Other editions of book Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future

Beyond Good and Evil is one of the most important works penned by german philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche that expands the ideas of his previous work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, with a more critical and polemical approach. It was first published in 1886. In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche accuses past philosophers of lacking critical sense and blindly accepting dogmatic premises in their consideration of morality. 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. 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.

Beyond Good and Evil CHAPTER I. PREJUDICES OF PHILOSOPHERS 1. The Will to Truth, which is to tempt us to many a hazardous enterprise, the famous Truthfulness of which all philosophers have hitherto spoken with respect, what questions has this Will to Truth not laid before us! What strange, perplexing, questionable questions! It is already a long story; yet it seems as if it were hardly commenced. Is it any wonder if we at last grow distrustful, lose patience, and turn impatiently away? That this Sphinx teaches us at last to ask questions ourselves? WHO is it really that puts questions to us here? WHAT really is this "Will to Truth" in us? In fact we made a long halt at the question as to the origin of this Will--until at last we came to an absolute standstill before a yet more fundamental question. We inquired about the VALUE of this Will. Granted that we want the truth: WHY NOT RATHER untruth? And uncertainty? Even ignorance? The problem of the value of truth presented itself before us--or was it we who presented ourselves before the problem? Which of us is the Oedipus here? Which the Sphinx? It would seem to be a rendezvous of questions and notes of interrogation. And could it be believed that it at last seems to us as if the problem had never been propounded before, as if we were the first to discern it, get a sight of it, and RISK RAISING it? For there is risk in raising it, perhaps there is no greater risk. 2. "HOW COULD anything originate out of its opposite? For example, truth out of error? or the Will to Truth out of the will to deception? or the generous deed out of selfishness? or the pure sun-bright vision of the wise man out of covetousness? Such genesis is impossible; whoever dreams of it is a fool, nay, worse than a fool; things of the highest va

Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, first published in 1886, presents a scathing critique of traditional morality and attacks previous philosophers for their blind acceptance of Christian ideals of virtue. As an alternative to what he viewed as the illogical and irrelevant philosophy of the nineteenth century, Nietzsche argues for the importance of imagination, self-assertion, danger, and originality for genuine philosophy. He furthermore denies the existence of a universal system of morality and instead offers a framework in which social roles and power dynamics dictate what is appropriate. A culmination of Nietzsche's mature philosophy, Beyond Good and Evil is a classic of moral thought and one of the foundations of existentialism. This edition is the translation by Helen Zimmern.

Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future is the second of four seminal late period works by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and perhaps the best at clearly stating the principles of his call for a radical departure from the traditional presumptions of philosophy. He exposes what he sees as a lack of critical thinking and a blind acceptance of moral dogma in which good and evil are strict opposites. He urges us instead to see good and evil as simply different expressions of the impulses towards a “will to power”. He calls for “free spirits” who are “investigators to the point of cruelty, with rash fingers for the ungraspable, with teeth and stomach for the most indigestible” to undertake the daunting task of seeing the world as it is and accepting the harsh realities that likely result. He challenges the key precepts of the philosophic tradition by dissecting the shortcomings of its major thinkers. He subjects religion to similar scrutiny, noting the tendency to bow to the “order of rank” as well as an eternal and cruel connection to “three dangerous dietary prescriptions: solitude, fasting, and sexual abstinence.” He also discusses the philosophical particularities of the major western nations and cultures. His statement that ““The time for petty politics is past: the very next century will bring with it the struggle for mastery over the whole earth” is both a validation of his thinking and an eerie prophecy. First published in 1886 at the author’s own expense and written in an aphoristic style consisting of 296 numbered sections and an “epode”, Beyond Good and Evil, along with all of Nietzsche’s work, has been a significant influence in the work of many leading figures in the life of the culture, from artists to academics to statesmen and revolutionaries.