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Human, All Too Human/Beyond Good and Evil
With an Introduction by Ray Furness. Human, All Too Human (1878) marks the point where Nietzsche abandons German romanticism for the French Enlightenment. At a moment of crisis in his life (no longer a friend of Richard Wagner, forced to leave academic life through ill health), he sets out his views in a scintillating and bewildering series of aphorisms which contain the seeds of his later philosophy (e.g. the will to power, the need to transcend conventional Christian morality). The result is one of the cornerstones of his life's work. It well deserves its subtitle A Book for Free Spirits , and its original dedication to Voltaire, whose project of radical enlightenment here finds a new champion. Beyond Good and Evil (1886) is a scathing and powerful critique of philosophy, religion and science. Here Nietzsche presents us with problems and challenges that are as troubling as they are inspiring, while at the same time outlining the virtues, ideas, and practices which will characterise the philosophy of the future. Relentless, energetic, tirelessly probing, he both determines that philosophy's agenda and is himself the embodiment of the type of thought he wants to foster.
720 pages, Paperback
First published August 5, 2008
120 people are currently reading
994 people want to read
About the author
Friedrich Nietzsche
3,904books24.2kfollowersFriedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture, who became one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest person to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24, but resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and probably vascular dementia. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900, after experiencing pneumonia and multiple strokes.
Nietzsche's work spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony. Prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favour of perspectivism; a genealogical critique of religion and Christian morality and a related theory of master–slave morality; the aesthetic affirmation of life in response to both the "death of God" and the profound crisis of nihilism; the notion of Apollonian and Dionysian forces; and a characterisation of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power. He also developed influential concepts such as the Übermensch and his doctrine of eternal return. In his later work, he became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome cultural and moral mores in pursuit of new values and aesthetic health. His body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, music, religion, tragedy, culture, and science, and drew inspiration from Greek tragedy as well as figures such as Zoroaster, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
After his death, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became the curator and editor of his manuscripts. She edited his unpublished writings to fit her German ultranationalist ideology, often contradicting or obfuscating Nietzsche's stated opinions, which were explicitly opposed to antisemitism and nationalism. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with fascism and Nazism. 20th-century scholars such as Walter Kaufmann, R.J. Hollingdale, and Georges Bataille defended Nietzsche against this interpretation, and corrected editions of his writings were soon made available. Nietzsche's thought enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1960s and his ideas have since had a profound impact on 20th- and early 21st-century thinkers across philosophy—especially in schools of continental philosophy such as existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism—as well as art, literature, music, poetry, politics, and popular culture.
Nietzsche's work spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony. Prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favour of perspectivism; a genealogical critique of religion and Christian morality and a related theory of master–slave morality; the aesthetic affirmation of life in response to both the "death of God" and the profound crisis of nihilism; the notion of Apollonian and Dionysian forces; and a characterisation of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power. He also developed influential concepts such as the Übermensch and his doctrine of eternal return. In his later work, he became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome cultural and moral mores in pursuit of new values and aesthetic health. His body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, music, religion, tragedy, culture, and science, and drew inspiration from Greek tragedy as well as figures such as Zoroaster, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
After his death, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became the curator and editor of his manuscripts. She edited his unpublished writings to fit her German ultranationalist ideology, often contradicting or obfuscating Nietzsche's stated opinions, which were explicitly opposed to antisemitism and nationalism. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with fascism and Nazism. 20th-century scholars such as Walter Kaufmann, R.J. Hollingdale, and Georges Bataille defended Nietzsche against this interpretation, and corrected editions of his writings were soon made available. Nietzsche's thought enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1960s and his ideas have since had a profound impact on 20th- and early 21st-century thinkers across philosophy—especially in schools of continental philosophy such as existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism—as well as art, literature, music, poetry, politics, and popular culture.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 23, 2016
"That which we now call the world is the result of a number of errors and fantasies, which came about gradually in the overall development of organic beings, fusing with one another, and now handed down to us as a collected treasure of our entire past - a treasure: for the value of our humanity rests upon it. From this world of idea strict science can, in fact, release us only to a small extent (something we by no means desire), in that it is unable to break significantly the power of ancient habits of feeling. But it can illuminate, quite gradually, step by step, the history of the origin of that world as idea - and lift us, for moments at least, above the whole process. Perhaps we will recognize then that the thing-in-itself deserves a Homeric laugh in that it seemed to be so much, indeed everything, and is actually empty, that is, empty of meaning."
