Product Description

If ever there was a thinker who swam against the social and ethical tide of his day, it was Nietzsche. Nineteenth-century Europe was for him a moral wasteland filled with false altruism, duplicity, double standards, and, worst of all, moral complacency. Nietzsche shocked his readers to the core by openly speaking their innermost thoughts: morality serves the social good, which for him meant fostering the best possible society - one that strives for excellence and abhors the herd mentality. By rejecting the "standards" of contemporary morality, Nietzsche thought, one stood a chance of going beyond good and evil to a community in which superior moral agents who understand human nature would rise above vacuous egalitarianism and the dominant schools of ethical theory to construct a moral aristocracy that would spearhead a new social renaissance. Nietzsche is at once unsettling, compelling, and provocative.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #897819 in Books
• Published on: 1989-11-19
• Original language: German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

Synopsis
If ever there was a thinker who swam against the social and ethical tide of his day, it was Nietzsche. Nineteenth-century Europe was for him a moral wasteland filled with false altruism, duplicity, double standards, and, worst of all, moral complacency. Nietzsche shocked his readers to the core by openly speaking their innermost thoughts: morality serves the social good, which for him meant fostering the best possible society - one that strives for excellence and abhors the herd mentality. By rejecting the "standards" of contemporary morality, Nietzsche thought, one stood a chance of going beyond good and evil to a community in which superior moral agents who understand human nature would rise above vacuous egalitarianism and the dominant schools of ethical theory to construct a moral aristocracy that would spearhead a new social renaissance. Nietzsche is at once unsettling, compelling, and provocative.

Customer Reviews

A better look at this...
Nietzsche never advocated any sort of morality as "good morality", nor did he encourage the creation of a "best possible society" by use of a certain morality. Nor is that what this book is about. (Nor did he propose the creation of a new moral standard: his good/evil versus good/bad antithesis is an analysis; Nietzsche was a philosopher, not an ideologue, moralist, or politician). Moreover, he did not find moral complacency to be the greatest fault of his time: rather, the mental complacency and lack of intellectual integrity displayed by many academics and "philosophers." Nietzsche here tries to analyze a range of issues and exposes in the most surprising ways numerous relationships, psychological insights, and types of morality, personality, and so forth. The aphoristic style is not a reflection of discontinuity: it is an embodiment of Nietzsche's ideal of constant questioning. These are thought experiments which develop ideas in unexpected ways, ideas which are retraced through the entire work. It has structure and continuity for those who know how to find it. The book has some faults and a few remarks which strike the reader as unnecessary drivel: but what great work doesn't? Whether we agree with it or not, like it or dislike it, until we are great critics or philosophers, we have no excuse for giving less than 5 stars to one of the greatest books of all time.

Beyond Good and Evil is a force-analysis of self.
Nietzsche's ability to devalue and show the societal degredation caused by the current moral standard is skillful and convincing. Beyond Good and Evil is a force-analysis of self and personal values, attacking modern religious belief and the "herd mentality" with a vigor and insight made possible only by the most cynical philosophy. This is one of the most spiritually influential books I have read in my life, with applications spanning across all aspects of the human experience.

A piece of advice, however, despite his profound writings, the eighteenth century thought, a culmination of pompousness and sexism, may be offensive to some. If you posess the strength to forget the period of the book's publishing, read it.

A masterful exposition of Nietzsche's later philosophy...

Nietzsche's philosophy is a testament to unflinching human endeavour in the face of adversity. 'Beyond Good and Evil' is a superb exposition of some of the central themes of his philosophy.

The book as a whole is extremely hard to understand, due in part to Nietzche's view that the greatest products of human art and literature will necessarily be understandable only by the greatest of men (the superman perhaps, or one who strives to be such). However, it is at least as accessible as any other piece he produced. The book is amusing throughout, with many passages of great humour. Yet the counter-point of Nietzsche's own personal hates, and the inner-anger that rests beneath the surface of the meaning he conveys, create a wonderful insight into the psychology of a prophet who was not only unrecognised in his own land, but also throughout the civilised world.

In summary, if you read one book by Nietzsche it should be this.