Death of Nietzsche

dorchadas

Hey,
Im just wondering if anyone can clear this up for me. . . . .in relation to Nietzsche's death or rather his descent into insanity, is there any truth in the claim that his mental breakdown which he suffered after seeing a horse being flogged on the street was caused in part by syphilis? Some have said he contracted this after a trip to a brothel.

Im just curious as to the exact source of his insanity in the first place!

Karlusss

My gathering of the situation is thus, and I quote a philosopher who I asked:

"Syphilis rotted his brain and weakened him physically and mentally. Then he had a breakdown, and could not recover."

dorchadas

Hmmm I thought as much, although I still think it may have been lurking in there somewhere long before the syphilis! Or maybe thats just because Im a woman!

Playboy

His sister afaik was rumoured to have edited a lot of his work after he had his breakdown.

Sapien

Playboy wrote:

His sister afaik was rumoured to have edited a lot of his work after he had his breakdown.

Yes. His sister, Elisabeth, was married to a prominent antisemite named Forster. She posthumously published many of his works, some of which bear the mark of her and her husband's nuanced alterations. Much of what the Nazi movement found admirable in his work is today attributed to these significant changes made by his sister and brother-in-law. His actual philosophies were far too subtle and fundamental to be useful to the base nationalism at the heart of the Third Reich.

dorchadas

Yeah Ive heard that alright, its a shame really I know she looked after him for a year after his breakdown until he died but what right had she to make alterations to his works, its better things like philosophic ideas come from the horses mouth and not the horses' sisters!

zinc

Nobody knows for sure what killed him, the syphillis comes from a story which can only be explained by one eye witness account that Nietzsche visited a brothel (he didnt have sex at all after this apparently).

Its pure conjecture, a good story, as likely as any of the other diseases with similar symptoms.

DadaKopf

THat horse story. Can anyone tell me whether Dostoyevsky used this story in Crime and Punishment?

I seem to remember a bit when Raskolnikov is on his way back to his hovel and sees a horse being flogged along the way, it's his turning point.

Doctor Benway

DadaKopf wrote:

THat horse story. Can anyone tell me whether Dostoyevsky used this story in Crime and Punishment?

I seem to remember a bit when Raskolnikov is on his way back to his hovel and sees a horse being flogged along the way, it's his turning point.

No. Crime and Punishment was written around the 1860s, while Nietzsche didn't have his breakdown (and his horse-hugging) for about another twenty years.

DadaKopf

Ah. It was in one of Raskolnikov's dreams.

So maybe Nietzsche went mad when he realised a beardy Ruski came up with his ideas before him!