July 6, 2014
My brain hates me after this book
November 3, 2014
prescript: This review is for Human, All Too Human Pt I & II, for my review of : /review/show/
Nietzsche is a master at the aphorism, and in HATH it shows, as this book, at least for me, was the deciding instrumental cause that so fluidly weaved a philosophic thread through Nietzsche's other webs of thought, thereby allowing me to really begin to grasp Nietzsche in a more dynamic, yet holistic, way. I will be the first to admit, my understanding for Nietzsche two years ago--for example when I first read , which was indecently the first Nietzsche work that I read by him--was utterly naive at best, but since then, having traversed through the aforesaid, plus all of the following: , , , , , , , and now finally , I can say without a doubt, that HATH has propelled me forward in understanding Nietzsche's thought that I heretofore had not quite attained. Let me explain why.
As one of Nietzsche's earliest works, HATH is the first book that he truly began to philosophize with a hammer. Wielding it ever so gracefully, yet with a dominating force, he thereupon begins to smash away at the presuppositions and illusions that had hitherto held humanity, who is "bound with many chains" (507). He smashes knowing full well what his actions are in and of themselves, but perchance not entirely knowing the full consequences therefrom and thereafter. Nevertheless, he laughs and chides all the way. Why does the aphorism smash? Because it is "the greatest paradox in literature, the imperishable in the midst of change" (318). And yet he charges the readers not to mishandle his philosophic aphorism by "mak[ing] a point of referring to the general to the particular instance to which the aphorism owes its origin. This namby-pamby attitude brings all the author's trouble to naught, and instead of a philosophic lesson and a philosophic frame of mind, the deservedly gain nothing" (309). To be sure, it is for this very same reason why Nietzsche loathed the custom "and almost duty for the author's name to appear on the book...if they are good, they are worth more than the personalities of their authors" (316). And indeed, HATH is worth far more than a one Friedrich Nietzsche, for it belongs to "a particular reader and men of his stamp" (316), to the free-spirits of old, yea, to the free spirits of a generation yet to come!
Much more forthright than other Nietzsche works, HATH serves as a wonderful comprehensive introduction to Nietzsche's thought in plain day, albeit I would never tell someone wanting to dive into Nietzsche to start with this work. The downside is that HATH lacks the focus of his other works, such as BG&E, and is Nietzsche's thought at his most elementary, as book I was written in 1878, well before the Gay Science, Zarathustra, etc. Hence, various uniquely Nietzschean doctrines are conspicuously absent, albeit some are hinted or alluded too, such as the doctrine of the eternal recurrence, master-slave morality, perspectivism, etc. What is present is a crushing dialectical negation of all things German, Romantic, Medieval, Christian, Classical, and Scientific. The ad-hoc grappling of the French Enlightenment, the praise of Voltaire, the French, and the Greeks, is postulated in witty prose, but only as a means whereby Nietzsche could continue his dialectical negation, and not as an end. For it is interesting that Nietzsche dedicated the first edition to Voltaire, but removed the aforesaid for the printing of the second edition. Moreover, his praise of the Greeks, and his seeming affinity towards Epicures et. al., slowly seem to dwindle as his Birth of a Tragedy mindset wanes--a work he later regretted writing--and his specific and unique doctrine of the Dionysian spirit comes to the forefront. HATH has two books, the first comprehensive and containing a little more focus than book II, which rightly so, is split into two parts, the first being called "Miscellaneous Maxims & Opinions.". The books twain cover topics including metaphysics, ontology, history, politics, marriage, morality, meta-ethics, art/aesthetics, religious experience/philosophy of religion, women, the State, German culture and more. As I said before, HATH is a massive tome that is severely comprehensive, and although it is not Nietzsche at his most mature by any means, it might just be Nietzsche at his finest.
