The Sad Life of Nietzsche

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mobbs5.3 K2 days agoPeakD2 min read

A profound influence on modern thought, a towering philosophical thinker, and yet, a very sad man living a very sad life.

  • Suffered Chronic illness from his 30's onwards, even resigning his professorship at Basel aged 35 due to the continued decline of health.

  • Barely any friends, and the man he respected and adored most, Richard Wagner, fell out and went separate ways.

  • The woman he proposed to declined, twice, exacerbating his spiral into loneliness

  • He therefore never married, with no romantic relationships beyond this woman who preferred to keep it platonic. He was 37, she was 21.

  • His works were basically ignored during his lifetime. He craved recognition for it, and never got it.

  • He had a mental breakdown over a dead horse in Italy

  • 11 years of his life vanished to some kind of neurological condition; mute, paralysed, unaware of his surroundings. His mother and sister cared for him the whole time

  • Said sister took his work, manipulated it, and made it aline with more anti-semitic, fascist viewpoints.

It's no wonder his lament that God is Dead is one of his most lasting philosophical outlooks on life.

Is eternal legacy really worth it? Nietzsche is hardly the first and certainly not the last tortured soul to gain recognition after death. The curse of a busy mind, I suppose.

I guess that's all I had to say on the matter, just thought it was provocative to know

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