Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography

by Julian Young

In this beautifully written account, Julian Young provides the most comprehensive biography available today of the life and philosophy of the nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Young deals with the many puzzles created by the conjunction of Nietzsche’s personal history and his why the son of a Lutheran pastor developed into the self-styled “Antichrist”; why this archetypical Prussian came to loathe Bismarck’s Prussia; and why this enemy of feminism preferred the company of feminist women. Setting Nietzsche’s thought in the context of his times – the rise of Prussian militarism, anti-Semitism, Darwinian science, the “Youth” and emancipationist movements, as well as the “death of God” – Young emphasizes the decisive influence of Plato and of Richard Wagner on Nietzsche’s attempt to reform Western culture. He also describes the devastating effect on Nietzsche’s personality of his unhappy love for Lou Salomé and attempts to understand why, at the age of forty-four, he went mad. This book includes a selection of more than thirty photographs of Nietzsche, his friends and his work sites. Seventeen of the philosopher’s musical compositions, which are key to a deeper understanding of his intellectual project are available online.

To listen to Nietzsche's compositions,

Genres: Philosophy, Biography, Nonfiction, Ebooks, History

676 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Yakup Öner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nietzsche’yi tanımlamak adına tam anlamıyla bir başyapıttır.

[Vishal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where do I even begin reviewing this? This biography has reignited my love for Nietzsche, for thinking, for reading the heaviest of stuff.

There are few things better for the soul - my soul, at least - than immersing yourself in the depth and complexity of Nietzsche's ideas. Like an intrepid diver, I hold my breath, plunge into his ideas, and emerge with pearls of the most glorious translucence.

It's not the pearls that concern me, however; it's the thrill of the dive, the exhilaration of the completed task, breathing hard and heavy on the rock edge, as the wind whips me with joy, and I sit amazed that each pearl looks so different.

If I can suspend the hyperbole for a second to actually review the book! Julian Young writes lucidly and with authority about Nietzsche's core ideas, and sets them in the context of his life. The book is split into chapters that explore his life phases - school, university professorship, his formative - and destructive - experiences with the Wagner clan at Bayreuth etc., and chapters dedicated to individual works. The biography builds up beautifully to his tragic mental collapse, and briefly touches upon the 10-year period between that and his final death.

What were we deprived of in those 10 years? I couldn't bear to think, in the same way one sometimes turns away from something that is exceedingly beautiful.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am considering the possibility of writing an "intellectual biography" of Margaret Fuller. A rather voluminous body of biographical narratives of MF's life appears to exist, and I've read at least five books that recount the sequence of events in Fuller's life as an interested contemporary might have observed and recorded them. Then there is Murray's examination of the emotional/psychological domains of MF's inner life. And of course, there exists shelf upon shelf of books that critics have produced to document their evaluations of bits and pieces of MF's literary work. I can't find, however, any single book that presents a comprehensive treatment of MF's intellectual life and its productions. Perhaps such a work exists; perhaps it doesn't. And even if it does, there's always room for one more - not that I would ever, ever seek publication, because that would spoil everything. My work on this subject would represent nothing more than private amusement.

But my purpose raises the question: What is intellectual biography? Inevitably such a question has no answer, or more accurately as many answers as one cares to formulate. The result of a search of Goodreads for "intellectual biography" is a listing of over 100 books - some of which appear highly interesting.

The first of these that came to hand (at an arm's reach, actually) is Young's book, which I read a second time with the purpose of ferreting out Young's method. Nothing out of the ordinary: brief sections of biographical narrative; summaries of works in the order of their publication; a drift of critical comments; notice of connections and affinities within/among pertinent sections of FN's publications; quotations from relevant passages in letters, journals, diary entries, etc., etc. What I don't see is an account of how curiosity, cognition, intellection, ratiocination and rationalization operated in this mind? How did this mind come into being? Is there any foundation in documentary evidence for an explanation of these operations? And so on.

