Friedrich Nietzsche was born near Rocken a small town in the Prussian province of Saxony, on October 15, 1844. Ironically the philosopher who rejected religion and coined the phrase "god is dead" was descended from a line of respected clergymen. Nietzsche completed his secondary education at the exacting boarding school of Pforta. A brilliant student, he received rigorous training in Latin, Greek, and German. In 1864 the young man entered the University of Bonn to study theology and classical philology. A year later, however, he abandoned theology and transferred to the University of Leipzig to pursue a doctorate in philology. At Leipzig Nietzsche became an ardent admirer of philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, whose work he accidentally discovered in a secondhand bookstore, and the composer Richard Wagner, whom he met in 1868 and came to regard as a second father. In 1869, at the age of twenty-four, Nietzsche was appointed professor of classical philology at the University of Basel, where he taught for the next ten years. The publication in 1872 of his first major book, The Birth of Tragedy, brought him immediate notoriety. Dedicated to Wagner, it exploded the nineteenth century conception of Greek culture and sounded themes later developed by twentieth-century philosophers, psychoanalysts, and novelists. Nietzsche's next work, four essays collectively titled Untimely Meditations (1873-76), focused on contemporary issues and criticism. Two attacked German "cultural philistinism" and challenged the value of historical knowledge, while tributes to Schopenhauer and Wagner were at once reflections on philosophy and art. Indeed, Human All-too-Human (1878) represented an entirely new direction in his thought. Written in an aphoris... ... middle of paper ... ...blest course of action. I believe that if I do well and have good will towards those who deserve it, it will come back to me. However those who bear me ill will shalt feel a vengeance like naught they have ever felt before. But in general I feel that brotherly love and peace should prevail. And if in our own United States, a country I love and despise for its desensitized apathetic culture. And if we continue to head down this road of debauchery and illicit warfare I shall only hope that I can find somewhere else to live out my life. Because as Nietzsche says "god is dead" therefore we only get this one life. And my plan is to live it to the fullest I can. Experience the world and make some others lives a little bit brighter.
In terms of artists and their influences, the case of Nietzsche and Wagner has been the focal point of discussion between many great academic minds of the last century. The controversy surrounding the relationship has led many to postulate that the eventual break between the two men may have contributed to the untimely death of Wagner in 1882, and Nietzsche's eight-year writing spurt from 1883 - 1888.
Nazis and Nietzsche During the latter parts of the Nineteenth Century, the German existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote a great deal on his ideas of morality, values, and life. His writings were controversial, but they greatly affected European thought. It can be argued that Nietzschean philosophy was a contributing factor in the rise of what is considered our world's most awful empire, the Third Reich. Such a stance is based on the fact that there are very similar currents in thought between the philosophy and the empire.
Himmler graduated in July 1919. He majored in agriculture at the Technical University in Munich. This is where he combined a German-nationalist student group and began to read intensely in the racist-nationalist literature popular on the essential right of the interwar German political field. By the time he received his university degree in August 1922, Himmler was a nationalist and a political activist. Forced to take a job in a manure-processing factory near Munich, Himmler made contact with t...
Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Gay Science offered us only a glimpse of what Nietzsche has to offer. By bringing his teachings into high school classrooms and becoming a standard high school curriculum can truly benefit and further enrich a young student’s education.
According to Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, Hesse was born in Germany in 1877. After rebelling from traditional education and being expelled from the seminary in which he was enrolled, he educated himself mostly through books. In his earlier years, he became a bookseller and journalist, which may have inspired his first book, Peter Carmenzind. Being a pacifist, Hesse moved to Switzerland during World War I. He came in contact there with renowned psychologist Carl Jung who inspired some of his better-known works.
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born on May 22, 1813 in Leipzig. At six months old, Wagner lost his father Frau Karl Friedrich to typhoid, which he caught from the corpses lying unburied in the streets after the Napoleonic War in Leipzig. Less than a year later, Wagner’s mother married Ludwig Geyer, who Wagner believes is his real father, even though nothing was ever proved. Geyer, like Wagner had an artistic gift. He was an actor a painter, dramatist, and singer. As a child, Geyer was determined “to make something” of Wagner (Jacobs 3). He failed at drawing and painting. Wagner did not realize he had a talent until Geyer was on his deathbed with collapsed lungs.
