On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo

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Summary: Genealogy and the All-Too-Human Prophet
Review: "On the Genealogy of Morals" is called "a polemic" by Nietzsche himself. He is not trying to hide his dislike for traditional values and his contempt for early Christians, whom he holds responsible for the rise of these values, is very evident. "Genealogy" besides being a polemic, influenced later developments on the ideas of guilt and bad conscience. Nietzsche clearly anticipates Freud (who was 12 years his junior) in explaining guilt as not something that comes from above as a punishment for wrongdoing, but as the aggressive impulse directed inward, against oneself.

"Ecce Homo" is Nietzsche's philosophical autobiography that attacks the unselfish ideal, metaphysical abstractions, and traditional views of morality. N. predict wars "the like of which have never been seen on earth," but this is probably not due to his as much to his seeing powers as to his recollection of the Book of Revelations. Nietzsche cannot get away from his Christian background and from the intellectual atmospher of 19th century Europe, try as he might. Purely as a writer, he is more talented than any major philosopher I know. He is also the first major philosopher to make serious investigations into subconscious motives and processes. But in retrospect, he overestimated the impact that the theory of evolution and the general process of secularization would have on Western societies. This led him to overestimate his historical importance as a prophet. In the end, he was a creative and insightful man who rose against standardization and blandness of his age, and againt unquestionable beliefs in traditional values, though as a prophet he has the usual shortcoming of being all-too-human.

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Summary: Great Philosophical Basis
Review: Although Geneology of Morals was one of Nietzsche's last books; I definately reccommend reading it first. It gives a great grounding in not only Nietzsche but in Philosophy in General, discussing such topics as Morals, Aesthetics, Christianity, and Science. A great read, written in such a refreshing manner as many of Nietzsche's books are! Something everyone who is interested in Philosophy should have!

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Summary: A Lot of Self Here
Review: My interest in philosophy itself has never been as great as my interest in "How One Becomes What One Is," which is the topic covered in the little book at the back of this double selection. For those who find fault with Nietzsche because his philosophy does not conform to what they would like to believe, I would like to think that Nietzsche's best answer is like his comment on Hamlet on page 246. "Certainty is what drives one insane. But one must be profound, an abyss, a philosopher to feel that way. We are all afraid of truth." No doubt On the Genealogy of Morals is great philosophy, but no one would want to compare my life to the forms assumed by the ascetic ideal, even philosophers whose search for truth is the hard kernal at the center of the ascetic ideal. Outside of philosophy, there is no ascetic ideal. People want the moment, or eternal salvation, or they need to conform to doctrine that distinguishes them in a way that is not subject to the harm which the comedians of the ascetic ideal triumph over simply by having their own ideals, or laugh, whatever.

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Summary: A Tour de FARCE
Review: Nietzsche attempts to construct the origins of Christian morality using the scalpel of his pscyhological-historical method. Despite the many penetrating insights into human nature, in some areas he misses the mark totally. He claims that Christianity was the product of a Jewish conspiracy to enact revenge on Rome -- that it was the fullfilement of the burning ressentiment of the Jewish slave-priests who in their impotence could not subjugate the masters by force and were therefore led to do so through a doctrine of love. Christ, as Nietzshe sees it, was the bait through which Rome was subjugated to a transfigured Judaism. While the theory, despite its obvious absurdity, sounds interesting, it follows from the psychological arguments that Nietzshce is building, and even more so from his premise that "God is our most enduring lie". For once this accepted, as Nietzsche sees it, Christianity ipso facto becomes the product of human minds; hence he endeavors to find the materialistc origins of Christianity by way of a psychological-historical deconstruction of the human-all-too-human tendencies responsible for the inception of Europe's dominant religion. Yet such a method can certainly back-fire -- and in Nietzsche's case it seems too. How so?

Nietzshche's obsession with values that accompany strength, dominance and might may have mirrored his own decrepid physical condition. The German philosopher was forced to retire from his teaching post at the young age of 34 due to his deteriorating health. Some speculate that his condition was precipitated by an injury during military training in his youth which cut short any aspirations he may have had of becoming a soldier. Taking into considertation that much of his life following retirement was ridden with painfull fits of vomiting and unceasing migranes, does it require a radical leap to presume that a man so deprived of health would fanatically esteem strength and everything connected to an abundance of physicality? After all, which other philosopher wrote so eloquently about the greatness of the overman's domineering power and the importance of the will-to-power? Yet Nietzsche was incensed by attempts to explain-away his ideas by explaining HOW and WHY they arose in himself. Irononically, this is the method he uses against Christian-morality; he presumes that an explanation is an explanation-away. As he writes in the WILL TO POWER: "Everywhere God is inserted...and the real origin of morality denied". It appears that the blind spot of his genealogical anaylysis of Christian morality is himself, which can be equally genealogically-submerged if his method is adopted. This means that both Christian values and Nietzsche's views can be explained away by exposing the circumstances that led to their emergence. Where then lies the truth, if all perspectives are levelled by the "consuming fires" of genealogical-subversion?

