Nietzsche, Friedrich
Nietzsche, Friedrich
(1844-1900) Nietzsche’s discovery and description of “resentment”, to mention only one of his major achievements, stamps him as one of the philosophical psychologists of the last century. His critique of the antiquated and false values of the educated middle class led pre-war generations to the pursuit of anethics of more realistic ideals. See Superman.
He was the first to recognize a fundamental critical difference between the philosopher and the scientist. He found those genuine ideals in the pre-Socratic period of Greek culture which he regarded as essential standards for the deepening of individuality and real culture in the deepest sense, towards which the special and natural sciences, and professional or academic philosophers failed to contribute. Nietzsche wanted the philosopher to be prophetic, originally forward-looking in the clarification of the problem of existence. Based on a comprehensive critique of the history of Western civilization, that the highest values in religion, morals and philosophy have begun to lose their power, his philosophy gradually assumed the will to power, self-aggrandizement, as the all-embracing principle in inorganic and organic nature, in the development of the mind, in the individual and in society. More interested in developing a philosophy of life than a system of academic philosophy, his view is that only that life is worth living which develops the strength and integrity to withstand the unavoidable sufferings and misfortunes of existence without flying into an imaginary world.
His major works areThus Spake Zarathustra; Beyond Good and Evil, and Genealogy of Morals. — H.H.