In sum, let us perchance follow Nietzsche's exhortation to "never again read an author of whom one can suspect that he wanted to make a book, but only [read] those writers whose thoughts unexpectedly became a book" (436). And indeed, without a doubt, HATH was not Nietzsche setting out to write a book; nay, was it not The Shadow merely giving The Wanderer a chance to speak? Aye, to be sure: " The Shadow: 'It is so long since I heard you speak that I should like to give you an opportunity of talking.' The Wanderer: 'I hear a voice--where? whose? I almost fancied that I heard myself speaking, but with a voice yet weaker than my own'" (387). Yes, the day has dawned, and the night is almost here; for we cannot see our shadow any longer, but the time is still not yet come; or is it? Will we in fact, then, swallow these lies, smash these truths, negate our lives, selves, presuppositions and very existence by and by if not for the sole reason to reach that higher plateau, to live in the land of the hyperboreans way off in the netherworld. Yes, we shall and we must, since that free spirit "needs no one to refute him--he is quite capable of doing that himself" (478). Until then we continue the dialectical progress onwards, upwards, backwards and sidewards: "For the more joyful and assured the mind becomes, the more man loses the habit of loud laughter. In compensation, there is an intellectual smile continually bubbling up in him, a sign of his astonishment at the innumerable concealed delights of a good existence" (452). And hence we grimace; we intellectually and mentally laugh, quite simply because we are alive.
Brent McCulley (11.3.14)
Nietzsche is a master at the aphorism, and in HATH it shows, as this book, at least for me, was the deciding instrumental cause that so fluidly weaved a philosophic thread through Nietzsche's other webs of thought, thereby allowing me to really begin to grasp Nietzsche in a more dynamic, yet holistic, way. I will be the first to admit, my understanding for Nietzsche two years ago--for example when I first read , which was indecently the first Nietzsche work that I read by him--was utterly naive at best, but since then, having traversed through the aforesaid, plus all of the following: , , , , , , , and now finally , I can say without a doubt, that HATH has propelled me forward in understanding Nietzsche's thought that I heretofore had not quite attained. Let me explain why.
As one of Nietzsche's earliest works, HATH is the first book that he truly began to philosophize with a hammer. Wielding it ever so gracefully, yet with a dominating force, he thereupon begins to smash away at the presuppositions and illusions that had hitherto held humanity, who is "bound with many chains" (507). He smashes knowing full well what his actions are in and of themselves, but perchance not entirely knowing the full consequences therefrom and thereafter. Nevertheless, he laughs and chides all the way. Why does the aphorism smash? Because it is "the greatest paradox in literature, the imperishable in the midst of change" (318). And yet he charges the readers not to mishandle his philosophic aphorism by "mak[ing] a point of referring to the general to the particular instance to which the aphorism owes its origin. This namby-pamby attitude brings all the author's trouble to naught, and instead of a philosophic lesson and a philosophic frame of mind, the deservedly gain nothing" (309). To be sure, it is for this very same reason why Nietzsche loathed the custom "and almost duty for the author's name to appear on the book...if they are good, they are worth more than the personalities of their authors" (316). And indeed, HATH is worth far more than a one Friedrich Nietzsche, for it belongs to "a particular reader and men of his stamp" (316), to the free-spirits of old, yea, to the free spirits of a generation yet to come!
