Of the four 'late-period' writings of Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil most closely resembles the aphoristic style of his middle period. The work moves into the realm 'beyond good and evil' in the sense of leaving behind the traditional morality which Nietzsche subjects to a destructive critique in favour of what he regards as an affirmative approach that fearlessly confronts the perspectival nature of knowledge and the perilous condition of the modern individual. Specifically, he accuses them of founding grand metaphysical systems upon the faith that the good man is the opposite of the evil man, rather than just a different expression of the same basic impulses that find more direct expression in the evil man. In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche accuses past philosophers of lacking critical sense and blindly accepting dogmatic premises in their consideration of morality. At the beginning of the book (§ 2), Nietzsche attacks the very idea of using strictly opposite terms such as 'Good versus Evil'.

Īccording to translator Walter Kaufman, the title refers to the need for moral philosophy to go beyond simplistic black and white moralizing, as contained in statements such as 'X is good' or 'X is evil'.

Naumann of Leipzig at the author's own expense and first translated into English by Helen Zimmern, who was two years younger than Nietzsche and knew the author. It was first published in 1886 under the publishing house C. Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunftīeyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future ( German: Jenseits von Gut und Böse: Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft) is a book by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche that covers ideas in his previous work Thus Spoke Zarathustra but with a more polemical approach. With wit and energy, he turns from this critique to a philosophy that celebrates the present and demands that the individual impose their own 'will to power' upon the world. Nietzsche seeks to demonstrate that the Christian world is steeped in a false piety and infected with a 'slave morality'. The work dramatically rejects traditional Western thought with its notions of truth and God, good and evil.

'One of the greatest books of a very great thinker' Michael Tanner Beyond Good and Evil confirmed Nietzsche's position as the towering European philosopher of his age. It promotes a philosophy that celebrates the present and demands that the individual imposes their own 'will to power' upon the world. This work demonstrates that the Christian world is steeped in a false piety and infected with a 'slave morality'. Rejects the tradition of Western thought with its notions of truth and God, good and evil.

Description for Beyond Good and Evil (Penguin Classics) Paperback.

Beyond good and evil penguin