Beyond Good and Evil

Summary

A caustic criticism of nearly every philosophic predecessor and a challenge of traditionally held views on right and wrong, Friedrich Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil paved the way for modern philosophical thought. Through nearly three hundred transformative aphorisms, Nietzsche presents a worldview in which neither truth nor morality are absolutes, and where good and evil are not opposites but counterparts that stem from the same desires. This work dramatically rejects the tradition of Western thought with its notions of truth and God, good and evil. Nietzsche demonstrates 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. Beyond Good and Evil was a foundational text for early twentieth-century thinkers, including philosophers, psychologists, novelists, and playwrights. Today’s readers will delight in Nietzsche’s pithy wit and irony while gaining a deeper understanding of his core ideology.