Beyond Good and Evil (thing)

Originally published in 1886, this is one of the more important works in Friedrich Nietzsche's canon. It followed closely on the heels of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche's rather overblown attempt to condense his entire philosophy into a single work. This is also the mission of Beyond Good and Evil, though the text of this volume is presented in a deliberately organized form which is (I think) a great advantage for the reader. It thus serves as the crucial introduction to Nietzsche's thought.

The book, when first published in Leipzig in 1886, fell on deaf ears; or, perhaps, dead eyes would be more appropriate. Of the initial run of 300 copies, only 114 were sold, and many were given away to journalists. Nietzsche himself took quite a bath on the whole project. The result of this is that few copies of the first edition remain, and subsequent editions published after 1886 contained many errors. The definitive translation in English remains that of Walter Kaufmann, who returned to the original 1886 text as a base.

It is not easy to sum up the themes of the book in a moderately sized node, as the text touches on a surprisingly broad array of topics. By way of a teaser that does a reasonably good job of informing the reader what he/she is in for, I offer this selection from Nietzsche's introduction:

...it must certainly be conceded that the worst, most durable, and most dangerous of all errors so far was a dogmatist's error--namely, Plato's invention of the pure spirit and the good as such. But now that it is overcome, now that Europe is breathing freely again after this nightmare and at least can enjoy a healthier--sleep, we, whose task is wakefulness itself, are the heirs of all that strength which has been fostered by the fight against this error...But the fight against Plato or, to speak more clearly and for "the people," the fight against the Christian-ecclesiastical pressure of millennia...has created in Europe a magnificent tension of the spirit the like of which had never yet existed on earth: with so tense a bow we can now shoot for the most distant goals.

This was, for me, a mind blowing book--not so much for any broad agreement Nietzsche and I share, but for the way his attack on the conventions of philosophy helped steer my thought processes down what were once little-heeded or ignored avenues. I also enjoy, from his chapter of epigrams, the following truth (section 141):

The abdomen is the reason why man does not easily take himself for a god.