The Pessimistic and Anti-Philosopher FRIEDRICH WILHELM NIETZSCHE

Presented by

NOEL A. BALARES
Ph. D. Student

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
BORN: October 15, 1844 DIED: August 25, 1900 (aged 55) ERA: 19th Century Philosophy INTERESTS: Aesthetics, ethics, ontology, philosophy of history, psychology, valuetheory, poetry

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

EDUCATION
Attended a boys' school and then later a private school In 1854, he began to attend Pforta in Naumburg, but after showing talents in music and language, the internationally recognised Schulpforta admitted him as a pupil (1858 to 1864)

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

EDUCATION
He also found time to work on poems and musical compositions. At Schulpforta, Nietzsche received an important introduction to literature, particularly that of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

EDUCATION

After graduation in 1864 commenced studies in theology and classical philology at the University of Bonn. After one semester (and to the anger of his mother) he stopped his theological studies and lost his faith.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

EDUCATION

He had argued that historical research had discredited the central teachings of Christianity. He then concentrated on studying philology at the age of 21. Nietzsche's first philological publications appeared soon after.

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

THE TEACHER

become professor of classical philology at the University of Basel. He was 24 years old and had neither completed his doctorate nor received his teaching certificate He is still among the youngest of the tenured Classics professors on record
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FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

INDEPENDENT PHILOSOPHER

owed the awakening of his philosophical interest to reading Arthur Schopenhauer's Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (The World as Will and Representation) admitted that Schopenhauer was one of the few thinkers that he respected

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

INDEPENDENT PHILOSOPHER

His evocative style and his often outrageous claims has drawn amateurs of all kinds to be heavily involved in the project of interpretation his philosophy generates passionate reactions running from love to disgust

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

INDEPENDENT PHILOSOPHER

works remain controversial, and there is widespread disagreement about their interpretation and significance Part of the difficulty in interpreting Nietzsche arises from the uniquely provocative style of his philosophical writing

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

INDEPENDENT PHILOSOPHER

frequently delivered trenchant critiques of Christianity in the most offensive and blasphemous terms possible These aspects of Nietzsche's style run counter to traditional values in philosophical writing

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

INDEPENDENT PHILOSOPHER

alienated him from the academic establishment both in his time and, to a lesser extent, today.

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FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE

HIS PHILOSOPHIES
NIHILISM GOD IS DEAD MASTER-SLAVE MORALITY THE WILL TO POWER

NIHILISM

the outcome of repeated frustrations in the search for meaning diagnosed nihilism as a latent presence within the very foundations of European culture saw this intellectual condition as a new challenge which had extended itself beyond a sort of point-of-no-return

GOD IS DEAD

has become one of his best-known remarks Many commentators regarded him as an atheist, to others this statement reflects a more subtle understanding of divinity the increasing secularization of European society had effectively 'killed' the Christian God

MORALITY

He calls himself an "immoralist harshly criticizes the prominent moral schemes of his day: Christianity, Kantianism, and utilitarianism. called the establishment of moral systems based on a dichotomy of good and evil a "calamitous error

He argued that two types of morality existed: a master morality that springs actively from the "noble man, and a slave morality that develops reactively within the weak man. These two moralities do not present simple inversions of one another.

MASTER AND SLAVE MORALITY

They form two different value systems:

MASTER AND SLAVE MORALITY

master morality fits actions into a scale of 'good' or 'bad' slave morality fits actions into a scale of "good" or "evil". Notably he disdained both, though the first clearly less than the second.

MASTER MORALITY
value arises as a contrast between good and bad, or between 'life-affirming' and 'life-denying WHAT IS GOOD: wealth, strength, health, and power WHAT IS BAD: the poor, weak, sick, and pathetic

SLAVE MORALITY
comes about as a reaction to mastermorality associates slave-morality with the Jewish and Christian traditions value emerges from the contrast between good and evil

SLAVE MORALITY
WHAT IS GOOD: associated with otherworldliness, charity, piety, restraint, meekness, and submission WHAT IS EVIL: worldly, cruel, selfish, wealthy, and aggressive

The Will to Power (der Wille zur Macht )

A concept created by Nietzsche which provides a basis for understanding human behavior.

The Will to Power (der Wille zur Macht )

Nietzsche's concept of the will to power applies to all living things, suggesting that adaptation and the struggle to survive is a secondary drive in the evolution of animals, less important than the desire to expand ones power.

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