Beyond Good and Evil (Penguin Classics) by Friedrich Nietzsche (EPUB)

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One of the greatest books of a very great thinker’ Michael TannerBeyond Good and Evil confirmed Nietzsche’s position as the towering European philosopher of his age. The work dramatically rejects traditional Western thought with its notions of truth and God, good and evil. Nietzsche seeks to demonstrate 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 impose their own ‘will to power’ upon the world.Translated by R. J. HOLLINGDALE With an Introduction by MICHAEL TANNER

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐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’. Now, this is, in my humble opinion, one of the most difficult interpretational problems that Nietzschean scholarship could ever wrestle with. But scholarship (naturally) barely recognizes that the problem even exists! In this brief review of BGE it is this relationship that I would like to focus on. And, as is so often the case in Nietzsche interpretation, it is to Nietzsche himself that we must turn for our guidance:”When you consider that this book followed after Zarathustra, you may perhaps also guess the dietetic regimen to which it owes its origin. The eye that had been spoiled by the tremendous need for seeing far–Zarathustra is even more far-sighted than the Czar– is here forced to focus on what lies nearest, the age, the around-us. In every respect, above all also in the form, you will find the same deliberate turning away from the instincts that had made possible a Zarathustra. The refinement in form, in intention, in the art of silence is in the foreground; psychology is practiced with admitted hardness and cruelty–the book is devoid of any good-natured word.All this is a recuperation: who would guess after all what sort of recuperation such a squandering of good-naturedness as Zarathustra represents makes necessary?Theologically speaking–listen closely, for I rarely speak as a theologian–it was God himself who at the end of his day’s work lay down as a serpent under the tree of knowledge: thus he recuperated from being God – He had made everything too beautiful. The devil is merely the leisure of God on that seventh day …” (from ‘Ecce Homo’, the conclusion of the chapter entitled ‘Beyond Good and Evil’.)Thus it is Nietzsche himself who draws our attention to the difference between BGE and Z and not merely some scholarly fancy. Now, exactly what does Nietzsche here indicate about this difference? (Always keep in mind that BGE is the book that immediately followed Zarathustra in the Nietzschean canon.) Zarathustra is a vision that endures, that is intended by its author to endure, while BGE concentrates on the times, on ‘current affairs’. Thus one imagines that BGE will eventually be forgotten or ignored and that this is indeed the authors exact intention. Regarding BGE Nietzsche draws our attention to its refinement in form, intention and the ‘art of silence’. Was Zarathustra not so refined? He immediately adds that (in BGE) “psychology is practiced with admitted hardness and cruelty–the book is devoid of any good-natured word.” Perhaps he means to indicate that psychology was not at all practiced in Zarathustra? Or perhaps he merely means to indicate that the psychology practiced in Zarathustra was not hard or cruel. Nietzsche, in the penultimate sentence of the first chapter of BGE, famously proclaims that Psychology is once again the Queen of the Sciences. …Perhaps this proclamation is itself an example of this hardness and cruelty?Be that as it may, Nietzsche then tells us that BGE was a recuperation (for him) from the squandering of good-naturedness that Zarathustra requires. Then, as capstone to this brief chapter explicating BGE, Nietzsche does something quite remarkable – he speaks theologically! (The age of parables is perhaps not as dead as the Zeitgeist assumes.) He tells us that the serpent in Eden was actually God. God does this because “He had made everything too beautiful.” …A frighteningly pretty fable. But what has this to do with Nietzsche’s understanding of BGE?First a few words on the theological parable Nietzsche here tells. The serpent, of course, is the one that convinces Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. (Note that the tree of knowledge had always been in Paradise, it is not foreign to Paradise, thus it is not merely a part of the ‘recuperation of God’.) But this feast of knowledge, like all feasts (alas), had consequences: the consequences being the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. This last cannot be overestimated: knowledge destroys all these “too beautiful” paradises. In Nietzsche’s parable, of course, there is no devil -he is “merely the leisure of God”- thus God both made and, according to this parable of Nietzsche, then willfully destroyed Paradise.Okay, but what exactly does this have to do with the relation between BGE and Zarathustra? At the beginning of the above quoted section of ‘Ecce Homo’ Nietzsche had referred to the time prior to his writing BGE as the ‘Yes-saying’ part of his task, then came the ‘No-saying’ part. (As stated earlier, BGE is the book that Nietzsche wrote after Zarathustra.) We now understand that BGE is the No-saying part while Zarathustra was the Yes-saying part of Nietzsche’s task. Now the theological parable Nietzsche tells in Ecce Homo becomes clear. Paradise, the ‘too beautiful’ paradise, is Zarathustra while the ‘tree of knowledge’ is BGE. Nietzsche, of course, is the serpent/God that creates both paradise and the knowledge that eventually destroys it. …And we readers of Nietzsche? Perhaps we are intended to enjoy the fruits of the Zarathustrian Paradise that the ‘God’ Nietzsche surely intends to build – but only for a while. One day Knowledge, knowledge that (the ‘serpent’) Nietzsche so ‘devilishly’ indicates in BGE, will destroy this ‘Paradise’ too.Assuming, for the sake of argument, that this interpretation of Nietzsche’s gnomic remarks in Ecce Homo is essentially correct – why would Nietzsche (eventually) want to destroy the world he intends to make? Hmmm… Let’s review our (Nietzschean) History. After the legendary fiasco in (the Christian) Paradise humanity was expelled and had to build for itself a new world. And now, after the prophesied (by Nietzsche) destruction of Christianity and modernity (these ‘Platonisms for the People’) comes to pass –well, what? We get to build and live in the new (Nietzschean) Zarathustrian world, another ‘too beautiful’ paradise. And later, after BGE, the tree of knowledge that lives unnoticed in the heart of the Nietzschean/Zarathustrian paradise, is finally ‘discovered’ and fully devoured (i.e., read correctly) and thus destroys that paradise– what then? Well, one imagines that some new God (or, far more likely, some new philosopher) builds a new world. WHAT?!? Can you say Eternal Return of the Same? Oh, I just knew you could…Now, it would take another review to even begin to indicate why Nietzsche makes his world – briefly, he does so as an affirmation of life. And one suspects that, for Nietzsche, destruction itself is but a moment within affirmation. It is in this manner that we can now suggest that the ‘tree of knowledge’ (i.e., BGE), the No-saying part of Nietzsche’s work, is only but a moment in an even greater affirmation. This is without a doubt one of the most profound books in the history of philosophy. The fact that it reads so easily is but another example of its merciless psychology: its readers mistakenly stop at the far too beautiful surface.But it is in the fearsome depths that the philosopher Nietzsche hides.