Much more forthright than other Nietzsche works, HATH serves as a wonderful comprehensive introduction to Nietzsche's thought in plain day, albeit I would never tell someone wanting to dive into Nietzsche to start with this work. The downside is that HATH lacks the focus of his other works, such as BG&E, and is Nietzsche's thought at his most elementary, as book I was written in 1878, well before the Gay Science, Zarathustra, etc. Hence, various uniquely Nietzschean doctrines are conspicuously absent, albeit some are hinted or alluded too, such as the doctrine of the eternal recurrence, master-slave morality, perspectivism, etc. What is present is a crushing dialectical negation of all things German, Romantic, Medieval, Christian, Classical, and Scientific. The ad-hoc grappling of the French Enlightenment, the praise of Voltaire, the French, and the Greeks, is postulated in witty prose, but only as a means whereby Nietzsche could continue his dialectical negation, and not as an end. For it is interesting that Nietzsche dedicated the first edition to Voltaire, but removed the aforesaid for the printing of the second edition. Moreover, his praise of the Greeks, and his seeming affinity towards Epicures et. al., slowly seem to dwindle as his Birth of a Tragedy mindset wanes--a work he later regretted writing--and his specific and unique doctrine of the Dionysian spirit comes to the forefront. HATH has two books, the first comprehensive and containing a little more focus than book II, which rightly so, is split into two parts, the first being called "Miscellaneous Maxims & Opinions.". The books twain cover topics including metaphysics, ontology, history, politics, marriage, morality, meta-ethics, art/aesthetics, religious experience/philosophy of religion, women, the State, German culture and more. As I said before, HATH is a massive tome that is severely comprehensive, and although it is not Nietzsche at his most mature by any means, it might just be Nietzsche at his finest.
In sum, let us perchance follow Nietzsche's exhortation to "never again read an author of whom one can suspect that he wanted to make a book, but only [read] those writers whose thoughts unexpectedly became a book" (436). And indeed, without a doubt, HATH was not Nietzsche setting out to write a book; nay, was it not The Shadow merely giving The Wanderer a chance to speak? Aye, to be sure: " The Shadow: 'It is so long since I heard you speak that I should like to give you an opportunity of talking.' The Wanderer: 'I hear a voice--where? whose? I almost fancied that I heard myself speaking, but with a voice yet weaker than my own'" (387). Yes, the day has dawned, and the night is almost here; for we cannot see our shadow any longer, but the time is still not yet come; or is it? Will we in fact, then, swallow these lies, smash these truths, negate our lives, selves, presuppositions and very existence by and by if not for the sole reason to reach that higher plateau, to live in the land of the hyperboreans way off in the netherworld. Yes, we shall and we must, since that free spirit "needs no one to refute him--he is quite capable of doing that himself" (478). Until then we continue the dialectical progress onwards, upwards, backwards and sidewards: "For the more joyful and assured the mind becomes, the more man loses the habit of loud laughter. In compensation, there is an intellectual smile continually bubbling up in him, a sign of his astonishment at the innumerable concealed delights of a good existence" (452). And hence we grimace; we intellectually and mentally laugh, quite simply because we are alive.
Brent McCulley (11.3.14)
January 12, 2013
It is interesting reading these two works back-to-back. In Human, All Too Human (1878-1880) Nietzsche presents himself as an heir to the Enlightenment, and many of the sections are broadly in line with such a stance: reductive, materialist, consequentialist, pro-science and sceptical about Christianity.
At the same time, of course, it would be a travesty to see him simply as some hard-nosed rationalist. Nietzsche was always far too concerned with spirituality to fall into that category. But he wants his spirituality to be stripped of all illusions - he refuses to hide behind what he sees as the comforting fictions of his age. He wants to get at the heart of humanity. The tone of his writing is often surprisingly warm and poetic - for example he writes particularly movingly about friendship, while at the same time dissecting its delusions and pitfalls with great subtlety and insight. And that last comment could stand for the book as a whole. Spirituality, morality, friendship, love - these are all clearly deeply important to him, but that means they're too important to lie about. We are not pure, angelic beings who occasionally fall below our own sublime natures. We are human, all too human.
