The 15th of October marks 174 years since the birth of the German philosopher, philologist and cultural critic Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. Interested in the enhancement of the individual and cultural condition, he analyzed down-to-earth realities rather than aspects from a world beyond, which led to him being referred to as one of the first existentialist philosophers along with Søren Kierkegaard. Based on the idea of “life-affirmation”, his body of work prompts one to honestly question all doctrines that dim down life’s expansive energies regardless of how socially popular those views might be.
To honor the legacy of the mind whose revitalizing philosophy has inspired numerous figures in all walks of cultural life, we have created the Friedrich Nietzsche Timeline, which summarizes his life and work.
Before turning to philosophy, Mr. Nietzsche began his academic career as a classical philologist at the age of 24, becoming the youngest ever to hold that professorship at the University of Basel. Initially influenced by authors such as Arthur Schopenhauer and Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, his early writings revolved around the pessimistic philosophy. However, after enlarging his circle of interest and acquaintances, he became exposed to a variety of different concepts, which made him increasingly preoccupied with an individual’s creative powers to overcome cultural, moral and traditionalist contexts in pursuit of new, better values.
Although the popular understanding labels Friedrich Nietzsche as a nihilist (an advocate of the idea that life lacks meaning and value), he in fact wrote about the dangers posed by nihilism and strove to offer solutions to them. His work takes a look at the difficulties of being an individual in a world where apparently nothing has value, but proposes ways in which we can face the inevitable demise of our being.
The Friedrich Nietzsche chronology was created with Office Timeline, a user-friendly PowerPoint plugin that enables you to easily build professional-looking timelines, Gantt charts and other similar visuals. You can copy and share the image for free, and restyle it using the Plus version of the tool.
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