Human, All-Too-Human: A Book for Free Spirits (Great Books in Philosophy Series) (2 Parts) by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (PDF)

Description

Human, All Too Human (1878) is often considered the start of Friedrich Nietzsche’s mature period. A complex work that explores many themes to which Nietzsche later returned, it marks a significant departure from his previous thinking. Here Nietzsche breaks with his early allegiance to Schopenhauer and Wagner, and establishes the overall framework of his later philosophy. In contrast to his previous disdain for science, now Nietzsche views science as key to undercutting traditional metaphysics. This he sees as a crucial step in the emergence of free spirits who will be the avant-garde of culture. In summing up the crucial change of perspective expressed in Human, All Too Human, Nietzsche used the following words in his later work Ecce Homo:”Human, All Too Human is a memorial of a crisis…. [W]ith this book I liberated myself from that in my nature which did not belong to me. Idealism does not belong to me…realities were altogether lacking in my knowledge, and the ‘idealities’ were worth damn all! A downright burning thirst seized hold of me: thenceforward I pursued in fact nothing other than physiology, medicine, and natural science.”This is an essential work for anyone who wishes to understand Nietzsche’s incisive critique of Western culture and values.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Offers dazzling observations of human psychology, social interaction, esthetics, and religion. The book is one of the best examples of Nietzsche’s ability to unmask the essence of social reality and expose the origins of our illustrations.” -New York Times Book Review (New York Times Book Review )

“An excellent [translation]-accurate, lively, and in places even elegant. Here his style as an epigrammist comes to full bloom. This book is not just for Nietzsche students and buffs; perceptive and intelligent readers of all sorts can relate to his unencumbered and oft acerbic analysis.” –Choice About the Author FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE was born on October 15, 1844, to the family of a Protestant minister in the town of Röcken, which is located in the Saxony-Anhalt region of what is now eastern Germany. After studing philosophy in Bonn and Leipzig, Nietzsche became a professor at the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 1869. Later he opted to become a Swiss citizen.While working in Switzerland, he published his first book, a literary work titled The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music. This volume was produced during Nietzsche’s friendship with the composer Richard Wagner, though only a few years would pass before the two would part ways as a result of personal and intellectual differences. In failing health and unable to devote himself full time to both teaching and independent writing, Nietzsche chose to resign his university position. During the next decade he wrote such works as Thus Spake Zarathustra (most of which appeared in 1883), Beyond Good and Evil (1886), Genealogy of Morals (1887), Twilight of the Gods (1888), Antichrist (1888), and Ecce Homo (1888). His collapse while in Turin, Italy, in early 1899, would prove the beginning of a long and arduous struggle with ill health and insanity. Nietzsche died in the care of his family in Weimar on August 25, 1900, just a few weeks prior to his fifty-sixth birthday.Nietzsche advocated the view that all humankind should reject otherworldliness and instead rely on its own creative potential to discover values that best serve the social good. His infamous “superman” or “overman” is one who has recognized how to channel individual passions in the direction of creative outlets. In rejecting the morality of the masses, Nietzsche celebrates the pursuit of classical virtues.

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

⭐There are times when Nietzsche circumlocutes too often, meandering in a spirited way before getting to the point. And so this must be read slowly if one is to gather the wealth of insights within. But if you’ve the stomach for it, you will learn, and you will be challengedI am glad for having read it, and stronger too. I will be recommending it to you, and to others

⭐(My comments on Nietzsche are hardly worth noting; his fame and notoriety, his value as a philosopher and writer, will not be affected by one Amazon reviewer. I intend my review to be a comment on my own sentiments in reaction to the work, and also to reflect on the make of the book itself.)Nietzsche is fascinating and thought-provoking. This book is a great primer for anyone who eventually intends to tackle some of Nietzsche’s more cryptic or “heavy” works. It lays out some of the thoughts he will develop more thoroughly later in his life, and is helpful for finding orientation within his philosophies. As a Christian, I strongly disagree with Nietzsche’s opinions about religion, the freedom of the spirit, and so much more,–nevertheless his thoughts here cannot be ignored or easily brushed aside, and his style is so infectious, compelling, and mystifying that I cannot help but be haunted by those thoughts, cannot help but respond and react and expose deeply buried sentiments in myself. Furthermore, in reading Nietzsche’s “psychological observations” (what he calls “reflection on the human, all too human”) there is much insight gained into many of the prevalent European and American philosophies present today. I may disagree with him on a number of points, but he is clearly a penetrating and insightful beholder of the world whose thoughts have been steeped into our modern or post-modern culture.(As I wrote above, my like or dislike has no bearing on his indispensable value in the history of philosophy and understanding the present-day philosophies.)I would recommend Human, All Too Human, especially to someone who cannot commit an intense few weeks of serious study to one of Nietzsche’s later works. The observations are arranged in aphoristic style, and there are many different themes throughout the work, making this one of those philosophical texts that can be opened at almost any page and read at leisure. Some of Nietzsche’s observations would make more sense with a background in early Kantian philosophers, along with Rousseau, Pascal, and La Rochefoucauld, the Bible, and Greek philosophy and tragedy, and a handful of other works. But if experience here is lacking, most of Human, All Too Human can still be read an enjoyed.The Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy soft-cover edition is right on par with all of their books. Solid binding, nice white pages, pleasant typeface, clean printing; if the reader likes to pencil in notes, he will find these pages treated very well to make erasing effective and clean. The introduction is weak, but that’s to be expected from these editions. Introductions usually should be skipped anyway.

