1. Existentialism
Friedrich Nietzsche

2. Biographical Information
Friedrich was born in 1844 and died in 1900 at 56
Friedrich was born in the small German village of Röcken bei Lützen
His father, Carl Ludwig Nietzsche, was a Lutheran minister and died when Friedrich was five, from a brain ailment and was followed shortly by Friedrich's two-year-old brother
He attended a first-rate boarding school called Schulpforta from the ages fourteen to nineteen
After graduating he entered the University of Bonn in 1864 as a theology and philology student but gravitated towards philology which is the interpretation of classical and biblical texts

3. Biographical Information Cont.
He went to the University of Leipzig a year later. When he was 23, he entered his required military service and suffered a severe chest injury, after which he returned to the University of Leipzig again
At the age of twenty-four he became a professor of philology at The University of Basel

4. Spiritual history and POV
Nietzsche's father was a Lutheran minister
Nietzsche challenged Christianity with the famous quote of “God is dead”
Nietzsche's argued that the Christian system of faith and worship was not only incorrect, but harmful to society because it allowed the weak to rule the strong - it suppressed the will to power which was the driving force of human character.

5. Spiritual history and POV Cont.
Without God he felt that the future of man might spiral into a society of nihilism, devoid of any meaning; his aim was for man to realize the lack of divine purpose and create his own values.
Interested in the enhancement of individual and cultural health, and believed in life, creativity, power, and the realities of the world we live in, rather than those situated in a world beyond.

6. All About Me POV
He opposes Christianity because of his disagreement with what he learned from his father and Martin Luther
His father and brother's death affected his view on life and god

7. Ethical POV Be creative, joyful
Truth is only fixed conceptions and practical responses
Human existence= pointless. Nothing will have changed after humans die out
He believes Christianity is a mask for a better life
He doesn’t believe in Christianity

8. Ethical POV Cont.
Nature of human agents: Free will, essential similarity of all people, transparency of self
Believes that harm to the highest men will benefit the lowest
Morality has universal application
If you’re agents are out of whack then your moral judgments will be wrong
The ‘doctrine of types’ are a fixed psycho- physical that defines them as a particular ‘type’ of person

9. Influence of Other Philosophers
Nietzsche was inspired most by Darwin's Theory of Evolution
He was heavily influenced by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer
He was interested in the works of Plato, Aristotle, Wagner, and Lange as well