Philosopher
A restless examiner of inherited values, writing in aphorisms, arguments and thunderclaps. His invitation: question deeply, create bravely, and learn to affirm a life.
Philosopher & Critic of Culture
Friedrich Nietzsche was born in Röcken, in a family of Lutheran ministers. His education led through classical languages, literature and music toward questions that would unsettle his inheritance.
At twenty-four he became professor of classical philology at Basel. His first book, The Birth of Tragedy, appeared in 1872, bringing Greek drama into conversation with philosophy and music.
Poor health forced him to leave his university post. The following decade brought journeys between Alpine and Mediterranean towns, and an extraordinary succession of books.
A wandering teacher speaks in stories, parables and provocations. Nietzsche uses this strange literary form to explore self-overcoming and the challenge of affirming life.
Read slowly. Follow the images, question the voice, and return to passages that refuse to settle into a single meaning.
A collapse in Turin ended his productive writing life; he died in 1900. His sister later controlled his literary estate, shaping editions in ways that modern critical scholarship has worked to untangle.
Essays on history and Schopenhauer
An early English translation by Adrian Collins, available to read online.Read essays · FreeLectures on education
A. W. and J. M. Kennedy’s English translation, with Homer and Classical Philology.Read lectures · FreeStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A scholarly guide to the chronology, ideas and complications of his work.Explore the guide
Alan WattsTwo very different invitations to question the self
Terence McKennaMyth, culture and unfamiliar ways of seeing