Nietzsche's "The Shore of Good and Evil" and "The Genealogy of Morals" Synopsis and Comments - An analysis of the origins of morality and the formation of Christian ethics.
The books presented here are "The Shore of Good and Evil" and "The Genealogy of Morals," both published by Nietzsche in 1887.
I read "Zen-aku no Higan" and "Moral Genealogy" in the Chikuma Gakugei Bunko edition, Shozo Shinta's translation of Nietzsche's Complete Works 11: Zen-aku no Higan, Dōritsu no Keifu (The Shore of Good and Evil: A Genealogy of Morals).
Let's take a quick look at the book.
Nietzsche was distressed by the poor reception of "Zarathustra," which had been released to the world with great expectations. The Shore of Good and Evil" was written as a kind of commentary on "Zarathustra," with the intention of saving his own thought from misunderstanding and distortion. In this book, the values of morality and religion in 19th century Europe are severely questioned, and the objects of modern faith, so-called "objectivity," "historical sense," "science," and "sympathy," are dissected with a sharp critical scalpel. The book contains two works: "The Shore of Good and Evil," one of the most important works representing the mature period of Nietzsche's philosophy, and "The Genealogy of Morals," the final movement of "The Genealogy of Morals.
Chikuma Gakugei Bunko, Shozo Shinta's translation of Nietzsche's Complete Works 11: The Shore of Good and Evil, The Genealogy of Morality, back cover
Below we will look at the formation process and general content of these two works.
The Shore of Good and Evil.
From 1885 to 1987, he devoted his energies to "The Shore of Good and Evil" (1886) and "The Genealogy of Morals" (1887), which was written as a supplement to "The Shore of Good and Evil. Both were self-published.
Nietzsche spent his summers in Sils Maria and winters in Nice, secretly enduring the world's lack of understanding of "Zarathustra," and drowning his desolation with extensive reading in the natural sciences and law, especially Machiavelli, to strengthen his ideas on the foundations of politics and morality. The first result of his efforts was the publication of his book Good and Evil. The first result of his efforts was "The Shore of Good and Evil.
It was a multifaceted critique of the spiritual condition of Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century, expressing a wide range of ideas in aphoristic form. It is said to be the most complete linguistic creation of the German language, with its unique lightness and beautiful tone, like a fruit that naturally ripens and falls at "great noon," as Zarathustra put it.
But no reader accepts it. Even his former best friend Rohde said, "The philosophical part of it is poor, almost a child's play. The political aspects are absurd and naive,...... and the spirit of the work is barren, merely imitating others and doing a patchwork job."
A Bernese magazine wrote a scathing review of the book, "Nietzsche's Dangerous Book," and even Miss Malvida von Meisenbukh no longer reads it. There is only one major exception. The French magnate Ippolit Taine, who wrote a favorable reply to the donated book, and needless to say, Nietzsche was very much impressed.
Chuo Koronsha, The World's Greatest Books 46 Nietzsche, p. 43-44
Some line breaks have been made.
The Shore of Good and Evil" was not well received.Zarathustra.However, as mentioned in the commentary above, this work was also a dud.
However, the work also contains famous words.
He who fights against monsters should therefore be careful not to become a monster himself. If you look into the abyss for a long time, the abyss will also look into you.
Chikuma Gakugei Bunko, Shozo Shinta's translation of "Nietzsche, Complete Works of Nietzsche 11: The Shore of Good and Evil, The Genealogy of Morality," p. 138.
As I said, the Nietzschean clause is still alive and well.
However, I personally recommend "The Genealogy of Morality," written shortly thereafter, over this "Beyond the Shore of Good and Evil."
Let's look at the explanation of this one as well.
A Genealogy of Morality."
In the summer of 1987, Nietzsche wrote "A Genealogy of Morals," subtitled "A Refutation," in two weeks, based on material that had been planned as part of his main work, in order to respond to the lack of response and the negative publicity. Having discovered that the anechoic force of his previous work lay in the disguised form of aphorism, Nietzsche used a general form of argumentation for the first time in a long time in this book.
In the first thesis, the moral value judgments that the world has espoused so far are those of the Christian slave against the noble morality of the ancient rulers.grudges and hard feelingsHe explains that the latter is nothing more than a major revolt against the former, and submits a "psychology of Christianity" that he draws on in "Antichrist."
The second paper is "The Psychology of Conscience," which describes conscience, generally believed to be the voice of God, as an instinct of brutality that is prevented from being released outward and turned inward.
In the third and final article, I attempted a "psychology of the monk," asserting that the asceticism of monks is a harmful ideal, nothing more than a will to nihilism, and yet this ideal is so desperately sought after because "one would rather want nothing than nothing! He attempted a "psychology of the monk," asserting that asceticism is nothing more than the will to emptiness, a harmful ideal, and yet that this ideal is so fiercely sought after.
The attack on Christianity made in the name of Zarathustra was thus elevated to the level of his own words.
Chuo Koronsha, The World's Greatest Books 46 Nietzsche, p. 44
Some line breaks have been made.
I have a personal attachment to this work.
When I was a student, I was assigned to read this work for an ethics class, and it was the first Nietzsche work that I picked up. In other words, my first Nietzsche experience was with "The Genealogy of Morals.
As you can see in the commentary above, this work is developed not in the form of an aphorism, but in a logically clear manner. He wrote this work because his argument had been so poorly understood that he had to change his style of argumentation.
Thanks to this, it is very easy to read and understand among Nietzsche's works. (Though still difficult to follow.)
In this work Nietzsche analyzes and examines the history of morality in the Christian world.
What is a good person and what is a bad person?
What is right and wrong? It depends on one's position.
No, Christian morality is an unprecedented attempt to turn evil into good. Nietzsche makes the astonishing argument that the weak have dragged down the strong through feelings of resentment (lusantiman).
My first experience with Nietzsche left me astonished by his tremendous moral theory.
Nietzsche criticizes Christian morality as much as this. We can only be overwhelmed by this. We are almost left behind in this onslaught.
Nietzsche's great point is that he does not simply dismiss Christianity as "religion is superstition" or "scientifically speaking, God is impossible," but he thoroughly analyzes and examines its way of being. This is a very different color from atheists who simply say that religion is a myth.
Nietzsche dives deeper and deeper into the roots of Christianity than most people would expect. Nietzsche goes deeper and deeper into the roots of Christianity and the questions and problems that emerge from these places.
Nietzsche tries to go to the ultimate point, and his arguments are indeed polemical in some respects. But that is also why his words are so powerful. This book is a terrific work.
When I was also a student, I was also greatly shocked by the "Tale of the Grand Inquisitor" in Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov". As I mentioned in the following article, I was truly astonished by their absolute inquisitiveness and ideological struggle against the fundamental aspects of religion.
The Genealogy of Morals is one of the most memorable of Nietzsche's works for me. It is also a highly recommended work for learning about Nietzsche's thought. And I appreciate that it is easier to read than other works.
I highly recommend this book.
The above is a synopsis of Nietzsche's "The Shore of Good and Evil" and "The Genealogy of Morals": an analysis of the origins of morality and the formation of Christian ethics.
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