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| Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future (Dover Thrift) |
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Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future (Dover Thrift)
Dover Publications Inc.
by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
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ISBN/ASIN: 048629868X
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Sales Rank: 4111
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Media: Paperback
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Product Group: Book
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| Customer Reviews: Average Rating: 4.5/5 | | beyond good and evil: Rating: 5/5 |
| Within 2 pages it had gone right over my head,but I aint that bright,so I'm glad I bought it and tried to read it.Maybe someone could explain it to me. Worth buying if yer cleverer than me... sorry not much of a review, eh? | | Life is will to and lust for power: Rating: 5/5 |
Friedrich Nietzsche shouts in a relentless torrent of raging prose and a sometimes obscene vocabulary his anger about the concepts of Christian morality, God, sin, democracy and socialism. For him, all `eternal' values must be inverted or revalued.
Plato, Christianity, democracy, socialism
For Nietzsche, the decline of mankind began with the Greek `dogmatist', Plato, who invented the pure spirit and the good as such.
His ideas were adopted by Christianity, `Platonism for the people'. But, Christian faith constitutes a sacrifice of all freedom, enslavement and self-mutilation. Its morality of pity, humility and utility worsens the human race. By preserving all that is sick, mankind breads `a mediocre herd animal', `ugly plebeians'.
The democratic movement is the heir of Christianity. Democracy, `the nonsense of the greatest numbers', with its `equality of rights', is a form of political decay and, more importantly, a decay of `man' through the creation of a `dwarf animal'.
The `socialist dolts and flatheads are the scribbling slaves of the democratic taste striving for the universal green-pasture happiness of the herd.'
Nietzsche's evangel (master and slave morality)
The cardinal instinct of man is not self-preservation, but the discharge of strength. The essence of life is will to power. Everything evil, terrible, tyrannical in man, everything that is kin to beasts of prey and serpents serves the enhancement of the species `man'.
Good is the distinction, the determination of rank. Every enhancement of the type `man' has so far been the work of an aristocratic society. The noble soul lives as a leader who feels the compulsion to exploit his strength. Egoism is the nature of the noble soul. Exploitation belongs to the essence of what lives.
The master creates his own morality, his own good and evil. He despises those who adopt a slave morality of pity and utility. He has only `contempt for the unfree, the common people, the humble, the doglike people who allow themselves to be maltreated'.
Evaluation
Besides his unacceptable profound misogyny (`woman's great art is the lie, her highest concern is mere appearance'), Friedrich Nietzsche's brutal evangel is not less than a call for war, not peace. The rabble must be crushed, in order to make place for an enhanced type of man, the superman.
On the other hand, his attacks on the power of the churches and on the ideas of some German philosophers (Kant, Hegel), as well as his call for men to become really independent and free spirits, masters not slaves, remain the bright parts of his virulent diatribes.
This formidable work written by `a fascinating human being of exceptional complexity and integrity' (P. Gay) is a must read for all those interested in Western philosophy.
Nietzsche's political, literary and philosophical influence continues to be immense.
| | Incomparably arrogant.: Rating: 2/5 |
| Nietzsche is a clever man and like most philosophers he is self-consciously clever. As with any philosopher worth his salt he is good at knocking other people's arguments and peppers his works with some juicy metaphors and outrageous comments along the way. And so because Nietzsche has a reputation for being clever we all feel like this must be a clever man because he has this reputation for being clever and because he is so outrageous he is especially so. Not so. What is so grating about Nietzsche in this and many of his books is not his ability to knock other people's arguments, nor is it his irritating manner of presenting his arguments it is (as with many philosophers of a certain ability) his disingenousness in presenting his arguments. And yet whilst David Hume had this same tendency he at least had the self-discipline to present it in a form that warrants some analytical scrutiny. Nietzsche by contrast wants it all ways - the ability to speak on his own terms without presenting his philosophy in a consistent intelligent basis; it is far from clear where he is serious and where less so, but more odious is his belief that the rules and bases for which he justifies his own critique of other systems do not apply to his own system which is pretty unintelligible. So yes, Nietzsche is a clever man - of the very worst kind. | | Fascinating insights: Rating: 5/5 |
| This is a fascinating book, a crucial theme of which is the support for a grown-up way of existance that has sadly been overshadowed by that of lesser minds. Another thread running through the book is the idea of the 'will to power' as the key to understanding our lives. Along the way, we also get opinions on the woman's relation to the kitchen; what it means to be a recluse; flashing criticism of the English, Science and academics; criticism of Kant and other philosophers; a brilliant investigation of the 'master' morality, and just about anything else you could possibly imagine. Nietzsche's use of language is masterful in its creativity, colour, allure and entertainment value. His insights are profound and always accurate (perhaps with the exception of when he is talking about music). Its almost as though he stands outside the discipline of philosophy and is more concerned with retaining his status as a fully paid-up member of the human race. As a result, one feels, he is able to see things more clearly. This really is a wonderful book. | | Go with the Cambridge version: Rating: 5/5 |
Our college accidentally bought the Penguin version of BGE, and as a student of languages I can tell you that the translation quality is very poor. Some passages seem to lose their meaning entirely for lack of a feeling for the overall text on the part of the translator. Eventually I gave up on the Penguin copy and went for the Cambridge one - the difference was immense. I would definitely recommend the Cambridge copy.
In terms of the text itself, BGE is one of the most important books ever written, and one of the most fun. | |
