Hammer of the Gods

by Friedrich Nietzsche, Stephen Metcalf (Editor)

Hammer of the Gods"presents Friedrich Nietzsche s most prophetic, futuristic and apocalyptic philosophies and traces them against the upheavals of the last century and the current millennial panic. This radical re-interpretation reveals Nietzsche as the only guide to the madness in our society which he himself prophesied a century ago; Nietzsche as a philosopher against society, against both the state and the herd; Nietzsche as philosopher with a hammer.

Genres: Philosophy, Classics, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1879

About the author

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture, who became one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest person to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24, but resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and probably vascular dementia. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900, after experiencing pneumonia and multiple strokes.
Nietzsche's work spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony. Prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favour of perspectivism; a genealogical critique of religion and Christian morality and a related theory of master–slave morality; the aesthetic affirmation of life in response to both the "death of God" and the profound crisis of nihilism; the notion of Apollonian and Dionysian forces; and a characterisation of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power. He also developed influential concepts such as the Übermensch and his doctrine of eternal return. In his later work, he became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome cultural and moral mores in pursuit of new values and aesthetic health. His body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, music, religion, tragedy, culture, and science, and drew inspiration from Greek tragedy as well as figures such as Zoroaster, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
After his death, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became the curator and editor of his manuscripts. She edited his unpublished writings to fit her German ultranationalist ideology, often contradicting or obfuscating Nietzsche's stated opinions, which were explicitly opposed to antisemitism and nationalism. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with fascism and Nazism. 20th-century scholars such as Walter Kaufmann, R.J. Hollingdale, and Georges Bataille defended Nietzsche against this interpretation, and corrected editions of his writings were soon made available. Nietzsche's thought enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1960s and his ideas have since had a profound impact on 20th- and early 21st-century thinkers across philosophy—especially in schools of continental philosophy such as existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism—as well as art, literature, music, poetry, politics, and popular culture.

Reviews

[Justin McRoberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's appropriate to call this a "re-interpretation." The organization of what were previously dispersed thoughts gives a kind of sequential focus that Nietzsche's writing generally lacks. While I'm not sure he'd approve of such an edit I think it's incredibly compelling.

[Matthew Kowalski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hammer of the gods by Friedrich Nietzche

This book is a journey into the mysteries and the powers of life.
It is life with out the strings so that you might live with out fear.
Living without fear is the only way to have a full life a life without the remorse of what should have been.
By living without the what should have been we are free and unbound by sepulchers.
It is our greatest hope to put down the veil so that the salve is not in our eyes.
Burn burn we will our brightest fire and hope and with hammers we shall philosophize.
May the idols be destroyed as they must for the creation of the individual.
May the individual lead as the overman amongst those with slave morality.
For those of such morality must be lead by the best of us the overman the philosopher king.
If they are to be lead by the beast they might reflect upon only sickness would come for in this weakness so exhibited we would find a poison from the beast.
So it was and so it shall be from time immemorial.
Quest of into vast unknown's for they will illuminate a truth beyond simple understanding.
May we learn the wisdom of the ages and as we have destroy it to make new and more beautiful truths.

[Jeffrey Thiessen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of a muddled, morose mess.

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Madness is something rare in individuals - but in groups, parties, peoples, ages it is the rule."