History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Women's Lives, Women's Legacies: Passing Your Beliefs and Blessings to Future Generations

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Journaling for the Next Generation
Women's Lives, Women's Legacies - a radiant guidebook
Women's Lives, Women's Legacies - Bravo
Brings forth women's wisdom
Motivating and inspiring!

Women's Lives, Women's Legacies: Passing Your Beliefs and Blessings to Future Generations
Rachael Freed
Manufacturer: Fairview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 157749119X

Book Description

This book shows women how to create an enduring document that expresses who they are, what they value, and how they want to be remember.

Customer Reviews:

Journaling for the Next Generation.......2007-02-02

"Legacy work is different from autobiography, memoir, life review, and genealogy not so much in what is written, but in our intent." ~ pg. 2

Women's Lives, Women's Legacies is a practical and inspirational guide. Through a systematic approach women can access their beliefs and bless the next generation with a healing journal of life and love. Divided into three sections, there is a process of discovery through the past, present and future.

How did you receive your name? This section is fascinating and then an example of how to write about your name is given to provide perspective and inspiration.

"Begin by thinking about the home you lived in when you were growing up." ~ pg. 68

Through childhood memories you can start to create a picture of how you became who you are today. This section includes memory triggers, which are especially helpful. You may want to go through photo albums while experiencing this section of the book. I found it useful to photocopy groups of pictures for reference and organized my pictures by year.

I loved the section on "Reflections and Writing" where you complete sentences like:

What I have loved most about my life is...
A fairy tale, children's story, fictional character, or book that has had an important influence on my life is...

This book is amazing in its ability to help you remember long-forgotten memories. There are sections for friendship, family, motherhood, sexuality, spirituality and secrets. Throughout this creative work, there are some startlingly beautiful poems and wise quotes. There are lists of descriptive words you can expand on like: playful, sensual, and imaginative.

While this book is designed for journal-style writing, I think all writers and poets will find this to be especially inspirational and enriching experience. What will you leave for the next generation to discover?

One of my most treasured items is a diary my mother wrote about my first year of life and she also wrote a diary about her world travels. She is currently interested in genealogy and I think this book might be useful for anyone researching and writing about family history. This book would be perfect for a mother-daughter project or as a project for a woman's group. Women's Lives, Women's Legacies is a gift in itself and this could open the door to many worlds you want to visit time and again.

~The Rebecca Review

Women's Lives, Women's Legacies - a radiant guidebook.......2003-10-03

I'm a woman who's been blessed with a long and varied life. I've always wanted to share my experiences with my nieces, and to offer them my hard-earned wisdom so that they might move into womanhood a little better informed than I was. I've also had an inner desire to be seen and valued by them.
The beautifully written and accessible WOMEN'S LIVES, WOMEN'S LEGACIES offers encouragement and serves as a guide so that I may begin to write my life and in the process, come to love and appreciate myself more fully. I love the personal stories and poetry in the book. As I read, I find myself moving to that spiritual place inside myself of loving my own being as well as all the women who've lived before me and those who will come after. This book is a celebration of and addition to the heritage of women.

Women's Lives, Women's Legacies - Bravo.......2003-10-02

Women's Lives, Women's Legacies is a powerful tool to jump-start your own story and to share it with others. I found it thought provocing - answering questions about oneself, one's history, and future a wonderful communication tool. I enjoyed thinking about my naming process, secrets, values, and spirituality. The format of the book could be used in ways most suited to how I saw my own legacy. Being newly married I answered the questions for myself and then asked my husband about himself and his family-I learned new things about both. Whether you are married or single, have children or none, you will find your place is this beautifully written soul-searching book.

Brings forth women's wisdom.......2003-09-30

I am a writer, counselor, and teacher in my 60's, married for over 40 years, with grown children and one grandchild. So I can recommend this book especially to midlife and older women. This book can help us harvest the fruits of our abundant life experience and share them with a wisdom-starved world.

Through stories, commentary, and especially "reflection and writing" suggestions, this book guides us to contemplate aspects and details of our lives we may tend to take for granted, plumbing the rich depths of their meaning to us, our families, and the world. To name just a few examples: pregnancy, miscarriage, and birth; hanging clothes on a clothesline, specific childhood memories, family relationships, friendships, personal rituals, illness and healing experiences, personal response to world events.