What impresses me most from a second reading of Young's account is how easily FN was persuaded of the absolute, universal truth of the thoughts he chose to record. FN makes endless claims about "man" without so much as a nod to qualification, quite as if his claims hold absolutely across all space and time, since the very first specimen of homo sapiens appeared on the planet. I simply can not get past the question: How is it possible that strength of conviction or the strength of feeling that his ideas are "true" persuaded FN (or anyone else, for that matter) that he has discovered or formulated "truths" that are indeed true and that exist and abide independently of his personal existence? Especially in view of the epistemology FN affirms - perspectivism - why did FN believe - apparently - that his thought was exempt from the limitations and qualifications at the source of all thought - according to the results of his own analysis? Isn't any affirmation of this kind convincing evidence of Nietzschean megalomania? As far as I can tell - and I have no intention of reading his work - the content of FN's books reveals nothing so much as evidence of upheavals in the writer's emotional/psychological life.

But for my purposes that is sufficient. It's utterly pointless to concern myself with the "truth value" - whatever that is - of a thinker's expressions of fact and faith. What interests me are his affirmations and negations, what he deemed undecidable, the questions/issues he ignored or found altogether uninteresting; the route a mind took to arrive at judgements/conclusions (and so on) - and why.

And so I've found my second reading of Young's book quite valuable - for my purposes. One thing further. Once upon a time, I wondered why analytic philosophy had become the dominate mode of "philosophical" thought - in the West, at least. Now I am quite clear as to the cause - logic and analysis of mind still make some sort of sense, I suppose. Better to leave all the rest to historians, biographers and antiquarians.

[Michael A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

exhaustive look at Nietzsche's life and philosophy. honestly his life interested me more than his philosophy. i only read this so i could read on nietzsche by bataille. the author sometimes injects snark and sarcasm that always falls flat and seems resolutely intent on debunking the Nietzsche was Gay theory every time he can. other than that it is written in a very readable manner and his philosophy is presented in an approachable way. it is not an exaltation nor demonization of nietzsche. it seems critical yet sympathetic, but more sympathetic I'd say. Also Julian Young randomly throws in jabs at "postmodernists" and explicitly references Foucault to jab at him in a dumb way and alludes to Derrida, although in a more neutral way (???). Though, still if you're super interested in Nietzsche you should read this probably. maybe i can read deleuze's and klossowski's book on him too now...

[Simon Robs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fab. read, now back to the books themselves, do some recapping.

[Nitin Goel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best biography of Nietzsche till date. Must read.

[Colm Gillis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exhaustive biography on one of the most controversial thinkers of the 19th century. Young demonstrates an encyclopaedic knowledge of Nietzsche's life and work and he also engages in some pressing analysis of the German thinker. He avoids either side of the partisanship surrounding Nietzsche. He neither condemns Nietzsche nor does he eulogise over him. He presents in very bald terms Nietzsche's thought and also his unusual lifestyle. His great works were explored and presented in a short, but sufficient manner. The book was impressive, but lacked a certain amount of energy. It felt difficult to be engaged and there were few times when one really enjoyed reading, as opposed to gaining information on Nietzsche. The weight of scholarship compensates a lot for other deficiencies of the book. Although I would be one of those who is slightly appalled by Nietzsche, the author does leave you room to make up your own mind.

[M. Vtornikov · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly comprehensive biography — took ages to get through.

True to its name, it is indeed "philosophical" — I would not recommend reading it without being acquainted with at least the key aspects of Nietzsche's corpus (eg The Birth & Genealogy), as well as—to a considerable degree—with the history of philosophy. Expertise on Plato and Schop would serve one well here; although, myself being particularly well-versed in neither, I felt that Young guides the reader quite well through key concepts.

Further to Young's credit, he does not shy away from adjudicating scholarly debates and taking a stance on contentious issues, which I believe to be a mark of a strong biography. Young's positions appear sensible and well-argued.

Young also takes Nietzsche VERY seriously but without excessive hero-worship (frequently making fun, for example, of Nietzsche's misogyny and his treatment of friends).

According to Wikipedia, chunks of this book are claimed to have been plagiarised... If this is true, it naturally reflects very badly on the author. Nonetheless, I still choose to give the book 5 stars because those who are looking, like I was, for a biography that comprehensively and academically deals both with the events of Nietzsche's life and with his philosophy need look no further.

