The Soul of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil

This book presents a provocative new interpretation of what is arguably Nietzsche's most important and most difficult work, Beyond Good and Evil.

Maudemarie Clark (Author), David Dudrick (Author)

9780521790413, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 July 2012

293 pages
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.6 cm, 0.53 kg

'… rich and densely argued … if you see Nietzsche as an advocate of naturalism and empiricism and wish to maintain a picture of Nietzsche's thought, at least in Beyond Good and Evil, as a coherent whole, then this is as sophisticated and rigorous a work as one will find.' Robert Guay, Foucault Studies

This book presents a provocative new interpretation of Beyond Good and Evil, arguably Nietzsche's most important work. The problem is that it appears to express merely a loosely connected set of often questionable opinions. Can Nietzsche really be an important philosopher if this is his most important book? Maudemarie Clark and David Dudrick address this question with a close reading that emphasizes how Nietzsche writes. They argue that the first part of Beyond Good and Evil presents coherent and interconnected arguments for subtle and well-thought-out positions on traditional issues. Nietzsche's infamous doctrine of the will to power turns out to be a compelling account of the structure and origin of the human soul. And although he rejects some aspects of traditional philosophy, Nietzsche's aim is to show how philosophy's traditional aspirations to seek both the true and the good can be fulfilled. Beyond Good and Evil turns out to be a major work of philosophy and Nietzsche's masterpiece.

Introduction
Part I. The Will to Truth and the Will to Value: 1. Setting the stage: Neitzsche's preface
2. Understanding the 'magnificent tension of the spirit'
3. Philosophy and the will to value
4. Science and the will to truth
5. Satisfying the will to truth and the will to value
Part II. The Will to Power: 6. Nietzsche's soul
7. The will
8. The other doctrines of the will to power
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], History of Western philosophy [HPC], Philosophy [HP]