, Switzerland
Education
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn, Germany (Theology)
University of Leipzig (Philology)
Occupations
philosopher
teacher
writer
classical scholar
critic
philologist (show all 7)
poet
Relationships
Forster, Elizabeth (sister)
Wagner, Richard (friend)
Andreas-Salomé, Lou (friend)
Deussen, Paul (friend)
Zimmern, Helen (friend)
Overbeck, Franz (friend) (show all 8)
Köselitz, Heinrich ("Gast, Peter", "Gasti, Pietro") (friend)
Rée, Paul (friend)
Organizations
University of Basel
Short biography
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) was a German philosopher, philologist and cultural critic who published intensively in the 1870s and 1880s. He is famous for uncompromising criticisms of traditional European morality and religion, as well as of conventional philosophical ideas and social and political pieties associated with modernity. Many of these criticisms rely on psychological diagnoses that expose false consciousness infecting people's received ideas; for that reason, he is often associated with a group of late modern thinkers (including Marx and Freud) who advanced a “hermeneutics of suspicion” against traditional values (see Foucault [1964] 1990, Ricoeur [1965] 1970, Leiter 2004). Nietzsche also used his psychological analyses to support original theories about the nature of the self and provocative proposals suggesting new values that he thought would promote cultural renewal and improve social and psychological life by comparison to life under the traditional values he criticized.

Members

Discussions

Nietzsche in Non-Fiction Readers (April 2021)
Friedrich Nietzsche in Legacy Libraries (April 2019)

Reviews

Good in the beinning
 
Flagged
bonoco | 26 other reviews | Nov 7, 2023 |
Divided into 3 essays. The first is reasonably clear but pretty objectionable and not too well argued, the second is a little less clear but a lot more interesting and more convincing, the third is the longest and meandering, not cohesive, sometimes contradictory and generally confusing. If it was just the first two or with a much edited third I'd probably consider it a 3 star thing. The first essay seems to be focused around a claim that the weak and downtrodden almost forced Christian ideas along the lines of "the meek will inherit the earth" onto the strong, ruining their more noble morality - this is bizarre in the sense that there's no reason to assume this, especially compared to the opposite. He refers to this negative morality as "Jewish" which is gross - he regularly talks about each "race" or "people" as a whole, as if the poor can poison a huge race of people, and his ideas about health in this sense are complete racist nonsense. The third essay is devoted to the "ascetic ideal", which he defines and then seemingly blames for all the world's evil, attributing things to it which make no sense and don't fit with his definition. In general I found that his ideas didn't fit together or make a coherent set - he often contradicts himself in short asides and seems to be addressing himself to things I don't really get.

On the plus side it's written pretty well - even when it doesn't form a coherent whole, his use of language means you can be pretty clear on what each sentence is saying without needing to read it many times over. He has quite a lot of interesting ideas, but scattered as they are, they're not really pleasant to try and extract from the rest of the text. I am absolutely sure my reading of the text was poor and I realise my review is gonna sound ignorant. I realise his importance and that a lot of people hold this in high regard and I'm sure if I read better and had more grounding in his other texts I'd get more out of it. Take this as one beginner at philosophy's attempt to understand and problems doing so.

Also dude really needs to learn about a lil thing called MATERIAL CONDITIONS
… (more)
 
Flagged
tombomp | 25 other reviews | Oct 31, 2023 |
All deep things like masks; The deepest things hate even metaphors and symbols. Isn't the opposite the right disguise for the shame of a deity?

Scientific and ascetic ideals, both of which were originally born in the same soil: that is, they have the same excessive admiration for truth (or, more precisely, the same belief in the inestimability and incontrovertible nature of truth), and it is this common belief that makes them necessarily Allies - and therefore, when they are opposed, they can only be opposed and challenged jointly.

"Beauty," Kant declared, "is enjoyment without selfish gain." No selfish interests! Compare this definition with that given by the true observer and artist Stendhal: Stendhal speaks of beauty as "the promise of happiness," which negates and excludes exactly what Kant emphasizes in defining the state of beauty. Who is right? Is it Kant or Stendhal? Our aestheticians have taken pains to add weight to Kant's scale, saying that the magic of beauty can even enable one to look at the nude image of a woman "without selfish interest."

Perhaps the subject, or, to put it more generally, the soul, is by far the best creed on earth, because it enables the great majority of the dead, the weak, and the oppressed of all kinds to play that subtle self-deception, to interpret weakness itself as freedom, and their existence as such and so, as their merit.

The slave revolt in morality begins when resentment itself becomes creative and takes on value: the resentment of such creatures that they are not allowed to have a real reaction, that is, to react in a productive way, but only to protect themselves from harm through some imaginary revenge. All high morals grow into themselves from a triumphant "affirmation," while slave morals from the beginning say no to some "outside," to some "somewhere else," or to some "not themselves:" this "no" is their creative act.