[Milan Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prachtige biografie. Verteld niet alleen zijn leven en verteld niet alleen zijn filosofie: zijn levensverhaal wordt verklaard vanuit zijn filosofie, zijn filosofie wordt verklaard vanuit zijn levensverhaal.

De auteur stopt ook niet bij Nietzsche, maar plaatst Nietzsche in de bredere 19/20e eeuwse filosofie en spiegelt hem regelmatig af tegenover modernere filosofen zoals Camus, Sartre en Heidegger én zijn grootste invloeden zoals Schopenhauer, Kant, Richard Wagner en vooral: de presocratici

Heeft voor mij heel veel verduidelijkt voor de vroege boeken van Nietzsche (vooral het belang van Wagner & Schopenhauer)

[Tomislav · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a controversial book for several reasons. First, the author was accused of plagiarizing a previous biography written by Curtis Cate. Young gave a strange explanation for some obvious similarities and was criticized for it. I have read Cate’s biography years before; it was fine but too focused on daily events in Nietzsche’s life, lacking deeper insight into his intellectual development. Seeing that this one is titled "philosophical biography", I expected that he perhaps copied good parts of Cate’s work and expanded the philosophical aspect. While it is a sort of expanded version it is not better; there are other problems with this book.

Biographical chapters are focused mostly on Nietzsche private life; Young presents him as more sociable and charming than usually thought. He often emphasizes his politeness, which he takes as a sign that his proclaimed egoism and immoralism should not be taken at face value. Strangely, it never seems to cross his mind that politeness is a social skill rather than moral virtue. Philosophical chapters deal extensively with Wagner, Schopenhauer and ancient Greeks while other influences are only briefly mentioned. The book is not strong at explaining what Nietzsche read and the general intellectual climate of the era. However, Young constantly reminds of his Prussian and Protestant upbringing, as if that is decisive for his character. His main artistic preoccupation, music, is explained well, in great detail, but literary interests are barely mentioned. Also, no biologists or physiologists are mentioned at all, only Darwin. Here, Young criticizes from his own high ground. He notes that Nietzsche had only superficial knowledge of Darwinism drawn from secondary sources – which is true – but ignores that there was no clearly defined Darwinism at the time, even Darwin was unsure about some of his own conclusions. He also writes that Nietzsche, supposedly always prone to counter-cultural ideas, was interested in alternative medicine such as dieting and cold baths, as if that was weird in the era when doctors still used leeches. Young often uses contemporary examples – such as football, rock music and climate change – to illustrate some of Nietzsche’s ideas despite their very different context.

The book also contains some factual errors, although mostly minor, and opinions from untrustworthy sources are taken for granted without any notification. While providing some excellent descriptions of his life and philosophy, Young is very quick in jumping to conclusions. Among the more amusing is his tendency to assume that young Nietzsche fell in love with nearly every woman he met, including his teacher’s fifty-year-old wife. However, of more importance are his peculiar interpretations and tendentious criticisms. He claims that Nietzsche was a pantheist and that eternal return can be properly understood only in the context of transcending illusionary individuality in favor of Dionysian primal unity. As life is affirmed through impersonal immortality, identification with totality of existence, in some way Nietzsche never managed to move away from his early Schopenhauerian views and find his own solution to the problem of death. Additionally, his madness – which Young estimates to be bipolar disorder with later psychotic features – exhibits a lot similarity to such Dionysian ecstatic unity – using multiple names for himself, claiming to be a world creator, etc. Losing his sanity, as reported by his landlord, he also tried to recreate a Dionysian orgy, alone in his room.

