Friedrich Nietzsche

As you read this excerpt about Nietzsche's life, consider how Nietzsche's rejection of traditional values reflected existential concerns. How is Nietzsche similar to, yet different from, the figures you have studied so far in this course?

Friedrich Nietzsche

The German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) is known as one of the main representatives of atheistic philosophy. He is famous for the phrase, "God is dead." However, he is often characterized as the most religious atheist. In this contradictory tension, lies the enigmatic thinker, Nietzsche, who raised a number of fundamental questions that challenge the root of the philosophical tradition of the West. Among the most poignant are his criticisms of Christianity and the Western trust in rationality. Nietzsche's sincere and uncompromising quest for truth and his tragic life have touched the hearts of a wide range of people. Critics hold that Nietzsche's atheistic and critical thought confused and misguided subsequent thinkers and led to arbitrary moral behavior.

Source: New World Encyclopedia, https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Friedrich_Nietzsche
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.