Chapter 6 Summary

Dr. Breuer sits back in his chair and asks for the three questions. Nietzsche asks if he will go blind, if he will have these attacks forever, and if he has a progressive brain disease that will kill him young like his father or drive him mad. Breuer is speechless. He has never received such questions before from a patient. Nietzsche says that in all the years he has been ill he has never gotten a physician to honestly answer these questions, and he feels he has a right to know.

Then the men have a philosophical discussion about what a physician's responsibility is in regards to telling patients the truth about their conditions. Nietzsche believes that it is the physician's duty to tell the absolute truth and to not spare the patient any information so the patient can make decisions based on...