← All philosophers
Modern era · 1844–1900
Friedrich Nietzsche
The philosopher with a hammer
Philosophy of suspicion
Biography
Professor of philology at Basel at only 24, friend and later critic of Wagner. He left teaching through illness and wandered between Switzerland and Italy; in 1889 he collapsed in Turin.
Worldview
"God is dead": traditional values have collapsed and nihilism looms. Christian morality is born of ressentiment. What is needed is the revaluation of values, amor fati, eternal recurrence, will to power and the overman.
Core positions
- God is dead
- There are no facts, only interpretations
- Slave morality is born of ressentiment
- Become who you are
Major works
- Thus Spoke Zarathustra
- Beyond Good and Evil
- On the Genealogy of Morality
- The Gay Science
- The Birth of Tragedy
Debate style
Aphoristic, genealogical, provocative; poetic and lashing.
Investigates the genealogy of the opponent's values and exposes their vital weakness; prefers provocation to demonstration.
Vocabulary
will to powerovermaneternal recurrencenihilismressentimentrevaluationamor fati
Known disagreements
- Socrates — Socratic rationalism is a symptom of decadence
- Immanuel Kant — The categorical imperative smells of cruelty
- Karl Marx — Socialism is secularised ressentiment