While extensively using Nietzsche’s unpublished notes whenever they suit his purpose, by the end of the book Young becomes dismissive of them as unreliable, unfinished experiments, completely rejecting The Will to Power – both the manuscript and the idea. Supposedly, after initial euphoria for arriving at the grand theory of everything, Nietzsche started to have serious doubts. At the cosmological level, will to power started to seem too anthropomorphic, systematic and aesthetic to his naturalistic, skeptical inclinations. Furthermore, although Young does not even mention any physiologists or biologist besides Darwin, let alone discuss this complex subject, he concludes that "Nietzsche must surely have come to realise" that will to power as a biological concept is also false. In a few paragraphs he explains that the idea is inapplicable to botany, so Schopenhauer’s will to live obviously has to be a better explanation of the organic world. Finally, even at basic psychological level, Nietzsche came to reject will to power because in his works of 1888 he does not mention it while discussing variety of human behavior. Young singles compassion, claiming that in this case Nietzsche again returns to Schopenhauer’s superior explanation. However, renouncing his ambitious monism does not leave Nietzsche with some open-ended Pyrrhonism. Young insists that he actually became a dualist, because his mature explanation of decadence postulates the existence of some sort of death drive, opposed to the healthy principle of will to power.

So, in his last year of sanity Nietzsche ends up rejecting or devaluing nearly all of his most important, original ideas because they cannot withstand Schopenhauerian critique. He ends up as pantheist, ego-renouncing, proto-Freudian dualist. The book is really a page-turner, you can never guess what is coming next. But how did it happen that Nietzsche became well-known as a dynamic monist, egoist, atheist, philosopher of will to power? Well, it is his sister’s fault! Elisabeth, whom Young constantly belittles through the book, managed to derail Nietzsche scholarship for the next hundred years and turn her brother into a monist metaphysician and a Nazi. Young gets quite emotional in criticizing her, but he is very unclear about what exactly did she do and what was her motive for altering her brother’s philosophy. She was not a philosopher, and compared to his politics she actually looks moderate. It seems that she was incompetent at editing, or wanted to earn more money by being provocative. Obviously, producing a grand metaphysical theory and becoming a Nazi is as edgy as you can get. This is a very weird part of the book, because Young does not seem any more methodical than poor Elisabeth (and it is kind of funny that he get upset because she misused the text that someone else wrote). He picks some small clues, makes brave connections and big claims, rarely spending more than a few paragraphs to argue for interpretations which would require much more effort. Young is obviously an admirer of Schopenhauer and Wagner, and spends a lot of space discussing them, and then in the end concludes way too easily that Nietzsche actually affirmed the ideas of his two teachers. Every philosophical doubt that Nietzsche had, every ambiguous statement, is interpreted as a return to Schopenhauer and Wagner.

Dismissing the usual individualistic and radical aristocratic interpretations, Young presents Nietzsche as a paternalistic, conservative, communitarian thinker preoccupied with the well-being of broadly defined community. He does not really provide any elaborate political theory behind this communitarianism, explaining it vaguely in terms of culture and religion, often comparing it to Plato’s Republic. It seems to me that by using Young’s criteria a surprisingly large number of political philosophers and economists could suddenly be reclassified as communitarians. He somewhat downplays Nietzsche’s opinions on aristocracy, slavery and caste system, believing that most of his writings are anthropological descriptions of traditional views, rather than his own perspective and normative philosophy. Again, he does not mention any historical context so the whole discussion seems quite abstract; it would be interesting to compare him to some of the antebellum Southern intellectuals, or defenders of colonial slavery. Nietzsche also made some specific comments on Bismarck’s social policies, he was not just an opponent of German nationalism, and it is very doubtful that his criticisms of Bismarck also apply to Cesare Borgia and his "stupid" exercise of power, as Young claims. He does not give enough attention to Nietzsche’s claim that even destructive, sociopathic individuals have an important role in advancing collective interests of mankind. Also, one of the more doubtful claims is that he was a pacifist and the abolition of war was "a central goal of his thinking". While serving as a medic in 1870 he supposedly developed post-traumatic stress disorder; the proof for this is a letter in which he mentions that he would rather forget some of the things he had seen. There are numerous awful interpretations of Nietzsche’s politics and this book is not really so bad. Comparison with one-nation conservatism is quite tenuous, but at least it is not a Maoist, soixante-huitard Nietzsche. The only thing that Young completely ignores are his views on hereditarianism and race, although he mentions eugenics.

