On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo

· Sold by Vintage
4.0
3 reviews
Ebook
384
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

Masterful translations of the great philosopher’s major work on ethics, along with his own remarkable review of his life and works. 

On the Genealogy of Morals (1887) shows Nietzsche using philsophy, psychology, and classical philology in an effort to give new direction to an ancient discipline.

The work consists of three essays. The first contrasts master morality and slave morality and indicates how the term "good" has widely different meanings in each. The second inquiry deals with guilt and the bad conscience; the third with ascetic ideals—not only in religion but also in the academy.  

Ecce Homo
, written in 1898 and first published posthumously in 1908, is Nietzsche's review of his life and works. It contains chapters on all the books he himself published. His interpretations are as fascinating as they are invaluable. Nothing Nietzsche wrote is more stunning stylistically or as a human document.

Walter Kaufmann's translations are faithful of the word and spirit of Nietzsche, and his running footnote commentaries on both books are more comprehensive than those in his other Nietzsche translations because these two works have been so widely misunderstood.

Ratings and reviews

4.0
3 reviews
E Dog
January 22, 2021
An excellent look at the origins of morality out of religion and society. Plus, Kaufmann is the best at translating Nietzsche.
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Jacob Hodsdon
October 31, 2017
An excellent read on modern morality and ethics.
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About the author

Friedrich Nietzsche was born in 1844 in Röcken (Saxony), Germany.  He studied classical philology at the universities of Bonn and Leipzig, and in 1869 was appointed to the chair of classical philology at the University of Basel, Switzerland. Ill health led him to resign his professorship ten years later.  His works include The Birth of Tragedy, Thus Spoken Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, The Case of Wagner, Twilight of the Idols, the Antichrist, Nietzsche contra Wagner, and Ecce Homo. He died in 1900.  The Will to Power, a selection from his notebooks, was published posthumously.

   Walter Kaufmann was born in Freiburg, Germany, in 1921, came to the United Stated in 1939, and studied at Williams College and Harvard University.  IN 1947 he joined the faculty of Princeton University, where he was Professor of Philosophy until he died in September 1980. HE held many visiting professorships, include Nietzsche, Critique of Religion and Philosophy, From Shakespeare to Existentialism, The Faith of a Heretic, Cain and Other Poems, and Hegel, as well as verse translations of Goethe's Faust and Twenty German Poets. He also translated all of the works by Nietzsche listed above.  In addition to On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo the following appear in Vintage Books: Beyond Good and Evil and, in one volume, The Birth of Tragedy and The Case of Wagner. Mr. Kaufmann's edition of The Will to Power is available from Random House.

R.J. Hollingdale is an English writer, best known for his book Nietzsche: The Man and His Philosophy.

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