Beginner's Guide to Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil (eBook)

Gareth Southwell taught at Swansea College of Further Education between 1998 and 2005, where he also developed online learning materials and educational websites. In his spare time, he developed PhilosophyOnline, the popular resource for both teachers and students. A graduate in English and Philosophy from Swansea University, Southwell is an assistant examiner for AQA, and has recently completed a PhD in philosophy at the University of Newport. He also works as a freelance illustrator and has regularly published caricatures in The Philosophers' Magazine.

List of Illustrations vii

Acknowledgements viii

Introduction x

Chapter 1: Background 1

Life of Nietzsche 1

Nineteenth-century Europe 8

Romanticism and German Idealism 9

Pessimism 9

German Politics 11

The Text 12

Chapter 2: Explanation and Summary of the Main Arguments
14

Introduction 14

Preface 14

Part One: On the Prejudices of Philosophers 16

Part Two: The Free Spirit 34

Part Three: The Religious Nature 44

Part Four: Maxims and Interludes 52

Part Five: On the Natural History of Morals 55

Part Six: We Scholars 63

Part Seven: Our Virtues 68

Part Eight: Peoples and Fatherlands 81

Part Nine: What is Noble? 88

From High Mountains: Epode 103

Chapter 3: Critical Themes 105

Introduction 105

Reality, Truth and Philosophical Prejudice 106

Philosophical prejudices 106

1. The will to truth 108

2. Faith in antithetical values 110

3. Distinction between appearance and reality 112

4. Atomism 115

5. Teleological explanation 120

6. Immediate certainty 124

7. Causa sui 129

8. Reification 133

Nietzsche's anti-realism 135

God, Religion and the Saint 137

The question of God's existence 137

Religious neurosis and the saint 142

Beyond pessimism: the Übermensch and the eternal return
144

Morality, Ressentiment and the Will to Power 149

Ethical naturalism 149

A natural history of morality 151

Ressentiment 152

Will to power 155

Appendix: Overview of Beyond Good and Evil 161

Notes 169

Glossary 181

Bibliography and Suggested Reading 206

Index 210

"Anyone teaching Beyond Good and Evil will want to keep a copy of
this close to hand. For those who are familiar with the texts it
will help to reinvogorate their approach and for those teaching the
text for the first time it will provide an excellent guide to the
complexities of Nietzsche's ideas." George McWilliams,
Head of Philosophy and Ethics, Ullswater Community
College

"Gareth Southwell's Beginner's Guide is an
outstanding introduction to Nietzsche's text: lively and
approachable in tone, yet rigorous and insightful in its handling
of the material. A comprehensive and well-informed treatment, this
book judiciously blends detailed analysis and illuminating
explanation with more wide-ranging discussion. It has some
stand-out features that make it extremely helpful for the student,
and represents an excellent guide not only to the text and its
contexts, but more broadly to the terms and techniques of
philosophical debate." Duncan Large, Swansea
University and the Friedrich Nietzsche Society