There is an excellent Nietzsche’s quote in this book about Roman custom of casually appropriating elements of Greek culture – as a sort of conquest! – modifying them and removing the names of original authors. I guess that is somewhat acceptable from immoralist, aristocratic perspective. But it is unclear why this book even had to be a lengthy biography. If Young wanted to write a particular interpretation, a shorter, focused study would have been more appropriate. Some parts of the book do not work well. Young is dismissive of authors who search for Nietzsche’s mature ideas in his early works. However, his chronological approach often overestimates and overuses early ideas and ends up with some sudden, confusing jumps. For example, Rome inexplicably replaces Greece as Nietzsche’s interest; also, Young, who presents Nietzsche as a good-natured conservative seems puzzled by his vicious turn against Christianity. Bigger story behind both is explained in Losurdo’s biography but ignored here. It does not do a good job at presenting Nietzsche’s historical context and totality of his philosophy, which should be expected from a lengthy biography. While he is sharply critical of some of Nietzsche’s ill-thought-out ideas, which he ascribes to his lack of philosophical education, some of Young’s arguments, such as his defense of free will, explanations of altruism and the idea of last man are also quite poor. His remarks about Nietzsche’s final philosophical positions are way too brief and nonchalant to be taken seriously. He makes some very brave assumptions and conclusions about complex issues where more cautious approach would be appropriate. At least he fairly points out which parts are speculative. I don’t think I have ever read a biography in which the author uses first person so many times; I think I have even read some autobiographies with less first person. Despite all the issues, it is not a bad book, even though it is very overrated with current 4.4 stars. It is actually quite fun to read and Young’s main ideas are interesting and thought-provoking even if not very convincing. I would certainly not recommend it as an introduction because it contains a lot of claims that should be taken with a dose of suspicion by a knowledgeable reader. If you’re already acquainted with Nietzsche’s philosophy it is worth reading as a different, interesting perspective.

[Dominic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography explores the philosophy and thoughts of this German philosopher while also mentioning some events from his life that were often relevant to his work. The author did an excellent job displaying the thoughts of Nietzsche and didn't just talk about what happened in his life, but showed the relevance of Nietzsche's life to his work. The author frequently gave quotes from Nietzsche's books, essays, and letters, and offered mainly explanations and interpretations of his thoughts, with little commentary or opinion, which was great. Reading about Nietzsche was fascinating and made me think deeply about various subjects. I greatly admired Nietzsche's open-mindedness, how he was willing to switch to different perspectives, and his kind of artistic, mysterious, but profound style of writing. There were times in the book when there was commentary and some of Nietzsche's quotes that had several complicated words and sentences that were hard to grasp and were there was some level of uncertainty of what the message was. For example, in one chapter, the author wrote "Phenomenological attentiveness to the world of consciousness requires an attitude that clashes with the demands and complexities of everyday life". It was very hard figuring out what this meant, but this didn't stop me from continuing to read the book and wanting to understand Nietzsche. I recommend this book for those who like philosophy, philosophizing, or reading about thinkers.

[William Whalen · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was 13, I read the new debut, "The Red Dragon" by Thomas Harris (its' far more famous sequel is "The Silence of the Lambs). In the book a serial killer is inspired by Nietzschean philosophy. I was as intrigued by this real philosopher as I was by the very good thriller. I would right a term paper on Nietzsche for my political science minor, would read many of his works, and frequently encountered him in historical, fictional and cultural references. He is my favorite philosopher. I need to qualify this statement as I disagree as much as I agree with his beliefs. But even when I do not concur with him, he makes me think. My favorite quote is "And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." Which brings me to Young's superb biography/philosophical analysis of Nietzsche (God I wish he had an easier name to spell), I did not find this saying in the book. Now admittedly, it is a very large dense tome, so i may have missed it. The lack of my favorite quote is my only real complaint on Young's work. I know it's petty, but I was looking forward to the abyss. Otherwise, I loved this from page 1 to page 598. Thus spoke Zarathustra.

