Nietzsche and the Death of God: Selected Writings

by Friedrich Nietzsche, Peter Fritzsche

German philosopher and self-proclaimed nihilist Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche stands out as a furious, explosive thinker who repeatedly pulled apart the certainties of the nineteenth century and whose writings attract, astonish, and unsettle readers to this day. This volume offers a selection of Nietzsche's writings, all newly translated by the author, that facilitate an understanding and discussion of his philosophies, style, and influence. In an engaging and accessible introduction, Peter Fritzsche familiarizes students with elements key to Nietzsche's thought and his extraordinary intellectual and political influence: his condemnation of the nineteenth century as degenerate and uncreative; his rejection of Christianity, democracy, and socialism; his belief that all cultures are founded on lies and illusions; and his conviction that individuals should seek to overcome convention and morality in order to create themselves as supermen. Document headnotes give students background and guidance in reading Nietzsche's writings, and a chronology, questions for consideration, and a selected bibliography provide additional pedagogical support.

192 pages, paperback

First published December 29, 2006

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

[Jesten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nietzsche has some interesting and thought-provoking ideas, but he also some ideas that go against my moral codes. I feel like he is a thinker who bears great resemblance to Ayn Rand.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thus Spoke Patrick:

I haven't had much exposure to philosophy, but Fritsche's introduction and commentary was helpful. It's probably a good place to start on Nietzsche. If I want to understand it more completely, I'll have to revisit it.

I probably won't. Nietzsche's a dick.

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay if you are an idiot and believe in all this crap about "God is Dead" than this book is for you. I had to read this book for my history class and I thought it was the biggest waste of time.