Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
... composer Richard Wagner, a friendship that would influence him greatly for almost twenty years. After university, Nietzsche accepted a teaching position at the University of Basel in Switzerland. He eventually was forced to resign this position due to poor health and intense migraines. He spent the years following this resignation traveling and writing some of his best known works, including Also sprach Zarathustra (1883-85), Jenseits von Gut und Böse (1886), and Der Antichrist (1888). Another significant work, Der Wille zur Macht, was published posthumously in 1901. On 3 January 1889, Nietzsche suffered a mental breakdown from which he never recovered. There are several theories to explain this breakdown. Some claim that he was infected with syphilis, others that it was the result of his use of the sedative chloral hydrate. Still others claim that he had inherited a brain disease from his father, while others attribute it to mental illness. On 25 August 1900, Nietzsche died of pneumonia and stroke. Nietzsche is best known for his startling statement, “God is dead.” By this he meant that traditional cultural values, chief among them Christianity, no longer held the power they once did. Therefore, according to Nietzsche, new values must take their place. This led to the philosophical creation of the überme...