Friedrich Nietzsche
German philosopher whose aphorisms answered the death of God with a call to affirm life Show bio
Bio
Friedrich Nietzsche lost his father, a Lutheran pastor, to brain disease at age four. He studied theology to become a minister, then lost his faith after one semester. Nietzsche wrote to his devout sister, Elisabeth, that a "devotee of truth" must "inquire."
He owed his turn to philosophy to Arthur Schopenhauer, one of the few thinkers he respected. Nietzsche left his professorship in poor health and wrote his core works alone, on little money.
He collapsed at 44 and lost his mental faculties for the rest of his life. Nietzsche became linked to Nazism through his sister Elisabeth's edits, though he opposed antisemitism and nationalism.