Essay on Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche was a 19th Century European philosopher known for his critiques of traditional morality at the time. Nietzsche was born on October 15, 1844 to a Christian family in Röcken Germany, his father, Carl Nietzsche, was a pastor. He planned to follow in his father’s footsteps, but after Marx’s death, doubt started to stir up about his faith to Christiantiy. It wasn’t until Nietzsche started to study theology to become a pastor did he see works critiquing the Bible. This flipped a switch in his head that would lead him to write the works he is best known for. Fredreich Nietzsche has been presented in either a neutral or positive light. If you type his name into a search engine, the titles are tame and uncontroversial. You’ll notice there aren’t as many big media outlets that pop up in the results. There are critiques of Nietzsche out there, you just have to search for it. But if one is only searching by his name, they will have to search past page three to the back roads of Google to find a piece painting Nietzsche in a negative way.

“Genius of the Modern World” is a title with high praise for Nietzsche, yet the contents of this documentary series are less biased than the title would imply. Genius of the Modern World is a three part documentary series by BBC covering the lives of three different people: Karl Marx, Fredreich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud. Out of the bunch, the titles of the articles you’ll find when you search their names, Nietzsche’s are the most boring ones; titles about Freud being the most shocking to read. Starting off with a strong statement two minutes into the video, “In 1882, one of the greatest minds of the 19th century predicted a crisis.” Though this documentary gives a textbook history of Nietzsche’s life, it  sprinkles in complements into otherwise neutral storytelling of his life. Describing the decline of Nietzsche’s mental and physical health, the narrator of the documentary goes on to say, “These letters give us troubling insight into Nietzsche’s state of mind at the time. Rather than the brilliance that once pulled onto the page, these are bizarre and deranged.” These subtle but not unnoticed comments show a glimpse of the writers’ opinions of Nietzsche. This bias might have influenced what parts of the history were included, but no one could know for sure. The Genius of the Modern World  takes the liberties to defend Nietzsche from the misconception that he was a fascist and would’ve supported Hitler’s actions. “Yet if Nietzsche had been alive to see it he would have been appalled that his philosophies were being distorted by a regime that stood for so much that he'd have loathed.” The conclusion that Nietzsche hated anti-semitism is shared by all three sources that will be listed. Media negatively covering him would likely exclude this information or use the complications of the situation to muddy the waters, in contrast to what Genius of the Modern World did.

In this article of Nietzsche’s life, the authors’ of “Not Forgotten” seem to be admiring him. “Not Forgotten” is a work by The New York Times listed as a part of “Obituaries,” and was published in 2016. “Nietzsche wrote with the confidence and vehemence of any pundit.” Self-quoting a New York Times paper that was written after his death, the well known press goes on to remind us of the compliment they gave him in 1900. “His doctrines, however, were inspired by lofty aspirations, while the brilliancy of his thought and diction and the epigrammatic force of his writings commanded even the admiration of his most pronounced enemies, of which he had many.”A short and sweet summary that views Nietzsche positively, but includes seemingly neutral background history of his life.

In the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Neitzche is presented unbiased to the reader. Unlike the two sources above, the majority of the content is not a biography of Nietzsche’s life. The first of six sections, (the first being the shortest of the six sections), is devoted to the history and background information. The hefty remaining six sections are an analysis of Nietzsche's ideas and even includes counters to his philosophies brought up by other thinkers. “(..) Such skeptical readings have been thoughtfully challenged by Huddleston (2014).” “While some (Soll 2001) attack this entire idea as confused- (...)” “Brian Leiter (2002: 282–3) criticized- (...)” The writers giving contrasting opinions allows broader coverage of the topics Nietzsche covers. They aren’t afraid to include critiques of his ideology, which leads to a balanced and neutral composition of the text.

From praise to criticism, the one undisputed verdict is that Friedrich Nietzsche is an influential philosopher that has left a mark on many to this day. While sources like Stanford fall in the middle, this acclaimed philosopher has persuaded people who have studied him like writers for BBC and The New York Times. It’s clear that a significant portion of the media has a sweet spot for Nietzsche, whether they realize it or not.