As I Muslim I side with the Christians (and all believers in Divine causality), in arguing that an explanation is NOT an explanation-away, and that at best it simply reveals the contextual bed underpinning the emergence of any phenomena, be it an idea or event -- that and nothing more. As Ghazali, the medieval Islamic mystic writes: the materialist is like an ant which crawls on a sheet of paper, and seeing black letters spreading over it attributes the cause to the pen alone.

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Summary: Original and fierce
Review: Nietzsche gives an historic account of how morality has developed in the world. Unlike many others, Nietzsche takes a historical approach to the development of morality and gets into the etymology of the the ancient languages. The "good vs. bad/good vs. evil" distinction is very important to get a grasp of as well as the concepts of guilt, conscience, and the ascetic ideal. Along with Beyond Good and Evil, this book should be one of the first by Nietzsche that you should read, in my opinion, to get a good grasp on Nietzsche's thought. Great analysis of Christianity too!

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Summary: tendentious, penetrating, and insightful.
Review: On The Geneology of Morals -- This work is clearest when read as a sequel to Beyond Good & Evil. I don't suggest starting here. The prose is more straightforward than BG&E, he is attemting polemic in essay form. Yet still, it is still a voice in your head, consipring with you, coaxing you toward understanding. Here, the prose style of BG&E becomes apparent.

Ecce Homo -- This would seem like a very pretentious work. It is not. He comes off almost modestly here. This too, clears the air of all that is rotten about what has been said about him. It is as if he had guessed what evil things would be said about him.

Especially if this is your first Nietzsche book, I suggest, instead of buying this, buying the Basic Writings of Nietzsche which contains these two books, as well as three others (Beyond Good & Evil, which is a better place to start anyway; The Birth of Tragedy, and The Case of Wagner), by the same translator, and which costs only a few dollars more now that it's out in paperback.

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Summary: tendentious, penetrating, and insightful.
Review: Some say Nietzsche's biggest mistake was reducing everything into moral terms. I do not think this is the case. In fact, I find it more loutish to think logic can explain everything. Logic is only one of many approaches to knowledge. I say this because Nietzsche didn't write in traditional philosophical terms. He was one of the first great existentialists who looked at values for what they were; reflections of All Too Human needs, desires, wants, and the general human condition. This book stands as his best alongside "The Gay Science".

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Summary: A devastating critique of modernity
Review: Undoubtedly Nietzsche's most penetrating and philosophical work, the "Genealogy of Morals" is a shattering indictment of science, Judaeo-Christian morality and modern Western values such as liberalism, socialism and feminism. It identifies these phenomena with the reactive, self-preserving "ascetic ideal" - the oppressive "will to truth" - that aims to constrain and deny life. In opposition, Nietzsche propounds art and culture as a counteragent and champions the "Diyonisan tragic artist" who will affirm and celebrate life. - Also a pioneering text for poststructuralist critical-historical analysis, as represented by the likes of Deleuze and Foucault, and deconstruction, the maverick textual methodology of Jacques Derrida.

Rating:
Summary: A devastating critique of modernity.
Review: Undoubtedly Nietzsche's most penetrating and philosophical work, the "Genealogy of Morals" is a shattering indictment of science, Judaeo-Christian morality and modern Western values such as liberalism, socialism and feminism. It identifies these phenomena with the reactive, self-preservative "ascetic ideal" - the oppressive "will to truth" - that aims to constrain and deny life. In opposition, Nietzsche propounds art and culture as a counteragent and champions the "Diyonisan tragic artist" who will affirm and celebrate life. - Also a pioneering text for deconstruction and poststructuralism in its analysis of historicism and interpretation.

Rating:
Summary: A devastating critique of modernity.
Review: Undoubtedly Nietzsche's most penetrating and philosophical work, the "Genealogy of Morals" is a shattering indictment of science, Judaeo-Christian morality and modern Western values such as liberalism, socialism and feminism. It identifies these phenomena with the reactive, self-preservative "ascetic ideal" - the oppressive "will to truth" - that aims to constrain and deny life. In opposition, Nietzsche propounds art and culture as a counteragent and champions the "Diyonisan tragic artist" who will affirm and celebrate life. - Also a pioneering text for deconstruction and poststructuralism in its analysis of historicism and interpretation.