Daniel George

During my first semester as an undergrad at The College of Wooster (Ohio), I enrolled in an intro philosophy course and was introduced to the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche. I was utterly blown away — the 20th-century philosopher’s aphorisms were expansive, alive, and brimming with wit, intelligence, emotional complexity, irony, poetry, contradiction, and a core humanity that resonated with me in a way no literature previously had. Reading Nietzsche’s provocative thoughts made me question everything I’d come to college believing in and nurtured habits of mind that have helped me grow into a more self-reflective person and scholar. I regret that Nietzsche has come to be unfairly associated with anti-semitism, an ideology he vigorously disavowed during his life. Even so, his work lives on as succor for any curious mind willing to think and feel deeply about their purpose in a seemingly absurd world.