By Beyond Good and Evil (1886) his thought has moved on considerably. The questions run deeper (eg, how important really is truth itself for human beings?) and his impatience with conventional morality (which he now calls "slave morality") has grown. It is also significant that the idea of Will to Power has become central to his thinking. This change means that BGE is a more interesting and radical book than HH - it is certainly more unsettling - but the tone is also more sour, shrill and perhaps even desperate. He rhapsodises about free-thinkers and the philosophers of tomorrow, but it's hard to avoid the suspicion that he's trying to convince himself as much as anyone else. And his tirades against the democratic spirit of his age sometimes make him come across like a Daily Mail letter writer screaming "It's political correctness GONE MAD!"
Don't get me wrong: BGE is a remarkable, important work - more so than HH - but it may well leave a bitter taste in your mouth.
Finally, I was tempted to give this edition 3 stars purely because the translation is a bit prosaic and stuffy. Nietzsche is rated as one of the great German prose stylists, but you wouldn't really know it here. But at £2.99 for 700 pages there's no denying it gives great value for money. How Nietzsche would've hated that remark!
At the same time, of course, it would be a travesty to see him simply as some hard-nosed rationalist. Nietzsche was always far too concerned with spirituality to fall into that category. But he wants his spirituality to be stripped of all illusions - he refuses to hide behind what he sees as the comforting fictions of his age. He wants to get at the heart of humanity. The tone of his writing is often surprisingly warm and poetic - for example he writes particularly movingly about friendship, while at the same time dissecting its delusions and pitfalls with great subtlety and insight. And that last comment could stand for the book as a whole. Spirituality, morality, friendship, love - these are all clearly deeply important to him, but that means they're too important to lie about. We are not pure, angelic beings who occasionally fall below our own sublime natures. We are human, all too human.
By Beyond Good and Evil (1886) his thought has moved on considerably. The questions run deeper (eg, how important really is truth itself for human beings?) and his impatience with conventional morality (which he now calls "slave morality") has grown. It is also significant that the idea of Will to Power has become central to his thinking. This change means that BGE is a more interesting and radical book than HH - it is certainly more unsettling - but the tone is also more sour, shrill and perhaps even desperate. He rhapsodises about free-thinkers and the philosophers of tomorrow, but it's hard to avoid the suspicion that he's trying to convince himself as much as anyone else. And his tirades against the democratic spirit of his age sometimes make him come across like a Daily Mail letter writer screaming "It's political correctness GONE MAD!"
Don't get me wrong: BGE is a remarkable, important work - more so than HH - but it may well leave a bitter taste in your mouth.
Finally, I was tempted to give this edition 3 stars purely because the translation is a bit prosaic and stuffy. Nietzsche is rated as one of the great German prose stylists, but you wouldn't really know it here. But at £2.99 for 700 pages there's no denying it gives great value for money. How Nietzsche would've hated that remark!
June 18, 2012
Human, All Too human
A superb and lengthy book of aphoristic meanderings from one of philosophy's most beguiling thinkers. Here, you will find Nietzsche, oftentimes, at his most hopeful and encouraging with regard to humanity- there are beautiful sections on the worth and meaning of a true friend. Other parts offer scathing critiques of the state, be it democracy or socialsim. HatH also contains N's first attempt at delving into the origins of modern morality. Throughout the book though, despite occasionally contradicting himself (which is intentional), Nietzsche retains a lucid manner of communicating to the reader that became less apparent with later books. Highly recommended if you are looking for the fullest scope of N's ideas in one place.
Beyond Good and Evil
Starts off a bit slow but develops thereafter. N. proposes some of his most controversial theories here. Taken as a whole, there is a plenitude of juicy thought nuggets to ponder. I can especially see his influence on Foucault at work here, i.e. the passages on the development of morals and 'correct' ways of thinking/acting.