Motivating and inspiring!.......2003-09-30

I must admit, I've read the personal stories, poems and quotes found throughout the book, but haven't finished the writing exercises; my spiritual ethical will is a work-in-progress! This book has inspired me to learn more about my roots, particularly my Jewish heritage. Since beginning the book I have contacted my great-aunt and have arranged to spend time with her next month, to better understand my genealogical and spiritual roots before moving ahead with the writing process.

Book Description

Skillful, sophisticated translations of two of Nietzsche's essential works about the conflict between the moral and aesthetic approaches to life, the impact of Christianity on human values, the meaning of science, the contrast between the Apollonian and Dionysian spirits, and other themes central to his thinking.

Customer Reviews:

Unpopular Advocacy..........2007-03-03

I have to be the sensible voice of dissent on this one: having read the Hollingdale and Kaufmann translations of these books, and although Golffing was no authority par excellance on Nietzsche (but rather a poet--not utterly devoid of perspective), I think this particular pair of translated works has its necessary place among the more respected editions. Yes, it does lack the trademark styles and general passion characteristic of Nietzsche's writings--but only for the initiated reader; this is actually a perfect edition for the rookie, the newbie: it takes the overwhelming aspect away, it eases the fresh reader into the shock and rapidity of the stream of thought, it presents the subject matter in a way that would garner an undergrad or graduate student "props" as a brilliant writer with a universal style. Obviously, as one becomes more attuned to these vibes, they will want to reach for the more difficult readings--not merely to test their comprehension skills, but for personal aesthetics as well, like the feeling of accomplishment. The more seasoned reader knows that Nietzsche is all about personality (he is literary-style, personified) and passion, but they should as well note that our author here is not accessible to everyone the same way (let alone with ease, if at all). I still found substance here, I found a less colorful rendition of thematic scope, I found a "Nietzsche for Beginners"--but why hate on Golffing as a result?; and considering the growing popularity of the author, the latecomers will all have to step through that door in some fashion, and this book does a better than average job of allowing just that.

Good book, Bad translation, do not buy.......2005-02-26

Ill give it 2 stars instead of 1. because it is not nietzsche i have the prolem with.

I knew i was taking a chance by buying this, I like Hollingdale, and like kaufman, but this translater, takes the fun out of freddie. It hardly even sounds like nietzsche speaking. For one example a famous line is "we all speak vaugly about poerty because we are all bad poets.".. When i read that line i barely realized i read it as he write "we all speak abrtractly about our poetry because we tend to be indifferent poets." The whole book reads like that. Nietzsche Bold statements! poetic prose are replaced with boring textbook like translation. I realized we might have a problem when i read the "ABOUT THE AUTHOR" in the book and he had traslated the title of "THE GAY SCIENCE" to "THE JOYFUL KNOWING" uhm.... I'm re-buying the book today the kaufman version. dont buy this.

