This work dramatically rejects the tradition of Western thought with its notions of truth and God, good and evil. Nietzsche demonstrates that the Christian world is steeped in a false piety and infected with a "slave morality." With wit and energy, he turns from this critique to a philosophy that celebrates the present and demands that the individual imposes their own "will to power" upon the world.
Beyond Good and Evil (Penguin Classics)
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Language Notes
Text: English, German (translation)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was born in Prussia in 1844. After the death of his father, a Lutheran minister, Nietzsche was raised from the age of five by his mother in a household of women. In 1869 he was appointed Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Basel, where he taught until 1879 when poor health forced him to retire. He never recovered from a nervous breakdown in 1889 and died eleven years later. Known for saying that “god is dead,” Nietzsche propounded his metaphysical construct of the superiority of the disciplined individual (superman) living in the present over traditional values derived from Christianity and its emphasis on heavenly rewards. His ideas were appropriated by the Fascists, who turned his theories into social realities that he had never intended.
R. J. Hollingdale has translated eleven of Nietzsche’s books and published two books about him. He has also translated works by, among others, Schopenhauer, Goethe, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Lichtenberg and Theodor Fontane, many of these for the Penguin Classics. He is Honorary President of the British Nietzsche Society, and was for the Australian academic year 1991 Visiting Fellow at Trinity College, Melbourne.
R. J. Hollingdale has translated eleven of Nietzsche’s books and published two books about him. He has also translated works by, among others, Schopenhauer, Goethe, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Lichtenberg and Theodor Fontane, many of these for the Penguin Classics. He is Honorary President of the British Nietzsche Society, and was for the Australian academic year 1991 Visiting Fellow at Trinity College, Melbourne.
R. J. Hollingdale has translated eleven of Nietzsche’s books and published two books about him. He has also translated works by, among others, Schopenhauer, Goethe, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Lichtenberg and Theodor Fontane, many of these for the Penguin Classics. He is Honorary President of the British Nietzsche Society, and was for the Australian academic year 1991 Visiting Fellow at Trinity College, Melbourne.
R. J. Hollingdale has translated eleven of Nietzsche’s books and published two books about him. He has also translated works by, among others, Schopenhauer, Goethe, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Lichtenberg and Theodor Fontane, many of these for the Penguin Classics. He is Honorary President of the British Nietzsche Society, and was for the Australian academic year 1991 Visiting Fellow at Trinity College, Melbourne.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Lucia Medea
Format:Paperback
I was introduced to Nietzsche with this book, and have become addicted. The language is absolutely beautiful, and I think Hollingdale's translation brings out a lot of subtleties that the other translations don't. (If you can, compare passage 16 of various translations to see what I mean.)
A lot of Nietzsche's most prominent ideas (history of morality, noble vs. common types, nihilism) are present in this work, which makes me say that it's a good place to start to get a basic understanding of his ideas. Another recommendation would be The Gay Science, although that one's a bit more radical in that it's the first time that Nietzsche mentions the death of god.
A warning, though. If this is indeed your first encounter with Nietzsche, read him slowly. Let the ideas sink in before going on. Since the passages and aphorisms are short, the tendency is to read them through quickly, which causes you to overlook the underlying meaning.
A lot of Nietzsche's most prominent ideas (history of morality, noble vs. common types, nihilism) are present in this work, which makes me say that it's a good place to start to get a basic understanding of his ideas. Another recommendation would be The Gay Science, although that one's a bit more radical in that it's the first time that Nietzsche mentions the death of god.
A warning, though. If this is indeed your first encounter with Nietzsche, read him slowly. Let the ideas sink in before going on. Since the passages and aphorisms are short, the tendency is to read them through quickly, which causes you to overlook the underlying meaning.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Nietzsche was an epoch-making thinker whose radical thought experiments defied the hegemony of mediocrity which ruled Europe in the guise of Christianity. He pushed both Christians and skeptics to greater intellectual hygiene, and demanded that all people who would weigh into philosophic debate first examine themselves to ensure they are capable of the effort this task requires. The epigraphs which comprise this book are some of the shining lights of the dawning modern era.
But I cannot recommend this book. As profound as Nietzsche's mind is, reading this book is a herculean task for those not schooled in critical philosophy. His claims don't so much take up a position as refute the positions of others, and unless you have read every thinker against whom he protests, following his concepts is a scavenger hunt through early modern philology.
The heart of this book, which the author conceived as an explication of Thus Spake Zarathustra, is that old theistic, Platonic, formalistic ways of seeing the world no longer have any teleological benefit to mankind. We are moving into a new era, he posits, and we need new philosophy. In justice, Nietzsche does not proclaim to proffer this new philosophy, only to explain why it is needed, and why we can confidently demolish the old philosophies.
Though Nietzsche is tarred with the epithet "atheist," if this book is typical, that is unfair. If anything, he sees of himself as harbinger of a world where spirituality thrives without need for "theist" or "atheist" ideas, a world where being FOR or AGAINST no longer apply. He reacts against the bloodless Christianity of his day, but also against the cheerfully nullifying uselessness of post-Enlightenment rationalism. He is almost Baconian in his refusal to be tied to a past which is preserved for the ages like relics in a museum.