A superb and lengthy book of aphoristic meanderings from one of philosophy's most beguiling thinkers. Here, you will find Nietzsche, oftentimes, at his most hopeful and encouraging with regard to humanity- there are beautiful sections on the worth and meaning of a true friend. Other parts offer scathing critiques of the state, be it democracy or socialsim. HatH also contains N's first attempt at delving into the origins of modern morality. Throughout the book though, despite occasionally contradicting himself (which is intentional), Nietzsche retains a lucid manner of communicating to the reader that became less apparent with later books. Highly recommended if you are looking for the fullest scope of N's ideas in one place.
Beyond Good and Evil
Starts off a bit slow but develops thereafter. N. proposes some of his most controversial theories here. Taken as a whole, there is a plenitude of juicy thought nuggets to ponder. I can especially see his influence on Foucault at work here, i.e. the passages on the development of morals and 'correct' ways of thinking/acting.
December 26, 2013
How much of the motives and instincts of those who wave around the banners of democracy, socialism, equality, justice and revolution can be characterized by vengefulness, petty resentment, flabbiness, mendacity, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, moralizing, sanctimoniousness and piousness, mediocrity, vanity, poison, and an overall urge to assign guilt, divide things into black and white, and thereby elevate oneself? Anyone who spends any time near these circles can say there's plenty of these things swirling around. Can we find any clean air, joy and friendship? Nietzsche's ideas about virtue, greatness and manliness can ring a little hollow and calcified themselves sometimes. He wasn't able to diagnose himself as well as he presumed. But his glance is piercing when it falls on all the half-baked moralities surrounding him.
June 16, 2019
Possibly my favourite non-fiction book of all time.
July 15, 2023
True to form, this piece is well-written and brimming with wit and thought-provoking ideas. Nietzsche's "Human, All Too Human" went down smoothly for me, without a hint of intellectual indigestion. There's a sense of familiarity in his voice, as if one has read him extensively enough to anticipate his reflections. This book captures him in a state of intellectual transition between Germany and France, with an unexpected lean towards French thought and the scientific perspective. Interestingly, Nietzsche admits that all his works are essentially reflections on his past ideas.
One might even be grateful that an encroaching madness possibly shielded him from descending into full-blown Nazism. Yet, the journey takes a challenging turn with "Beyond Good and Evil", which displays a proclivity towards the 'evil' end of the spectrum without even trying to do any recognizable to me "beyond"s. Here, Nietzsche's narrative takes an unsettling turn; one might argue that his discourse becomes preposterously charged with offensive language. Dear Friedrich, we know you set the bar high, so why dabble in such unsavory discourse?
It's disheartening to wade through countless pages filled with anti-Semitic sentiments, racial biases, and misogynistic comments. The experience can be likened to having a delightful honey pot spoiled by a spoonful of muck. If possible, one might be inclined to trim the final hundred pages or so, just to bring the reading experience to a close without the bitter aftertaste of disgust.
One might even be grateful that an encroaching madness possibly shielded him from descending into full-blown Nazism. Yet, the journey takes a challenging turn with "Beyond Good and Evil", which displays a proclivity towards the 'evil' end of the spectrum without even trying to do any recognizable to me "beyond"s. Here, Nietzsche's narrative takes an unsettling turn; one might argue that his discourse becomes preposterously charged with offensive language. Dear Friedrich, we know you set the bar high, so why dabble in such unsavory discourse?
It's disheartening to wade through countless pages filled with anti-Semitic sentiments, racial biases, and misogynistic comments. The experience can be likened to having a delightful honey pot spoiled by a spoonful of muck. If possible, one might be inclined to trim the final hundred pages or so, just to bring the reading experience to a close without the bitter aftertaste of disgust.