For many centuries religion seemed to be the most accurate source of truth and value to life. As humanity started to question the foundation religion had established, science began to unfold its own perspective of life. From then on humanity juggled ideas of conscience, morality, and the true meaning of life. On one hand science began to explain the world around us in a more empirical and understanding perception to humanity; with the use of emerging technologies and theories. On the other hand religion outlined a way of life and possibly another approach to the understanding of our existence. The question lay in the hands of the individual, do we allow science and/or religion to give us a value to our life or do we need to look further from the perspective of the masses. In “The Gay Science.” Friedrich Nietzsche outlines the evolution of mankind from religion to science and finally his ideal value of life. Nietzsche believes that neither science nor religion are adequate enough to live by. Nietzsches argument holds some consistent ground against science but does not fully refute it. Science holds the key in holding a balance between the unexplainable and quantifiable to put balance and meaning in someones life.
Though these many excepts have discrete arguments, they also share several underlying themes. Of these several themes, of fundamental importance is one of work in philosophy and social science bringing about real change in the world. Throughout his writing he continues to focus upon the individuals that from the world, particularly the oppressed, not just the powerful on whim the lens of social science and particularly history is often pointed. Even for those who do not agree with Marx on his prescription for the world, his determination to improve the conditions of the oppressed is a model we should all strive to emulate.
Friedrich Nietzsche’s On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense represents a deconstruction of the modern epistemological project. Instead of seeking for truth, he suggests that the ultimate truth is that we have to live without such truth, and without a sense of longing for that truth. This revolutionary work of his is divided into two main sections. The first part deals with the question on what is truth? Here he discusses the implication of language to our acquisition of knowledge. The second part deals with the dual nature of man, i.e. the rational and the intuitive. He establishes that neither rational nor intuitive man is ever successful in their pursuit of knowledge due to our illusion of truth. Therefore, Nietzsche concludes that all we can claim to know are interpretations of truth and not truth itself.
Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg in 1809. His father Abraham Mendelssohn was a banker, while his mum Lea Mendelssohn was a highly educated artist and musician. Mendelssohn first had his piano lesson from his mum, but soon he was sent to study with the best teachers at that time such as Marie Bigot and Ludwig Burger. He also took composition lessons with Karl Zelter, who was the professor of the University of Berlin. Under their proper guidance, he completely showed his music talent- he first appeared as pianist at nine and as a composer at ten. At his age of twelve, he already composed nine fugues, five symphonies for strings, two operas and a huge number of smaller pieces. When he was sixteen, the publication of his Octet in E-flat Major for strings and Overture to A Mid Summer Night’s Dream marked his full maturity.
Jung was born July 26, 1875 to a well-educated family in Kesswil, Switzerland. He was raised with a love for language and literature, beginning Latin lessons at the age of 6.
There he studied law, philosophy, history, and economics before leaving to serve a year in the military at Strassburg. During his time in the military, Weber became involved with the family of his mother’s sister, Ida Baumgarten, and her husband, historian Hermann Baumgarten. It is said that Weber’s father found this relationship troublemaking, and requested his son return to finish his studies in Berlin. Weber began his studies at the University of Berlin in 1884 while living with his parents. During this time, Weber was financially dependent on his father, which he disliked. This would place a great amount of tension between the father and son. It was during this time that Weber became closer to his mother, adopting her ascetic lifestyle and rigid work habits. After passing the bar in 1886 and gaining his Ph.D. in 1889, Weber gained his first position in the academic world. He married a distant cousin, Marianne Schnitger, in 1893 and in 1894 Weber gained a temporary teaching position at Freiburg University teaching jurisprudence. His temporary position became a permanent one, when he became a full professor in 1895, teaching political economy at Freidburg. He then returned to Heidelberg to teach political economy in 1896, also as a full
Sigmund, son of Amalia and Jacob Freud, was born on May 6, 1856 in Freiburg, a rural town which was then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A confused child, he experienced extreme love, desire, and hate which ultimately inspired him to study human development. School consumed virtually all of Freud's time until he graduated from the University of Vienna in 1881, with a degree in medicine (Stevenson).
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) produced two commonly recognised stages of thought in 20th century analytic philosophy, both of which are taken to be central and fundamental in their respective periods. His early philosophy in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, first published in 1921, provided new insights into relationships between the world, thought, language and the nature of philosophy by showing the application of modern logic to metaphysics via language. His later philosophy, mostly found in Philosophical Investigations, published posthumously in 1953, controversially critiqued all traditional philosophy, including his own previous work. In this essay I will explain, contrast and evaluate both stages of his philosophy, highlighting strengths and weaknesses and concluding that Wittgenstein’s late philosophy has provided an interesting explanation for the meaning of language.