NIETZSCHE - OVERVIEW

<BODY> <TABLE WIDTH=400 BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=2 CELLPADDING=1> <TR> <TD><IMG ALIGN=Left SRC="1901a.jpg" WIDTH="110" HEIGHT="150" ALT="NIETZSCHE"></TD> <TD><CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>NIETZSCHE</FONT><BR> THE NIHILIST<P> (1844 - 1900)</FONT></B></FONT><BR><BR> "God is dead."</CENTER></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <FONT SIZE=4><B>Overview</B></FONT><P> Friedrich Nietzsche was a German classical scholar and philosopher of the late nineteenth century whose works have had a powerful influence on modern thought and literature. Nietzsche approaches the human condition from the point of view of a cultural historian. His ideas encompassed newly developed concepts in evolutionary biology, anthropology and psychology. He analyses the past and postulates an alternative future, often in prophetic and poetic language. He regarded his own time as degenerate and speculates about a new human ideal, an <B>ubermensch</B> - an overman or superman, driven by a <B>will to power</B>.<P> Nietzsche condemns all attempts by philosophy to identify absolute truths. He rejects all morality, but especially Christian morality, proposing instead an extreme form of ethical <A HREF="../t03/g045.html" TARGET="_top">relativism</A> which denies human accountability for any action. Each thinking individual should have the courage to develop his own good and evil, become his own law-giver.<P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>MAJOR WORKS</B></FONT><BR> <ul> <li>"The Birth of Tragedy" (1872) <li>"Thoughts out of Season" (1873-76) <li>"Thus spoke Zarathustra" (1883-84; 1885) <li>"Human, All Too Human" (1886) <li>"Beyond Good and Evil" (1886) <li>"Daybreak" (1886) <li>"On the Genealogy of Morals" (1887) <li>"The Twilight of the Idols" (1889) <li>"The Anti-Christ" (1895) <li>"Ecce Homo" (pub 1908) </ul> <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>