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Summary: Free will????
Review: If you really believe (like some reviewers have professed to) that Nietzche could dispose of the millenium-old argument of free-will vs determinism with a couple of paragraphs comparing weak wills to strong wills, you need to re-learn the basics of the scientific method...Also, if you are relying on Nietzche's own "courageous" behavior, squirming from country after country in Europe in search of relief from his "physical" illnesses, to support such "weak will" vs "strong will" theories, look again...
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Summary: Spring of postmodernism and strong values, but erratic style
Review: Nietzsche is so well known and influential that there is no need to present him. In the present book he shares his thoughts on many subjects, ranging, from metaphysics & religion to ethics and politics. Nietzsche is said to be the father of postmodernism and I found indeed this book to be illuminating for a better understanding of the postmodern mind-set and its typical cliches (relativism instead of truth, etc.) and here I find the main value of the book. The book has also great literary value. Nietzsche really plays with words, putting them together or shaping nonexistent ones like an artist, one is always surprised by his witty creativity and his unexpected word-plays and digressions. On the hand this results in an erratic, ranting, chaotic style. Not the kind of style I find beautiful nor good for following his thoughts. His critic of the decadent weakness of Christianity may be true when applied to the pietism of his protestant family and milieu, but not so general (certainly not valid for medieval or Eastern-Orthodox Christianity.) Decadence may be the one idea that lies behind the book, it seems to me. And I can agree with this, but still have question about his answer. He seems to advocate a rejection of the values of Western civilization and a return to barbarism, which seems even more decadent. Maybe he means that to get back strong values and a strong society (e. g. real aristocracy / monarchy?) we would first need to go through a period a chaos, of civilizational break-up, (similar to the transitional period of the Dark Ages between the Roman civilization and the medieval Western civilization)??? I have trouble understanding Nietzsche's points and underlying views.
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Summary: Biff's notes for the dead.
Review: I checked the index to Walter Kaufmann's translation to this book to see if it had anything to recommend on war. In the section listed, 273 I think, Nietzsche happened to mention how much comedy and concealment there is in war. The rest of the aphorism probably tries to point out something that living people might be able to use. I think it was something about having objectives. What I find so interesting in Nietzsche is how often he can get carried away with some point that living people would not want to know, like how much comedy there is in war. As a famous lonely thinker, he must keep track of his mind like someone whose friends are all dead or in jail. The apostle Paul used to write letters when he was in prison, so Nietzsche could probably imagine what he was really thinking while he diverted himself by writing letters to the churches who get major mention in the New Testament, the kind of thing which Nietzsche's mother wanted him to study for a truly holy occupation. Nietzsche was wild enough to try a few things that had not been done so thoroughly before, and writing on a few themes that philosophers had tried in milder forms in the centuries after hemlock had been given to Socrates to express how the living political crowd in Athens felt about all his questioning might have given him the courage to declare a war on the dead, in his own way, as his form of life. Those who confuse Nietzsche's efforts with the steps taken by political crowds in their attempts to govern might not be crazy enough to understand what philosophy is all about when the comic elements in war become the primary reason for embracing war. I lack a better explanation for this book.
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Summary: Vintage Nietzsche
Review: This is one of the most potent and focused texts by the philosophical master. It is translated by one of the foremost Nietzsche scholars of all time, Walter Kaufman. The latter's notes are indispensable and quiet enlightening, oftentimes calling to the reader's attention other sections in Nietzsche's writing that relate to the current passage as well as outlining the shift in Nietzsche's thought in relation to the text in hand. The inspiring and migraine-inducing joy of the text is its poetic tone which is sponsored by Kaufmann's familiarity with the thinker's intensions and knowledge of Nietzsche's writing stylistics. If such potency of language has sustained itself through translation. . . . This text outlines, if it does not go into precise detail, the theories of Master and Slave moralities, the Ubermensch (free spirit), Christian nihilism, the Will to Power (survival instinct), and Perspectivism (Relativism). The text leaves no stone unturned and avoids no touchy subject matter that other thinkers might have skirted around for fear of losing face. This is a complete philosophical inquiry from one of the few minds capable of such an endeavor.
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Summary: Beyond Greatness
Review: This is the book Nietzsche wrote right after Zarathustra, and which more clearly expresses the ideas of the earlier work, but it stands on its own. If you wish to truly think here is the book to tackle with. There is enlightenment on every page.
