On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo

A microcosm of the ideas from a great thinker. And abundance of wisdom and dexterity.

I’m in the process of reading Ecce Homo for the fifth time and am still learning more

This anthology of Nietzsche's writing is a marvelous work - Kaufmann's translations make the philosopher's unique style accessible and interesting to the English reader; it doesn't resort to false formality or dry academic prose as is often the case in translation of such material, but rather sets things in lively and dynamic tones, much as Nietzsche's own writing and tendency toward the dramatic was noted by his contemporaries. Nietzsche's father was a Lutheran minister, but he died five years after Nietzsche's birth in 1844. Nietzsche was raised by his mother, grandmother and aunts; later in his life, his sister would become executor of his estate (after Nietzsche had become incapable of managing his own affairs) and reshape his philosophy and writings in her own idea - this becomes a running motif in later anthologies of Nietzsche; editors can quote and clip to fit their own agendas. In some ways, that is true of Kaufmann's text here, but in much less inappropriate ways than others, particularly Nietzsche's first editor, his sister. Nietzsche was a star pupil from his earliest days at university in Bonn and Leipzig. His formal study was in classical philology, but his attentions turned in various directions quickly during his writing and professional life - he had an intense interest in drama and the arts, with Wagner's music and Greek drama in principal interest. His first book was devoted to these topics - 'The Birth of Tragedy'. It was not highly regarded at the time, but has since become much more appreciated as an anticipation of later developments in philosophy and aesthetics. Nietzsche's life after this period was a very choppy one - he left the university, claiming illness, and while this developed later to be a true situation, at the time is was probably academic politics and difficulties fitting in with the establishment he was trying to break. He had a formal falling-out with Wagner, even writing later a piece entitled ' Nietzsche contra Wagner', finished just a few week prior to his going insane. Kaufmann states in the introduction that Nietzsche's real career took off after his active life was over; under his sister's direction, many of the writings Nietzsche had managed to do and not get published, or which were published but forgotten, really took off in major directions. While his major works of Zarathustra, Ecce Homo, Will to Power and Genealogy of Morals were in various editions of disrepair (indeed, the Will to Power was never more complete than a series of notes), Nietzsche had a knack for language that made him very quotable, and his influence continued to grow well into the first half of the twentieth century, influencing art, philosophy, history, and politics in dramatic ways, if not always the ways in which Nietzsche envisioned. For example, Nietzsche was not particularly impressed with the 'typical' German anti-semitism, which later erupted into the Nazi movement. He considered it rather bourgeois, and while he undoubted had his own issues with Jews (Nietzsche had issues with almost everyone, particularly any group, Christians included, who had a religious connection), the Nazi use of Nietzsche's work owes more to Nietzsche's sister's influence than anyone else. Kaufmann states that 'Genealogy of Morals' is perhaps the closest in form to English-speaking philosophical discourse. This is a discussion that involves philosophy, psychology and linguistic theory, looking at morality in three different essays. The first essay explores the idea of good and evil as good and bad; Nietzsche develops the idea of master and slave morality - the slave resists the ideas of the master, and thus values things that are less likely to gain power - Nietzsche sees Christianity as an example of slave morality. The second essay looks at the issues of conscience and guilt, and how these spawned the invention of gods. The third essay concludes the work with a look at ascetic ideas, how these relate to aesthetic ideas, and where in Nietzsche's opinion the great philosophers of the past have gone wrong. Perhaps this later explains the second work in this collection, Ecce Homo. In this book (first published posthumously), Nietzsche analyses his own work piece by piece, as well as gives an overall assessment of his life. Nietzsche's insights into his own writings in hindsight is fascinating to behold. For example, his idea of his work in the first piece of this collection, the Genealogy, is as follows: 'Regarding expression, intention, and the art of suprise, the three inquiries which constitute this Genealogy are perhaps uncannier than anything else written so far. Dionysus is, as is known, also the god of darkness.' Nietzsce is not easy reading, and this work is not the best for casual reading or the first-time reader of Nietzsche. However, for those who have already made some headway into understanding him, this is a good collection, for Kaufmann is one of the better translators and commentators. Kaufmann's notes here are especially valuable.

A good "taster" of the work of Nietzsche of whom I know little. Has prompted me to look deeper

The copy I received is an unauthorized reprint of the original.

I have only read the first in full. The second is an adjunct to reading Nietzsche's other works giving his own interpretations and self-criticisms. The Geneaolgy is a crazy and anachronistic theory about the origins of "morality" - by which Nietzsche meant most of all conventional Christian morality. The theory in paraphrase is the weak conspired to take revenge on the strong by inventing guilt. From biographical sources, it is clear that the apparent anti-semitism in this work was a rhetorical device. What makes the book interesting is that it anticipates many of Freud's ideas - and read as a psychoanalytical text it is intriguing, particularly Nietzsche's discussion of the idea of "resentiment".

The translation is very good in this book and it has enough remarks from the translator to not be overwhelming but still give you the information you need to understand some of the things Nietzsche references from his time. The paper and binding are a good quality. The way I read tends to wear down bindings, but this one had no trouble. The content itself is great. Genealogy of Morals is extremely insightful into the human psyche and explains very well where a lot of our morality stems from. What's even more interesting, in my opinion, is that he talks at length about what the psychology of this morality causes in society. Ecce Homo is great on another level. It's rare to see a great thinker make great note of his faults. He talks about his thought process for each book he wrote. While this may not seem greatly informative I think this books main purpose it to encourage people to not deify him the way we tend to do with long dead figures. Nietzsche is a great writer, but if this is your first book of his I would strongly recommend reading it in entirety before agreeing or disagreeing with it. He likes to speak in extremes. I find this a great approach when it comes to understanding his entire book, but it's easy to get the wrong idea if you only read part of it. For instance, he's call the Jews some of the most harmful forces in human history and then many pages later (and with some of these things even books later) he will say that despite that their general mentality is essential to our survival and that any form of antisemitism is horrifically misguided. In general it's best not to quote Nietzsche, rather paraphrasing tends to be more accurate. He writes so that you have to actually read his work, not just read the wiki on him.

Nietzsche é un filosofo di cui tutti hanno sentito parlare. Nell'immaginario collettivo é un filosofo complicatissimo e che aveva idee un poco tendenti verso ideologie pericolose: prezza della razza, il mito del superuomo che prevale su titti gli altri, ecc. ecc. Tutte sciocchezze che servano solo dal fatto che non si sono letti gli scritti di Nietzsche. La Genealogia della Morale in particolare rappresenta non certo una "summa", ma un interessante compendio di alcune tra le idee più importanti del filosofo. Il suo pensiero é moderno, intenso e per molti versi attuale. Di cero non é l'ideologo del nazismo come molti credono.

人間社会では常にモラルは中心的問題でありますゆえ、これもまた必読の書。英訳はシンプルでわかり易いです。

this book is absolutely mind blowing. no one has thought about morality and ethics like nietzsche, presenting one of the greatest philosophical arguments “master vs slave morality”, the development of guilt and conscience since antiquity, good and evil vs good and bad. and, of course, an autobiography full of wisdom- Ecce Homo “behold the man”, and his excerpts from other books; all translated by his best scholar. must buy

so far what i've read has opened my eyes- im not a reader as much as id like to be so i have to re read a lot of things to fully understand and sometimes ask my boyfriend for an easier explanation but the translation is well done in my opinion.