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Nietzsche - The Key Ideas: Nietzsche's life

by Dr Roy Jackson

Nietzsche was born on 15 October 1844 in Röcken, which is a municipality in the district of Burgenlandkreis in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. When he went to university in 1864 to do philology (the study of language and literature) and theology he had already ceased to believe in the existence of God and he soon abandoned the study of theology altogether. Nietzsche’s university professor considered him to be the finest student he had seen in many years. Consequently, Nietzsche was awarded his doctorate without examination and was recommended for a chair in classical philology at Basel University in 1869. From 1871, Nietzsche started to become seriously ill: an illness that was to dog the rest of his life. In 1879, due to illness, he resigned his post at the university and began ten years of travel through Italy, southern France and Switzerland. On the 3 January 1889, Nietzsche broke down and was to spend the final years of his life insane. The care of Nietzsche until his death on 25 August 1900 was in the hands of his sister Elizabeth.

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