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Summary: Truly beyond good and evil
Review: This book isn't just about moral, Nietzsche himself despices those who dare write about moral. This book, as most of Nietzsche talks about a wide variety of subjects and demonstrates his importance as Philosopher. Beyond good and evil is not only one of the most important and descriptive phrases by Nietzsche, but is also one of his best books. If, however, you're unfamiliar to Nietzsche's books, you should try "Human, all too Human" or rather look for "The day Nietzsche wept" this will help you decide whether Nietzsche is for you or not.
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Summary: a less-fragmented look at Nietzsche's philosophy...
Review: After reading "Thus Spoke Zarathstra", i was pleasantly suprised to find that Nietzsche had gotten over his exhausting obsession with the eternal return-- or at least for long enough to write "Beyond Good and Evil"--or at least enough so that he didn't feel the need to write about it. In this book, Nietzsche challenges some of the most fundamental assumptions of the "great philosopher"-- that there are true opposites and that rationality can overcome any personal prejudice. Indeed, "beyond good and evil" can be read to mean just this: thinking in degrees, gradation as opposed to asserting opposites such as "good" and "evil"; "true" and "false". However, despite Nietzsche's success as a destroyer, it seems, paradoxically, highly "un-Nietzschean" to make claims that "Nietzsche speaks the truth", etc. Simply put, Nietzsche's own theory of knowledge, namely, that there are *only* perspectives, is of course applicable to his own theories. Furthermore, although Nietzsche's analysis' of the slave-master relationship are highly interesting, and is the whole book, one wonders how much historical validity there is to Nietzsche's theories. Other historical claims, such as that the greatest creation has always taken place in aristocratic societies (see chapter 9, "What is noble"), is probably incorrect, if not plainly false. Overall, this book is full of interesting insights and explorarions of various topics, but probably should be taken with a grain of salt.
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Summary: amor fati
Review: nietzsche is the only man who dares to speak truth. he is the antagonist of the lepers of the heart who claim to possess knowledge.if you have a weak stomach, you should never eat the raw truth beyond good and evil has to feed you. the truth he speaks contains no additives,the truth he speaks is a conviction laxative. if you are "stout-hearted" enough for this book you will love it. if you are fed up with lies and have nihilist tendencies, this book will revive you. his craft is brutal honesty, his prose is beyond comparison, and his books are magic portals into "truth".
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Summary: Thus Spake Fawn
Review: Nietzche is the only philosopher who has ever made any sense to me. By reading him, I've learned many painful truths about myself and the human condition. While I'm not sure what lead me to Nietzche--it may have been Camille Paglia--I know I'll never leave. As has been said before, this book is not for the faint of heart. Anyone who needs his illusions about mankind in order to carry on should steer clear. "Beyond Good and Evil" demonstrates Nietzche's innumerable gifts as a writer and contains some of the most intoxicating music you'll ever hear. His philosophy is down to earth and very accessible to any intelligent, patient, open-minded reader. The crux of the book is his ongoing attempt at untangling the problem of morality--to see morality not as a given but to travel down the long and winding road of history in search of how and why certain moralities(slave and master) came into existence. Atheism, for Nieztche, and for any true lover of Nieztche, is indispensable. This book can be very hard on Germans, which I find hilarious, especially considering the Nazi party's perversions of his thought for their own sinister, eugenic purposes. This book has some not too subtle things to say about women, things which most comtemporary women would probably find insulting, quite possibly because they're more or less true. Nietzche as comedian. He refers to Kant as the great Chinese of Konigsburg and uses Schopenhauer's after dinner flute playing as a contradiction to his supposed pessimism. The biggest danger--it we can call it that--of reading "Beyond Good and Evil" is that it will become a faith, but at least it's a faith based on sound logic, great prose and genius.
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Summary: God is dead and we have killed him
Review: Never have I seen a writer who can wield language like weapon, a writer who draws spiritual blood from his reader with rapier-like thrusts. If you have not experienced the phenomenon that is Nietzche, then maybe it's time. The writing is quite possibly the best I've ever seen, and though it is heavy and difficult at times, the spirit of Nietzche himself will find his way through. This book is not for the "faint of heart" i.e. self-righteous dogmatists, so expect to get your toes stepped on. In the end you'll better for it.
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