A mysterious illness. A headstone for Karl Ludwig. An enigmatic inscription. In today's episode, we pose the question of why Nietzsche would memorialize his dead father, a Lutheran pastor, with a verse from Corinthians. This unusual event in Nietzsche's life intersects with both his lifelong ailment and his most ambitious philosophical ideas. In order to answer this question, we'll go on the podcast's first deep dive into Nietzsche's personal life - particularly his early life, his romantic period, and his ill-fated friendships with Richard Wagner, Paul Ree, and Lou Salome.

This episode was partially inspired by an essay by Charlie Huennemann, a professor who has published many books worth checking out, including one on Nietzsche. You can find his blog here: https://huenemanniac.com/

Other sources utilized in the episode:

Leonard Sax, What was the cause of Nietzsche’s dementia? (pdf link: www.leonardsax.com/Nietzsche.pdf)

Hemelsoet D1, Hemelsoet K, Devreese D., The neurological illness of Nietzsche (Abstract): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18575181

Information on CADASIL: https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/cerebral-autosomal-dominant-arteriopathy-with-subcortical-infarcts-and-leukoencephalopathy