Friedrich Nietzsche is considered one of the most controversial philosophers of modern time. He was born in 1844 in the village of Rocken and died in 1900. At the age of four his father, a Lutheran minister, died leaving him the only male in the house. Originally Friedrich planned on following in his fathers footsteps and become a minister, but in his early teens he started to question the existence of God.
At the age of twenty he enrolled in the University of Bonn. After he finished he moved on to Leipzig and came across the work of Arthur Achopenhauer and became very interested in his philosophy known as pessimism. Friedrich concluded that life makes no objective sense. Life is not the result of divine plan, nor is nature orderly in any way that we can discern. He said "life is the expression of will". He insisted that life is governed by the will to power, a universal desire to control others and impose our values on them. Nietzsche voiced an explosive philosophy that attracted and offended many people up to this day.
Soccio, Douglas J. Archetypes of Wisdom. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1995.
"The Slave Revolt in Morality." Lecture Notes, Phil. 151. (1995).
http://www-philosophy.ucdavis.edu/phi151old/nov16lec.htm (1995)
Written by Dan Osterloh
Edited by Marcy L. Voelker, 2007