October 11, 2024
4.5 ⭐️
Il a fait beau aujourd’hui fallait que je contre attaque le rush de sérotonine et dopamine, faut pas que mon cerveau s’habitue à cette anomalie mais du coup j’ai pas profité de cette belle journée. Je crains mes amis qu’il n’y a pas de solutions, que des problèmes. Très bon livre, je me suis pas sentie bête en le lisant ça fait plaiz
Il a fait beau aujourd’hui fallait que je contre attaque le rush de sérotonine et dopamine, faut pas que mon cerveau s’habitue à cette anomalie mais du coup j’ai pas profité de cette belle journée. Je crains mes amis qu’il n’y a pas de solutions, que des problèmes. Très bon livre, je me suis pas sentie bête en le lisant ça fait plaiz
September 21, 2020
Human, All-Too-Human (esp. Part 1 of 2 and The Wanderer and His Shadow) has some of my favorite aphorisms. For Beyond Good and Evil, I think I prefer Walter Kaufmann’s translation (who also translated part of The Wanderer and His Shadow in Basic Writings of Nietzsche).
September 12, 2023
A man who was very bright and exceptionally verbose in his writings that sometimes makes his points he is trying to convey difficult to understand. There are definitely some fascinating ideologies but some things that may be looked over as " ideologies of the times"
June 20, 2017
Very clear and understandable style. Helped to make Nietzsche's works more of a fascinating read.
June 28, 2020
Masterpiece.. 4 stars because is just so horrible how reality works but is a masterpiecr indeed.
July 14, 2023
I’ll try him again likely soon but UGH not feeling it rn
December 29, 2024
Being human and discerning foundations for morality are fundamental questions we need to explore. Often dark and counterintuitive, Nietzche's aphorisms strike one to the core, prompting deep musings.
February 11, 2025
So speechless about this book!!
January 11, 2023
I am indebted for his aphorisms, especially those in the category of social psychology. Additionally, the affect of Christianity on our culture, what life "genuine" philosophers must become accustomed to, the importance of "everyday matters" over any existential crisis we face, and, despite his misogyny, his ambiguous "will to power" is highly intriguing, to say the least. His fixation of will to power, either biologically or metaphysically, for he seems to use both at times.
I must also mention his commentary on the agitation of the west, where we as a culture are unable to rest, contemplate, and allow ennui. Nietzsche claims that this need to appear and be active is actually a form of laziness, in which humans are reluctant to turn inwards. I agree.
I must also mention his commentary on the agitation of the west, where we as a culture are unable to rest, contemplate, and allow ennui. Nietzsche claims that this need to appear and be active is actually a form of laziness, in which humans are reluctant to turn inwards. I agree.
January 3, 2017
Such an interesting point - "perhaps we should make no judgment at all; if one could only live without making estimations, without having likes and dislikes! For all dislike is connected with an estimation as well as all inclination. An impulse towards or away from anything without a feeling that something advantageous is desired, something injurious is avoided, an impulse without any kind of conscious valuation of the worth of the aim does not exist in man."
Free spirit is weak - "Fettered spirits: the restriction of views, which habit has made instinct, leads to what is called strength of character...few motives, energetic action, and a good conscience compose what is called strength of character. The man of strong character lacks a knowledge of the many possibilities and directions of action; his intellect is fettered and restricted... compared with him who has tradition on his side and requires no reasons for his actions, the free spirit is always weak, especially in action; for he is acquainted with too many motives and points of view, and has, therefore, an uncertain and unpracticed hand."
Free spirit is weak - "Fettered spirits: the restriction of views, which habit has made instinct, leads to what is called strength of character...few motives, energetic action, and a good conscience compose what is called strength of character. The man of strong character lacks a knowledge of the many possibilities and directions of action; his intellect is fettered and restricted... compared with him who has tradition on his side and requires no reasons for his actions, the free spirit is always weak, especially in action; for he is acquainted with too many motives and points of view, and has, therefore, an uncertain and unpracticed hand."
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