> He might have been unstable mentally, to say the least.
No doubt about it. He was clearly going mad as he got older. The cause of the madness is debatable, but a commonly accepted theory is that he contracted Syphilis from a prostitute early in life, and it killed him in the end.
That said, I don't think his madness nullifies his ideas, or even discredits them. I haven't studied him in depth, but the works of his that I have read have elements of genius embedded in them. Some are boring and observational, but some are deep and profound.
Regarding Nietzsche as a wanna-be Schopenhauer, this is not a fair representation at all IMHO. He was certainly influenced and had a lot of respect for Schope, but he contributed a ton of unique material and took some views very different from Schope. There is a lot of nuance in his criticism of Schope's nihilism that I think reflect his devotion to study and understanding, and respect for past thinkers, not just a pale imitation.
No doubt about it. He was clearly going mad as he got older. The cause of the madness is debatable, but a commonly accepted theory is that he contracted Syphilis from a prostitute early in life, and it killed him in the end.
That said, I don't think his madness nullifies his ideas, or even discredits them. I haven't studied him in depth, but the works of his that I have read have elements of genius embedded in them. Some are boring and observational, but some are deep and profound.
Regarding Nietzsche as a wanna-be Schopenhauer, this is not a fair representation at all IMHO. He was certainly influenced and had a lot of respect for Schope, but he contributed a ton of unique material and took some views very different from Schope. There is a lot of nuance in his criticism of Schope's nihilism that I think reflect his devotion to study and understanding, and respect for past thinkers, not just a pale imitation.