⭐”A professional high-quality translation incorporates several essential factors: firstly, the original text must be accurate and authentic, and ideally has been fully proof-read in the original language. Secondly, the translator must have sufficient time to maintain the accuracy of the message. Thirdly, the translator must have a strong understanding of the topic in question, and also a clear grasp of any industry terminology. Finally, the translator must be proficient enough to translate the document while simultaneously interpreting the content based on its specialist nature.” This book provides no indication of the above whatsoever … leaving one to question its authenticity and accuracy. If you’re new to the world of Nietzsche, I recommend stepping into this pool with the assistance of a friend ie Walter Kaufmann orJohn Kaag. Both are highly recognized scholars.

⭐In contemporary society in recent decades there has been spirited debate about the nature of morality and as to whether there is such a thing as absolute truth. Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the most consequential philosophers of the modern age, was pondering these questions in the nineteenth century and set forth his thoughts in these matters in “Beyond Good and Evil.”Nietzsche not only did not believe in Christianity or religion but questioned even the nature of truth, and whether we really want it or should want it. His famous doctrine of will to power asserted that humans value well-being and position more than truth, and that people use their intellects not to attempt to find the truth but to invent ways to buttress positions that they already hold. This is true in many cases, but in the course of life those who really seek truth do arrive at unwelcome conclusions in the realms of religion, politics, and philosophy, and a chief psyops technique employed by knaves is to attempt to manipulate people into giving up their beliefs by accusing their prey of merely using their rationalization capabilities to shield themselves from accepting the memes with which the manipulator (unavailingly) hopes rewire the prey’s brain.Nietzsche also offers his famous examinations of master and slave temperaments and morality, but is flatly in error when he suggests that morality should be submitted to rank—the idea that an immoral action suddenly becomes “moral” when committed by someone powerful is obviously absurd, as well as not in line with Enlightenment principles. The author’s farcical idea that some people only exist to be useful to others is just so self-evidently wrong that it may well seem simply incomprehensible to many twenty-first century readers—apparently Nietzsche invented reasons not to agree with Thomas Jefferson’s inarguable maxim stating that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs nor a favored few booted and spurred.The author also offers many other observations in the realms of art, philosophy, and religion, but contradicts himself in places. There is a section of maxims, some of which are keenly insightful. Nietzsche also looked at the state of Europe and Germany, noting and opposing German anti-Semitism and foreseeing the integration of Europe. As with other Penguin Classics, there is a good introduction, and “Beyond Good and Evil” is certainly worth reading and grappling with even if you do not agree with all of Nietzsche’s conclusions.

⭐My obviously lack of intelligence found this a difficult read. Maybe it was lost in translation on me.

⭐Beyond Good And Evil is an awesome treatise, Nietzsche’s command of language is so strong, his writing is so beautiful and articulate. By reading Nietzsche you learn many things and some of his writing genius rubs off on us and inspires us greater heights and depths of vocabulary and language. I highly recommend Beyond Good And Evil, but most especially I recommend any of Friedrich Nietzsche’s works, his entire philosophy is profound, provocative and truly amazing!

⭐I buy an English translation of a book, why hasn’t the French language paragraphs also been translated to English?Rather annoying, Like reading a verse by Derek ‘delboy’ Trotter.Quite frustrating reading passages of thought from the conscience of genius, then having to stop to translate French language.Lose my train of thought and start again.

⭐This review isn’t about the Nietzsche and his philosophy contained in this book, it’s more about the book itself, especially the Penguin Classics version.The one that’s being sold is a mass produced version, not the original one, it rips easy and the worst part is the printing, for something that costs almost 400 Rs., it’s not a good deal.For an example: Some words are bold, some are thin, some are big, some are small. Just what is that?I’m not sure if it’s a case of piracy, I don’t think it is. I think that Penguin’s cutting corners, maybe especially to sell it to the masses in India? I don’t know. But the quality is a big let down.Though if that doesn’t bother you, go right ahead, it’ll still serve the purpose I guess.I’ve returned my copy and I instead recommend getting the “Pocket Hardback” version by Penguin. That’s about a few bucks north of what this one will cost you.

⭐The item arrived even before the estimated delivery time slot. The book was very cheap and in excellent condition.

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