ABSTRACT
In January 1873 Friedrich Nietzsche came to Friedrich Zollner’s defence in public debate, after reading a journal article which praised Zollner’s book, while recommending another book which cast doubt on the mental stability of Richard Wagner. Nietzsche comes out against the empiricism of the English school of physical science in favour of a far more theory-driven approach. Nietzsche’s comments on Mayer were made only in correspondence, but they throw useful light on his attitude towards scientific debates. Paul Ree’s second book, The Origin of the Moral Sensations, was largely written during the autumn of 1876, when he and Nietzsche were working together in Sorrento. Nietzsche had a broader vision than most of the participants in the science wars. Nietzsche was informed of the high sales of Eugen Duhring’s book by his publisher Ernst Schmeitzner, who was also Duhring’s publisher at the time.
