Nietzsche’s dementia prevented him from living out his own philosophy

Evidence

Nietzsche was unable to put his ideas into much effect in his own life, not because he lacked the courage, but because his body betrayed him. In his forties, he fell victim to a disease, possibly syphilis or a brain tumour, which destroyed his faculties. After a distraught episode on the streets of Turin in January 1889, during which (the story goes) he weepingly threw his arms around the neck of an abused horse, he fell into irreversible dementia and spent the rest of his life an invalid. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 65

Categorization

• CANDY: The Turin horse embrace is a striking anecdote, though dark rather than light — the sort of detail that surfaces in conversation about both Nietzsche and the Turin horse story.
• XREF: connects to: For Nietzsche self-creation means making one’s life a coherent work of art — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 280; Nietzsche’s mind collapsed into dementia before his ideas spread — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 65

Broader Connections

• For Nietzsche self-creation means making one’s life a coherent work of art #complicates (0.80) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 280