[Ondřej Plachý · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I started reading it and realized how long this book is, I thought to myself that I will never get through it. And here we are, after one month, with more than 600 pages of pure philosophical pleasure. I think this book also opened my eyes to the fact that if you really want to understand someone, you should study his life as well as his writings. Who would have known that Nietzsche probably suffered PTSD after his volunteering activity in Franco-Prussian war. Illness that led him to despise German warmongering. Similarly, Young tries to explain why Nietzsche adopted many of his philosophical stances, and finds evidence for: his hate of women, adoption of positivist epistemology, anti-antisemitism, and many more...

On the other hand, parts of the book have been plagiarised, so for this reason, I have to downgrade it from five stars to three.

[Ian Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me four months to read and along the way I dipped into much of Nietzsche’s early writing as I went along, and read up on 19th century Germany, while listening to Wagner and Beethoven to get a feel for the times. It was a journey. Nietzsche was a strange, tortured, and passionate man. I’m glad to have learned more about him and his thinking. Much of that thinking is repellent but then some of it is heroic and inspiring. Some of it touched by madness. This bio was an incredible, entertaining guide to it all. Nietzsche’s conception of Apollonian vs Dionysian art, his passion for healthy culture, the Eternal Return as a metaphorical goad for life design — these things will likely stick with me. Recommended without question for anyone interested in him. I loved it.

[S h a y a N · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beyond a biography. In fact it was the most comprehensive book l've ever read about Nietzsche. Any single thing about him, his life, his philosophy and his relationships can be found in this masterpiece. After 6 years of reading Nietzsche books, this philosophical biography showed me that I hardly knew him. Overall, I highly recommend it to anyone who desires to understand the world of Nietzsche.

[diderot · Rating 5 out of 5]

not that i’m without *any* reservations, this is an excellent, delicate biography (even if citations persist as an issue.) Young practices an interpretation that really is for-the-most-part impartial, while also preserving the humanity underlying the narrative—is forgiving and generous. the discussion of N.’s philosophy is fantastic.

[Medhat ullah · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, sophisticated, and comprehensive account of a rebellious philosopher with a big mustache who turned philosophy upside down amidst despair, excruciating agony, and suffering. Young presents Nietzsche as a self-overcoming philosopher, and his writing is both amazing and rhetorically brilliant. Julian Young truly demonstrates his brilliance in this book.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well put-together intellectual biography. I found myself skimming parts of the philosophical exegesis in favor of following Nietzsche's wild life, but those parts came together very nicely in the last arguments against misrepresentations of his philosophy.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, it's time I face the facts: I just don't care enough about Nietzsche to ever finish this book. From what I remember it was well-written, but it's getting a hard pass from me. DNF.

[Anshari Hasanbasri · Rating 5 out of 5]

i wish i had my own Julian Young who'd painstakingly narrate such a chaotic life into a masterpiece of biography. 10/10 made it to my all-time favourites shelf.

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent book gives the modern reader deeper insight into and understanding of the unusual life of this legendary and often misunderstood philosopher. I commend this book to all who wish to know what Nietzsche really meant when he wrote that "God is dead" and about "free spirits" and the existence of "superman."

[Don Ringelestein · Rating 5 out of 5]

A judicious mix of biography and philosophy, Juilan's book does a very nice job summarizing and developing the main strands of Nietzsche's thinking. He does well to also downplay the significance of the Nachlass, and it's problematic child, the notion of Will to Power. In the end, a good read and valuable tool.

[Frederic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly dense,well-researched and very readable although it took me more than a month to read and I gave only a cursory glance to all the Notes...but I had to return it to the library...worth reading and worth owning for future reference...

[Miha Mazzini · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘A Philosophical Biography’, it says on the cover and it delivers. Not just the life of Nietzsche but analysis of his works too. Author says his opinions clearly, but I didn’t feel it like interference. A lot to read; take it on the holiday.

[Mert · Rating 5 out of 5]

After you finish it, you will admit that from now on you know everything that you have to know about Nietzche. And even reading Nietzsche's own works after this book will make you experience something like 'eternal return'.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I just wasn't intellectually adequate to this, but I was enjoying it before I abandoned ship.

[Samson Blackwell]

I got to page 47. Sorry Young (and Nietzsche), too many other things going on right now to focus on a tome this dense.