At times in the works of the middle period, Friedrich Nietzsche accepts that higher friendship is possible between men and women, and holds love and marriage in high esteem. Sometimes, he even models marriage on friendship. While he does say some damning things about love and marriage, this chapter tries to balance his critical comments against his more positive ones to allow for a clearer, albeit more complex, appreciation of his stance to be achieved. This analysis also requires some reconsideration of the commonplace view that Nietzschean free spirits abjure marriage and family life.
Keywords: Nietzsche, free spirit, women, love, marriage, friendship, free spirits