A Wake Up Call for Christians: How the World Views Hypocrisy.......2003-04-15

"Die, Jew!" These words and other anti-Semitist phrases echo through the reader's mind as he studies this piece. Friedrich Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals is the powerful piece of literature with more than controversial ideals. Upon reading it, one gets the sense that this work is the product of a demented, enraged mind. In the course of this reading, Nietzsche shows his ability to captivate a reader with his reason, no matter how twisted his reason is. After reading this selection I came to the assumption that Nietzsche used his brilliant mind to make broad, generalized attacks against those whom he claims are responsible for the problems in the world.
Nietzsche sees a problem with the way morals and values are carried out in our society. The strong are seen as forbidding and the weak are viewed as righteous. He believes that this is an inversion of morals which originates from the hatred of Jews transferred through the Gospel of Christianity. He assumes that any belief in God or values based on kindness is based on personal weakness and is the fruit of the true evil in the world. Morals and values which place a restriction on the strong and favor the weak are the cause for the unjust society. Nietzsche also has a modal for the great controversy these past two thousand years. He uses the titles the dispute "Rome vs. Israel, Israel vs. Rome." Rome he sees as the epitome of strength and the ideal he holds to be noble, Israel as the system which created the weak values system. He is angry because this weak system was able to topple mighty Rome.
I had to read Nietzsche in short sections at a time because it overwhelmed me. It was hard for me to see how someone can be so enraged by the system of values to write a book such as this. As a Christian, I cherish the values of the Bible and hold to a belief in a better life beyond this world. I appreciate Christianity for giving hope to hopeless world. However, Nietzsche sees Christianity as the ultimate form of slavery and the belief in a loving God as an infection upon the human mind. It is impossible for these two ideals to see eye to eye without one side trying to strangle the other. I also see Nietzsche's vendetta against the Jews, his love for strength, and his justification of the strong preying upon the weak as the cornerstone principles needed in for the creation and development of Nazi Germany.
However, I am looking back on his writing from perspective which has seen what he ideals carried out have produced. I doubt that Nietzsche intended to create monsters like Hitler and the terrible power of Nazi Germany. It seems to me that Nietzsche is merely looking at his world from a rational, atheistic viewpoint and is not happy with how things are going. Therefore, he does what all humans do when they have a problem he complains about and uses his writing as a venue to channel out his aggression. I wonder what Nietzsche would say if he knew the consequences of his tantrums and ranting.
Though I do not agree with Nietzsche's offhand remarks against God and believers in God, I did find humor in his dialogue with Mr. Foolhardy into the shop where ideals are contrived. He uses this little anecdote to target mainstream Christian beliefs in a satirical sort of way. He even mentions the unpleasant smell of this shop in a humorous offhand way. I enjoyed that excerpt, though I did not agree with it at all.
Overall Nietzsche's writing is a revolt against the Christian dogma which has captivated the world for so long. He views the system as a manufacturer of weakness and itself a type of parasite to attach to any unwary victim. In this sense I cannot help but understand where Nietzsche is coming from. His perspective of Christianity is the result of centuries of political strife caused by unconverted Christians making hypocritical and atrocious statements in the name of Christ. This has not given the church a good reputation in the eyes of many and may be the single greatest caused for atheism. It is not rational for people to be humble and to learn to love your enemy. Human nature tells us to seek revenge and retaliation but Christ tells us to forgive. This does not make sense to someone who does not have a relationship with God and is extremely preposterous to a person looking at it from outside the Christian circle. Nietzsche is a prime example of the results of the affects of "manufacturing" morals without winning people over. Christians can avoid creating enemies such as Nietzsche if we stop trying to ram our values down other peoples' throats, take away the political influence of the church, and let Christianity be its own witness.

This is a poor translation of an excellent book.......1998-10-22

The translator of this volume does not seem to grasp what Nietzsche is trying to do. He omits passages that are important for understanding of the text simply because the importance of them is not always clear at first. He also omits the references that Nietzsche makes to his own earlier works. This makes the text flow more smoothly, but doesn't allow the reader the opportunity get a handle on what Nietzsche is up to, and doesn't give the reader a sense of what other works by this author might be of interest. Again, this is a good work, but there are better translations available!

On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo

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Astonishing Philosophy
Great gift!
On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo.
Two important works
An Essay on Nietzsche

On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo
Friedrich Nietzsche
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679724621
Release Date: 1989-12-17

Book Description

The great philosopher's major work on ethics, along with ECCE HOMO, Nietzche's remarkable review of his life and works. Translated by Walter Kaufmann.

Customer Reviews:

Astonishing Philosophy.......2007-05-07

Nietzsche's complex sequel to Beyond Good and Evil is a remarkable achievement of philosophy, philology, and history. It laid the groundwork for such 20th century thinkers as Foucault and Deleuze, though they would never reach Nietzsche's complexity and moral sophistication. In the preface to the book, Nietzsche proposes the project of investigating the origins of morality on the grounds that human beings are unknown to themselves. He is ultimately concerned with the development of moral prejudices, and the value of morality itself. He criticizes mankind in its acceptance of moral principles, and writes: "we need a critique of moral values, the value of these values themselves must first be called in question-and for that there is needed a knowledge of the conditions and circumstances in which they grew, under which they evolved and changed" (456).
Nietzsche begins the essay (Good and Evil, Good and Bad), with a philological examination of the words and roots of the words related to good and evil, and a delimitation of their evolution. He makes a connection between the creations of words and places them within the historical context of rulers and nobility. Linguistically, Nietzsche has discovered that the `good' is linked with nobility. He writes: "everywhere `noble,' `aristocratic' in the social sense, is the basic concept from which `good' in the sense of `with aristocratic soul,' `noble,'" (464). Alternatively, words associated with the `bad' invariably were linked with the `plain,' `simple,' and `low.' In this way, morality as a human construction is an extension of power, wealth, and civilization. The origin of evil is intertwined with priestly aristocracies.
Nietzsche moves into a discussion of a shift in the history of morality, in which the morality of the priestly aristocracy is superceded by Jewish morality. For Nietzsche, the Jews inverted the morality of nobility and established a system which places value on the lower order of mankind. He indicates that the Jews believed "the wretched alone are the good; the poor, impotent, lowly alone are the good; the suffering, deprived, sick, ugly alone are pious, alone are blessed by God" (470). Nietzsche describes this turn as `the slave revolt' of morality. He describes the triumph of Judeo-Christian morality over the previous system of values, and indicates that this turn is a triumph for the herd instinct, and for ressentiment. He writes: "The slave revolt in morality begins when ressentiment itself becomes creative and gives birth to values: the ressentiment of natures that are denied the true reaction, that of deeds, and compensate themselves with an imaginary revenge" (472). Noble morality develops as an affirmation of itself, while slave morality always says No to what is external to it. For Nietzsche, the need to constantly turn outward to an external `other' and place judgment on it is the essence of ressentiment.
In the proceeding section of the treatise, Nietzsche discusses civilization's taming of man the animal. Here he writes: "Supposing that what is at any rate believed to be the `truth' really is true, and the meaning of all culture is the reduction of the beast of prey `man' to a tame and civilized animal, a domestic animal, then one would undoubtedly have to regard all those instincts of reaction and ressentiment through whose aid the noble races and their ideal were finally confounded and overthrown as the actual instruments of culture" (478). Nietzsche insists that Europe's taming of man is a tremendous danger, for we are made to be weary of our own being. For Nietzsche, this weariness and fear of man has compelled us to lose our love for him, to turn our backs on our instincts, to reject affirmation.

Great gift!.......2007-02-17

I gave this to my coworker and he couldn't stop talking about how great it was!

On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo........2006-07-21

_On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo_ consists of translations by Walter Kaufman and R. J. Hollingdale of the works _On the Genealogy of Morals, A Polemic_ (_Zur Genealogie der Moral, Eine Streitschrift_), first published in 1887, and _Ecce Homo_, written in 1888, by the tormented German thinker Friedrich Nietzsche. _On the Genealogy of Morals_ was Nietzsche's eighth book and consists of three essays which reveal his opposition to Christian morality. _Ecce Homo_ was an autobiographical work which consists of several chapters detailing Nietzsche's philosophy. Nietzsche's philosophical viewpoint may be described as that of aristocratic radicalism, in which he sets up an opposition between the morality of the masters and what he terms "slave morality". It is this "slave morality" motivated by a spirit of ressentiment that Nietzsche seeks to overcome by a return to the morality of the masters. Nietzsche is firmly opposed to the Judeo-Christian tradition, which he views as the culmination of slave morality. Indeed, according to Nietzsche the slaves sought to revolt against their masters by supplanting the morality of the masters with their own which glorifies the weak, meek, and sickly. Instead, Nietzsche advocates a revaluation of all values with a return to the morality of the masters, who are proud, strong, and heroic.

_On the Genealogy of Morals_ consists of a preface followed by three essays and an appendix which consists of aphorisms from his various writings. The preface notes the slave rebellion in morality, in which a morality of pity came to replace the morality of the masters. Nietzsche references the work of Schopenhauer, his great teacher, who he believes has made possible a new Buddhism for Europeans - nihilism. The first essay of this book is entitled ""Good and Evil", "Good and Bad"" and it details Nietzsche's opposition to Judeo-Christianity and Christian morality as well as Platonic philosophy. Nietzsche argues that the Jews, a slave people, began a great revolt in morality which resulted in the inversion of moral values in which what previously had been called "good" and "noble" came to be replaced by the lowly, weak, and sickly. Nietzsche argues that with Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish slave revolt was accomplished in which Europe became under the sway of a Jew. Nietzsche contrasts this with the "blond German beast", the primitive Aryan tribesman, and his morality of the conquerer. Nietzsche quotes extensively from the church fathers, including Tertullian, regarding the "kingdom of God" and offers in opposition to the sign on the entrance of Dante's hell, "I too was created by eternal love", the sign "I too was created by eternal hate", instead. Nietzsche offers the opposition "Rome against Judea, Judea against Rome". In addition, Nietzsche shows how the Jews have come to conquer Rome through the slave revolt in which today in Rome they bow before three Jews and a Jewess (Jesus, Peter, Paul, and Mary). Nietzsche claims that the Renaissance represented a return to the classical idea; however with the Reformation motivated largely by ressentiment and the French Revolution the slave revolt was made complete. The second essay in this book is entitled ""Guilt", "Bad Conscience" and the Like". This essay focuses on the meaning of guilt and ressentiment showing the cruelty of punishment and torture. Nietzsche shows himself to be a primitive psychologist in his understanding of "bad conscience" and "guilt" and his theories were an important precursor to modern day psychoanalysis. The third essay of this book is entitled "What is the Meaning of Ascetic Ideals?". Here, Nietzsche focuses on Richard Wagner with whom he had a complicated relationship. Nietzsche also expresses his disgust with the German anti-Semites of the time (though only with a certain type of anti-Semite, the kind who still retained adherence to the Christian tradition). This essay ends with the following line: "man would rather will nothingness than not will", an expression of Nietzsche's nihilism. This book concludes with an appendix, "Seventy-Five Aphorisms in Five Volumes", containing various aphorisms from Nietzsche's writings.

