Nietzsche and Philosophy

Abstract

The work of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) signifies in many respects a break in the history of philosophy. One of the most important aspects of this break is the fundamental change in attitude towards philosophy. Most philosophers have attempted to define their position with regard to the philosophy of their predecessors or contemporaries. This standpoint was always a philosophical one and the attitude they adopted was likewise philosophical. The question of truth was always central here, as one questioned whether a philosophy was true or not. Nietzsche on the other hand attempts, as it were, to step ‘outside’ of philosophy, no longer intending as philosophers do, to give an ultimate explanation of being but rather searching for a genealogical explanation of philosophy as a fact. Since the question of truth and the idea of truth are essential parts of philosophical speech, he also attempts to give a genealogical explanation of the question of truth and the idea of truth as such.