Abstract

According to Lou Salomé, Nietzsche’s philosophy is essentially autobiographical and is best understood as a kind of personal confession, memoir, or self-portrait. In my view, however, this approach is radically mistaken and the textual evidence actually shows the opposite of what Salomé thinks. In these passages, Nietzsche is actually criticizing past philosophers for committing a falsifying cognitive error when they projected themselves and their personal prejudices into all of reality.