_Ecce Homo_ was Nietzsche's last work and was not published during his lifetime. The book is subtitled "How One Becomes What One Is". _Ecce Homo_ contains a preface and three chapters, followed by discussions of several of Nietzsche's books, and then a final chapter. The chapters attempt to show Nietzsche's philosophical progression as he began his career as a philologist, the influence of Wagner on his early life, his subsequent break with Wagner, and his later writings. Nietzsche also includes commentary on his own writings, particularly his _Zarathustra_ and shows the opposition between the Dionysian and the Appolinian. Nietzsche entitles his chapters brazenly: "Why I Am So Wise", "Why I Am So Clever", "Why I Write Such Good Books", followed by his discussion of his individual works, and then "Why I Am Destiny". It has been suggested that Nietzsche may have been experiencing the early symptoms of his mental decline at this point and his complete mental collapse was to occur soon thereafter (rumored to be the result of syphilis, though probably wrongly). Nietzsche claims that he is wise because of his aesthetic sensitivities. He claims that he is clever because he can choose the right nutrition, climate, residence, and recreation for himself. He claims to write such good books because they open up a series of new, delicate, and noble experiences. And, he claims to be destiny because his anti-moral truths serve as intellectual dynamite which can topple the sickness inherent in Western culture. Indeed, Nietzsche writes, "I am no man, I am dynamite." Nietzsche opposes Dionysus to "the Crucified", as his new god of life's exuberance to overcome the god of the heavenly otherworld. Nietzsche claims that he wants no believers and that he fears that he will be worshipped and pronounced holy in the future. He wants to assure that his publishers will prevent his book from doing "mischief". Nietzsche ends with the pronouncement that he is the great immoralist and that Dionysus has come to supercede "the Crucified".

This translation of two of Nietzsche's important works includes commentary by Walter Kaufman. Some of Kaufman's commentary is useful; however Kaufman was prone to his own understanding of Nietzsche which he interjected all too often. Nevertheless, these two books stand out as important works which must be understood by those who seek to develop an understanding of the rise of nihilism in the Twentieth Century.

Two important works.......2005-10-09

This anthology of Nietzsche's writing is a marvelous work - Kaufmann's translations make the philosopher's unique style accessible and interesting to the English reader; it doesn't resort to false formality or dry academic prose as is often the case in translation of such material, but rather sets things in lively and dynamic tones, much as Nietzsche's own writing and tendency toward the dramatic was noted by his contemporaries.

Nietzsche's father was a Lutheran minister, but he died five years after Nietzsche's birth in 1844. Nietzsche was raised by his mother, grandmother and aunts; later in his life, his sister would become executor of his estate (after Nietzsche had become incapable of managing his own affairs) and reshape his philosophy and writings in her own idea - this becomes a running motif in later anthologies of Nietzsche; editors can quote and clip to fit their own agendas. In some ways, that is true of Kaufmann's text here, but in much less inappropriate ways than others, particularly Nietzsche's first editor, his sister.

Nietzsche was a star pupil from his earliest days at university in Bonn and Leipzig. His formal study was in classical philology, but his attentions turned in various directions quickly during his writing and professional life - he had an intense interest in drama and the arts, with Wagner's music and Greek drama in principal interest. His first book was devoted to these topics - 'The Birth of Tragedy'. It was not highly regarded at the time, but has since become much more appreciated as an anticipation of later developments in philosophy and aesthetics.