Yet his organization is scattershot. He divides his text into thematic chapters, but will not cohere to his stated topics. He takes a twelve-gauge tactic to philosophy, blasting anything that moves in hopes of hitting something valuable. He avers that new ways of thought are needed, yet washes his hands of the need to even hypothesize what that new might be. He prophesies the advent of a new human age that still hasn't come, over 120 years later. And though he does not endorse the ends to which Nazis and Fascists abused his work, his demeaning attitude toward women and racial groups can easily be construed in that direction.
Nietzsche's ideas are profound and deserving of study. This book is a benchmark of Western thought. But readers require a heroic Virgil to lead us through this dark wood of terror. Michael Tanner, who wrote the introduction to this book, also wrote Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction and German Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche. Focus on these or, if you must read the original text, read these guides first. This book is not intended for a general audience browsing philosophy on the web.
But I cannot recommend this book. As profound as Nietzsche's mind is, reading this book is a herculean task for those not schooled in critical philosophy. His claims don't so much take up a position as refute the positions of others, and unless you have read every thinker against whom he protests, following his concepts is a scavenger hunt through early modern philology.
The heart of this book, which the author conceived as an explication of Thus Spake Zarathustra, is that old theistic, Platonic, formalistic ways of seeing the world no longer have any teleological benefit to mankind. We are moving into a new era, he posits, and we need new philosophy. In justice, Nietzsche does not proclaim to proffer this new philosophy, only to explain why it is needed, and why we can confidently demolish the old philosophies.
Though Nietzsche is tarred with the epithet "atheist," if this book is typical, that is unfair. If anything, he sees of himself as harbinger of a world where spirituality thrives without need for "theist" or "atheist" ideas, a world where being FOR or AGAINST no longer apply. He reacts against the bloodless Christianity of his day, but also against the cheerfully nullifying uselessness of post-Enlightenment rationalism. He is almost Baconian in his refusal to be tied to a past which is preserved for the ages like relics in a museum.
Yet his organization is scattershot. He divides his text into thematic chapters, but will not cohere to his stated topics. He takes a twelve-gauge tactic to philosophy, blasting anything that moves in hopes of hitting something valuable. He avers that new ways of thought are needed, yet washes his hands of the need to even hypothesize what that new might be. He prophesies the advent of a new human age that still hasn't come, over 120 years later. And though he does not endorse the ends to which Nazis and Fascists abused his work, his demeaning attitude toward women and racial groups can easily be construed in that direction.
Nietzsche's ideas are profound and deserving of study. This book is a benchmark of Western thought. But readers require a heroic Virgil to lead us through this dark wood of terror. Michael Tanner, who wrote the introduction to this book, also wrote Nietzsche: A Very Short Introduction and German Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche. Focus on these or, if you must read the original text, read these guides first. This book is not intended for a general audience browsing philosophy on the web.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By J. Weaver
Format:Paperback
My girlfriend had an old copy of this book, which she had never read, and I borrowed it from her. I found it hard to read until I got used to the style, and then it really flowed. I finished the book and thought "this is dangerous!" I put it down for a few months, and then decided to give it another try. After the second reading I thought "this is beautiful!" I went on to read all of Nietzsche's books and two other translations of "Beyond Good and Evil." I prefer this translation to them all, even more than Kaufmann's.
I find this book to be Nietzsche's finest. It most adequately a concisely distills what I think to be the core of his thought. By starting with this work you will have a better grounding for tackling his other works. Read it slowly, as he suggested.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Easy to read, difficult to understand
Like all books by Nietzsche, this one contains brilliant thoughts, brilliantly written down. Here is my favourite fragment, much abbreviated: "Everything profound loves the mask;... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jack Wonder
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond Good and Evil
Appears to be what I ordered, but I have yet to open the book itself.
Published on September 13, 2009 by Franciscan Socrates
3.0 out of 5 stars
Heavy
This takes time to digest no matter how smart you are. But it's worth it, make the journey through time and see how a ranting madmamn/genius sees the world and mankind!
Published on December 12, 2008 by Peter Banck
4.0 out of 5 stars
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE: "...PUTTING HIS FINGER ON BAD ARTS OF...
Beyond Good And Evil (1886) was German existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzche's attempt to completely devalue religon, science and philosophy, and replace it with a... Read more
Published on May 25, 2008 by ol' nuff n' den sum
3.0 out of 5 stars
Completely Overrated
Abstract open ended type of book with Nietzsche's opinions and beliefs on good and evil. Opinions on 'slave morality', philosophy, the will to power with a little bit of history... Read more
Published on January 10, 2008 by Amy Lynn
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brief comparison of 'Beyond Good and Evil' and 'Thus Spoke...
A question that I have seen brought up by several reviewers here at Amazon is the question of the relation between 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' and 'Beyond Good and Evil'. Read more
Published on July 18, 2006 by Joseph Martin
Citations (learn more)
100
books
cite this book:
See all 100 books citing this book
- The Nietzsche Reader by Keith Ansell Pearson on 36 pages
- Nietzsche: Volumes One and Two (Nietzsche, Vols. I & II) by Martin Heidegger on 21 pages
- Fictive Theories: Towards a Deconstructive and Utopian Political Imagination (Studies in European Culture and History) by Susan McManus on 11 pages
- From Shakespeare to Existentialism by Walter Kaufmann on 11 pages
- A Dictionary of Philosophical Quotations by A. J. Ayer on 10 pages
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