Nietzsche: 'On the Genealogy of Morality' and Other Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)

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Summary: Hard work but worth it.
Review: Firstly I am going to say i am no expert in philosophy or Nietzsche, so if you are it's time to scroll up to the above review (far more detailed). What I will try and do is tell you why you should read this book if you are new to the subject. Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the finest minds to have considered the problems of philosophy and this text gives an insight into his thought. Far more importantly it causes one to reconsider their attitudes and justify many assumptions that were unthinkingly held. The real beauty of this book is that the aphoristic structure and polemical, quasi metaphorical style provide huge space for individual response to the text, you will learn a lot about yourself reading this text as well as a lot about politics, morality and even epistemology and metaphysics. In short read and enjoy although it might be a good idea to get a commentary or introduction to Nietzsches' thought otherwise you may get a little lost.

Rating:
Summary: Nietzsche's most sustained philosophical discussion
Review: This translation of Nietzsche's ON THE GENEALOGY OF MORALITY by Carol Diethe, edited by Keith Ansell-Pearson for Cambridge texts in the History of Political Thought, includes some supplementary material, as is now customary for English translations of this book published by Nietzsche in 1887. Section 4 of Nietzsche's Preface calls attention to ten sections in his other books. Walter Kaufmann's translation has an Appendix of Seventy-five Aphorisms from Five Volumes, 28 of which are three lines or less long, showing Walter Kaufmann's preference for discreet little thoughts. Not all ten sections mentioned by Nietzsche were included in Kaufmann's Appendix, but a footnote in this book promises to include "All the passages Nietzsche mentioned" (p. 6, n. 7). Twenty-nine sections are included in the supplementary material in this book, none of which are less than ten lines long, showing more of an appreciation for sustained thought. Titles of these sections are not given in Nietzsche's preface, except for HUMAN, ALL TOO HUMAN volume II, section 89, which is called `Morality of Custom' on page 6, `Custom and its sacrifices' on page 135, and `Mores and their victim' in the Mixed Opinions and Maxims (1879) section 89 of Kaufmann's Appendix.

I believe ON THE GENEALOGY OF MORALITY is Nietzsche's most philosophically sophisticated work, and found that my knowledge of Latin was helpful in reading Walter Kaufmann's translation of the long Tertullian (circa 197 A.D.) quote in section 15 of the first essay, because Nietzsche's comments, such as "in better voice, yet worse screamers" were located in parentheses within the Latin text, while the English translation in the footnote contained additional information in brackets, such as `[Quaestuaria means prostitute, not carpenter: see Nietzsche's parenthesis above.]' This book also has Nietzsche's comments in parentheses in the Latin text, "(in better voice, screaming even louder)" (p. 33), but the brackets in the footnote also contain Nietzsche's comments "[i.e. screaming even louder] in their own tragedy" (p. 34, n. 42) so it is much easier to follow reading only the English, which tries to encompass every possible translation with its "`This is he', I will say, `that son of a carpenter or prostitute . . .'" (p. 34, n. 42). I am leaving out a few insults after Nietzsche refers to `this well-known description of the mother of Jesus from the Talmud' (p. 34, n. 42), but they are just before Nietzsche adds some Latin of his own, "(Per fidem: that is what is written.)" (p. 33).

This translation adds a footnote at this point quoting Tacitus at ANNALS XV. 44, which suggests why the supplementary material includes sections 195-203 of BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL. Kaufmann's translation mentioned section 200 in a footnote at this point, but it is interesting that section 195 started with "The Jews -- a people `born for slavery', as Tacitus and the whole ancient world says," (p. 155 and n.1: Tacitus, HISTORIES V. 8.). Kaufmann's Appendix did not include BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL, but he certainly assumed that readers would have access to an English translation of that work, having done one himself.

My interest in ON THE GENEALOGY OF MORALITY is mainly in combining Nietzsche's ideas about will to truth, listed in the index for pages xix-xx, 119-20, 126-7, 169, which includes the idea that will to truth is not so much a remnant of the ascetic ideal `as its kernel' (p. 126) with comedy, listed in the index for 9, 81. Nietzsche links "the Dionysian drama of the `fate of the soul'" with "the grand old eternal writer of the comedy of our existence!" (p. 9), leading up to "you almost need to be a cow for this one thing and certainly not a `modern man': it is rumination" (p. 10). Nietzsche seems less interested in comedy itself than in philosophers. "A married philosopher belongs to comedy, that is my proposition: and the exception, Socrates, the mischievous Socrates, . . . Every philosopher would say what Buddha said when he was told of the birth of a son: `Rahula is born to me, a fetter is forged for me' (Rahula means here `a little demon'); . . `freedom is leaving the house': so thinking, he left the house." (p. 81). Nietzsche goes into Latin again to say `Let the world perish, but let philosophy exist, let the philosopher exist, let me exist' (p. 82, n. 76). Thoughts about throwing `the human soul out of joint' (p. 110) hardly seem like the way to comedy or even music, but "The main contrivance which the ascetic priest allowed himself to use in order to make the human soul resound with every kind of heart-rending and ecstatic music was -- as everyone knows -- his utilization of the feeling of guilt." (p. 110). The order of Assassins can be found in the Index of Names for the discussion on page 118, with its "inkling of that symbol and watchword which was reserved for the highest ranks alone as their secretum: `nothing is true, everything is permitted' " that challenges the belief in truth.

Nietzsche mentioned THE WILL TO POWER as `a work I am writing' at the beginning of section 27 for serious consideration of the History of European Nihilism, but wanted to draw this book to a conclusion "that the ascetic ideal has, for the present, even in the most spiritual sphere, only one type of real enemy and injurer: these are the comedians of this ideal -- because they arouse mistrust." (pp. 125-6). This leads right into the will to truth being the kernel of the ascetic ideal, as mentioned above.

The early Prefaces for `The Greek State' and `Homer on Competition' found on pages 176-194 are interesting for comparing the noble ideals of antiquity with the possibility `that we will be destroyed because we fail to keep slaves' (p. 180). Concluding with `it then only takes a panicky fright to make it fall and smash it. . . . they betray the Hellenic . . ." (p. 194).