Nietzsche's life after this period was a very choppy one - he left the university, claiming illness, and while this developed later to be a true situation, at the time is was probably academic politics and difficulties fitting in with the establishment he was trying to break. He had a formal falling-out with Wagner, even writing later a piece entitled ' Nietzsche contra Wagner', finished just a few week prior to his going insane.

Kaufmann states in the introduction that Nietzsche's real career took off after his active life was over; under his sister's direction, many of the writings Nietzsche had managed to do and not get published, or which were published but forgotten, really took off in major directions. While his major works of Zarathustra, Ecce Homo, Will to Power and Genealogy of Morals were in various editions of disrepair (indeed, the Will to Power was never more complete than a series of notes), Nietzsche had a knack for language that made him very quotable, and his influence continued to grow well into the first half of the twentieth century, influencing art, philosophy, history, and politics in dramatic ways, if not always the ways in which Nietzsche envisioned.

For example, Nietzsche was not particularly impressed with the 'typical' German anti-semitism, which later erupted into the Nazi movement. He considered it rather bourgeois, and while he undoubted had his own issues with Jews (Nietzsche had issues with almost everyone, particularly any group, Christians included, who had a religious connection), the Nazi use of Nietzsche's work owes more to Nietzsche's sister's influence than anyone else.

Kaufmann states that 'Genealogy of Morals' is perhaps the closest in form to English-speaking philosophical discourse. This is a discussion that involves philosophy, psychology and linguistic theory, looking at morality in three different essays. The first essay explores the idea of good and evil as good and bad; Nietzsche develops the idea of master and slave morality - the slave resists the ideas of the master, and thus values things that are less likely to gain power - Nietzsche sees Christianity as an example of slave morality.

The second essay looks at the issues of conscience and guilt, and how these spawned the invention of gods. The third essay concludes the work with a look at ascetic ideas, how these relate to aesthetic ideas, and where in Nietzsche's opinion the great philosophers of the past have gone wrong.

Perhaps this later explains the second work in this collection, Ecce Homo. In this book (first published posthumously), Nietzsche analyses his own work piece by piece, as well as gives an overall assessment of his life. Nietzsche's insights into his own writings in hindsight is fascinating to behold. For example, his idea of his work in the first piece of this collection, the Genealogy, is as follows:

'Regarding expression, intention, and the art of suprise, the three inquiries which constitute this Genealogy are perhaps uncannier than anything else written so far. Dionysus is, as is known, also the god of darkness.'

Nietzsce is not easy reading, and this work is not the best for casual reading or the first-time reader of Nietzsche. However, for those who have already made some headway into understanding him, this is a good collection, for Kaufmann is one of the better translators and commentators. Kaufmann's notes here are especially valuable.

An Essay on Nietzsche.......2005-06-07

To the eyes of a general reader, Nietzsche's intense energy might be overwhelming, and his theories intimidating. That blonde beast which seems ready to bite into any flesh without the pangs of conscious inevitably conjures up images of a ferocious maniac who would wreck the world, bringing with it infinite sufferings to the grocery-store-citizens and the corn-field-peasants. In fact, this weak peasant who plows his land and prays before his god and whom Nietzsche despises seems like a much more amiable character to the general reader. Certainly, this peasant will not have the will-to-power to reshape the world, but he will be more or less the relative peace of normal life.

Nietzsche, however, can not be so easily dismissed, and if one believes in the above description of the strong against the weak, he is missing the essence of Genealogy. In fact, Nietzsche's blonde beasts are not renegades against the world, instead, they are the masters of the world who recognize the inherent conditions of their environment; this grasp of reality gives them command over promise and forgetfulness, and allow them to set the directions of the world with whatever values they see fit. They are indeed strong, but they are not lawless monsters to be feared. The true renegades against this world are the people who follow the slave morality-they can not succeed in the world because they refuse to conform to the conditions of reality. Under the general rubric of empowerment established by Nietzsche, Weber follows in Politics as Vocation with a concrete example of self-empower in the role of the politician, and Plato also uses Nietzsche's methods in his search to understand the nature of man and society.

The Genealogy of morals is in fact a genealogy of human weakness and suffering. This suffering arises because the conditions of civil life require activities that are in contradiction to the traditional life of the independent savages. This suffering consequently results in "bad consciousness", from which arises a belief within the weakling that he is inherently sinful and bad. Nietzsche writes,

"I regard the bad conscience as the serious illness that man was bound to contract under the stress which occurred when he found himself finally enclosed within the walls of society and of peace." (N, p84)

Nietzsche does not offer an outcast view on this point, and it is easy to imagine the decrease in freedom and increase in pain that men experienced when they turned from hunter and gathers to agriculturalists. When Ghengis Khan marched his horsemen into the lands of the Han or the Muscovites, the Mongolians horsemen despised the conquered natives for their pathetic existence as farmers who had to work all year long doing monotonous work but only to be disappointed by draught or flood.