⭐The following review pertains to the Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy edition of Friedrich Nietzsche’s `Human all too Human’ edited by Schacht and translated by Hollingdale. The current text is compilation of three texts, `Human all too Human’ (1878), `Assorted Opinions & Maxims’ (1879) and `The Wanderer & His Shadow’ (1880 ). These texts were rereleased 1886 as a 2-volume set with new prefaces. As with the majority of Nietzsche’s work these texts received little recognition during the author’s lifetime.First, kudos to Cambridge University Press for its the Texts in the History of Philosophy series with its objective of increasing access to important but lesser known philosophical works. This series promises to be an excellent resource for students of philosophy. This edition of Human all too Human is a helpful and accessible compilation of some of Nietzsche’s lesser known writings. While translation is always a challenging and often a contentious issue, Hollingdale appears to have achieved an appropriate mix of readability and literalness – he is effective in maintaining the poetic feel of Nietzsche’s prose. One minor criticism of this edition is the small font, while probably necessary to keep the text to a single volume; it can make reading less comfortable.With regard to the work itself, Human all too Human is often seen by scholars as a transitional work in Nietzsche thought. And, has tended to be overlooked in English for reasons of accessibility (limited translations) and perception (not seen to add to his latter corpus). For example, Walter Kaufman the great post WWII popularizer of Nietzsche did not choose to translate these texts.While clearly the themes evidenced in Human all too Human are further developed in Nietzsche’s later work, I believe the text has its own inherent value. Though somewhat more nuanced and less polemical than his more mature work, it provides wonderful insight into his views on a plethora of subjects, religion, art, epistemology, psychology, sociology and culture. It is also a treasure trove of ideas that are further developed by subsequent thinkers such Freud, Jung and Heidegger etc. Overall, it is a brilliant, insightful and wide-ranging text – highly recommended for all students of modern philosophy.

⭐In these short comments and aphorisms, F. Nietzsche asks himself: `Cannot all values be overturned?’ And, `Is Good perhaps Evil?’ (3)His answers to these provocative questions are rather boring and don’t reach the same level of his biting, polemic, destructive shouting in his later work.There are exceptions, like `Almost every politician needs an honest man so badly that, like a ravenous wolf, he breaks into a sheep pen: not in order to eat the ram he has stolen, but rather to hide behind its woolly back.’ (470) Or, `Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.’ (483)Of course, one can find here the seeds of his later philosophizing with a hammer, but they are rather meager one.Good and Evil`In the soul of the ruling clans and castes, the man who has the power to requite goodness with goodness, evil with evil, is called “good”. The man who is unpowerful and cannot requite is taken for bad.’ (45)Religion`Ruling persons and classes will be enlightened about the benefit provided by religion; they are using it as a tool.’ The state needs (the priest’s) most private, secret education of souls. Without the help of priests no power can become legitimate.’ (472)Christianity`All psychological inventions of Christianity work toward the deep corruption of head and heart. Christianity wants to destroy, shatter, intoxicate.’ (114)Anti-democratic stance and contempt for the masses`A higher culture can come into being where there are two castes of society: the caste of forced labor and the caste of free labor.’ (439)And, quoting Voltaire: `Once the populace begins to reason, all is lost.’ (438)`Pithy is nothing less than a disease.’ (47)Power and morality`This is how the brutal, powerful man acts, the original founder of a state, who subjects to himself those who are weaker. Force precedes morality. (99)The characteristics of his later works are still absent here: Christ is still the `noblest being’, no misogyny and no war worship.This book is not a good introduction to Nietzsche’s work; better are `Genealogy of Morals’ or `Beyond Good and Evil’.Only for Nietzsche fans and scholars.

⭐Without putting my own slant and interpretation of this work down as something that will cloud your own judgement of it, I’ll just say that it is mind-blowing. As a piece of intellectual capital it is invaluable.I enjoy reading philosophy purely out of my own curiosity. Every book opens up a new way of looking at the world and another avenue to explore. This book, however, is the one that has so far had the greatest impact. There is a lot of misinformation out there about Nietzsche; so much so that I approached this book already holding a fair bit of skepticism about it. All that was blown away within half an hour of reading.I can’t see anyone thoughtful disliking this book: it is enlightening rather than a strict code; and it is also, for that reason, a little dark, in that it tells us what we perhaps don’t want to know about ourselves, or at least admit. He’s one of those people who’s thinking has a deep effect on you – or me, certainly. You may find yourself taking a long drive just to get your head around and be accepting of some of his ideas, which I believe for some will have the potential to be life-changing.This is fantastic, a must buy if you’ve come far enough to read this.

⭐I understand it’s about the content of the book.., but it is rather quite upsetting that I kept receiving books that are crinkled..

⭐The Penguin version for kindle is much better formatted and translated than any other version available on kindle. The cheaper versions are old translations with mistakes and poor formatting. WARNING: THIS VERSION IS ONLY VOL. 1 OF HUMAN ALL TOO HUMAN. THE CAMBRIDGE PAPERBACK IS BOTH VOLUMES.

⭐Other reviewers cover the content adequately, but needless to say, a must read for post Hegel enlightenment! Recommended.

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