The "well-born" do feel themselves to be "happy," and they do not compare themselves with their enemies before artificially creating their happiness, or making people believe in it, or deceiving them into believing it (as is the habit of all hate-filled people). They are full of power, so they must be full of motivation. In the same way, they know that, being full and powerful, the result must necessarily be active people, for whom action cannot be separated from happiness, and they regard active action as a necessary component of happiness.

When man was not ashamed of his cruelty, life on earth was clearer than it is today for pessimists. As man breeds shame before man, the sky above man grows gloomier with it. That tired pessimistic look, that distrust of the mystery of life, that cold 'no' uttered by the disgust of life, these are not the signs of the most evil years of the human lineage: Rather, they appear in the light of day as swamp plants when the swamp to which they belong is formed, meaning that morbid weakening and moralization in which the animal "man" finally learns to be ashamed of all his instincts.

We want to deny at least one thing here: whoever regards those "good men" as only enemies will only make vicious enemies. They are men who, on the one hand, are strictly limited by custom, admiration, etiquette, gratitude, even mutual surveillance and jealousy; On the other hand, they show great mutual understanding, self-restraint, gentleness, loyalty, pride, and friendship in their relations with each other - and when it comes to the outside world, to strange things and strange people, they are no better than wild beasts out of their cages. There they enjoy freedom from all social coercion, relieve in barbarism the tension created by the long seclusion and confinement in the harmonious community, and restore the unfettered beast mentality.
… (more)
 
Flagged
Maristot | 25 other reviews | Aug 29, 2023 |

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Associated Authors

Stephen Metcalf Editor and Translator
Friedrich Schiller Contributor
Heinrich Böll Contributor
Franz Kafka Contributor
Max Oehler Afterword
Walter Arnold Kaufmann Translator, Editor, Preface
Carol Diethe Translator
Tom Griffith Introduction
Ivo Frenzel Composer
Andrés Sánchez Pascual Translator, Introduction
R. J. Hollingdale Translator, Editor
Hendrik Marsman Introduction, Editor, Translator
Walter Kaufmann Translator, Editor
Marianne Cowan Translator
Michael Tanner Introduction, Editor
Luis A. Acosta Translator, Editor
Graham Parkes Translator, Editor
Igors Šuvajevs Translator
Walter A. Kaufmann Editor, Translator
Manuel Carbonell Translator
Helen Zimmern Translator
Vilis Plūdons Translator
John Lee Narrator
Peter Stuart Illustrator
Robert C. Solomon Introduction
Kathleen M. Higgins Introduction
Wenzel Hablik Cover artist
Clancy Martin Translator
P. Endt Translator
Ger Groot Translator, Foreword
Charo Greco Foreword, Translator
Arnis Kluinis Foreword
Pé Hawinkels Translator
R. Kevin Hill Translator
Ronald Clyne Cover designer
Walter Gebhard Afterword, Chronology, Bibliography
Alex Jennings Narrator
R.J. Holingdale Translator
Thomas Graftdijk Translator
Roy McMillan Narrator
Ian Crowe Illustrator
Oscar Levy Editor, Translator
Leo Winter Introduction
Pé Hawinkels Translator
Peter Pütz Afterword, Editor
Günter Figal Afterword
Sergio Ramírez Cover designer
Edvard Munch Cover artist
Thomas Graftdijk Translator
Mazzino Montinari Editor, Translator
Ilmārs Blumbergs Illustrator
Shaun Whiteside Translator
Ivars Ījabs Translator
Clifton Fadiman Translator
Pēteris Brants Translator
Peter Gast Editor
Klāra Muela Translator
David Taffel Introduction
Fritz Heyder Verlag Cover artist
Stephen Lehmann Translator
Richard Schacht Introduction
Marion Faber Translator
Francis Golffing Translator
Chi Kwan Chen Cover artist
Herbert Lorenz Cover designer
Julius Kraft Introduction
Adrian Collins Translator
Richard T. Gray Translator
Sossio Giametta Translator
Giuliano Baioni Introduction
Jost Hermand Afterword, Editor
Thomas Common Translator
J. M. Kennedy Translator
Anne Sauka Translator
Germán Cano Introduction
H.L. Mencken Introduction
Carline V. Kerr Translator
Peter Pütz Afterword
Claus J. Seitz Cover designer
Julio Izquierdo Translator
Lucas Casas Translator
Gerhard Ulrich Cover designer

Statistics

Works
1,182
Also by
30
Members
65,531
Popularity
#213
Rating
3.9
Reviews
473
ISBNs
3,698
Languages
43
Favorited
296

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