Arthur Schopenhauer
The German philosopher who initially wielded such an influence over the thinking of Nietzsche—only to become the object of his ire and derision later on when he turned on him—is a regular in the cast of characters populating the works of Nietzsche. By this point in his career, that turn had already occurred and the man from whom Nietzsche had developed much of his theories about human will had become one of the two leading Germany to ruin.
Richard Wagner
The classical music composer best known to Americans now as the guy who wrote the stirring music that Robert Duvall’s character loves to play over the loudspeakers of his helicopters during attacks in Apocalypse Now is the other man leading Germany to ruin. Wagner would also suffer the wrath of the mercurial Nietzsche: once actually close friends, he would write an entire book to denounce the failures of Wagner.
Stendhal
Stendhal is the name under which Marie-Henri Beyle wrote. He is singled out by Nietzsche for giving the world most definitive statement on the nature of what is beautiful: that which is truly beautiful gives the promise of happiness.
Dr. Paul Rée
Nietzsche had the type of mind that operates in this wise: Dr. Paul Rée is identified as the most significant influence upon the publication of this book and Nietzsche never turned on him because he despised him from the start. Rée’s book The Origin of the Moral Emotion is described as being such a tome displaying such “a perverse and vicious kind of moral philosophy” that the very fact everything contained within was diametrically opposed to Nietzsche’s own view required a response.