The agricultural life is only one aspect of the constraint of life of civil man. Living in the state, the man is often deprived of land and is confronted by civil forces thousands of times greater. To lessen his pain, the provincial agriculturalist turns toward the hopes of religion and such, giving rise to the slave Morality which Nietzsche passionately accuses. Nietzsche writes,

"We stand before a discord that wants to be discordant, that enjoys itself in this suffering and even grows more self-confident and triumphant the more its own presupposition, its physiological capacity for life, decreases." (p118)

The situation which propelled the suffering people to turn toward "bad consciousness" is precisely the situation of the man with toothache. One should find a dentist and fill cavities when he has toothache; but those who are too lazy to find a doctor, or refuse to eat less candies will continue to suffer until it is too late and their teeth have already rotten away. But during and at the end of this process, in order to justify one's existence despite his sickness, the sick man tells others that the pain in his mouth is actually a great joy to have and teeth are bad anyway. Despite this effort to manipulate psychology, the man can not escape facts of his body, which is that without teeth he can not chew.

The agriculturalists were forced into a new situation in which they suffered, and the solution was to turn to the morality of the weak. The morality of the weak, in fact, has become so prevalent that many feel it is the only way to live life despite the self-negation and hate inherent in it. As he points out this problem, Nietzsche does not offer a solution explicitly; rather than prescribing, Nietzsche describes an alternative way of life of the truthful and the noble-an alternative way to resolve the problems of civil life. These men do not suffer the pains of the weak, and the reader, desiring for relief from his corrupted existence, must feel a natural inclination toward the "nobler" way of life.

Just before the weak gets ready to embark on a new life, however, they might be shocked back by Nietzsche vigorous depiction of the strong which makes them intimidating and unruly. But in fact, despite their strong "physicality", the strong are not anti-social monsters, but people who are the most willing to conform to the conditions of civil life. To understand their nature, we must delve into their qualities of strength, memory and forgetfulness. Nietzsche writes,

"The knightly-aristocratic value judgments presupposed a powerful physically, a flourishing, abundant, even overflowing health, together with that which serves to preserve it: war, adventure, hunting, dancing, war games, and in general all that involves vigorous, free, joyful activity." (p33)

This passage must not be taken to mean that one must be a Napoleon to be strong, or one who has the right blood pressure and cholesterol level will be strong, or that those who are naturally smaller have no chances in salvation. Real physical health could indeed be beneficial, but the physicality here implies a physicality of the mind-It is the experiences from war and adventure which strengthen one's understanding of the world and of himself that Nietzsche cares about, not the acts of war or adventure themselves. The man of physicality is a man who knows his environment and who can take advantages of its situation to fulfill his ends,

Nietzsche elucidates the specific quality of the strong when he describes their ability to forget and to remember. On forgetting, Nietzsche writes, forgetting offers
"a little quietness, a little tabula rasa of the consciousness, to make room for new things, above all for the nobler functions and functionaries..." (p58)

This forgetfulness at the core is an understanding over the situations of the world, it is about forgetting the senseless worries which only make man impotent. The weakling, after a disaster, will simply dwell upon the horrors of the disaster without understanding the natural causes. He will sink into a world of doubts and superstition, and as Nietzsche writes, he will think that he has done things intrinsically evil against his gods or ancestors. The strong person, on the other hand, has gained a knowledge of the world, and knows that there is no gods behind the clouds. Hence, they might worry, but they will not feel bitter or gain a "bad conscious" against themselves because of the rain. Eradicating worries-this is the essence of forgetfulness. Worry is passion-consuming, and only when the man is independent from can he have the mental capacity left over to gain a greater understanding of the world-he has more time to experience the reality of this world through adventure, through wars.

The ability to make promises arises naturally from the lack of worry; the scientists who knows how clouds form can "promise" their coming. This promise could be for any ends which the active desire of the strong man wills. As Nietzsche writes, memory of the strong is "an active desire not to rid oneself, a desire for the continuance of something desired once, a real memory of the will." (p58)

Nietzsche also describes the memory of the slave morality and its relation to punishment, but this is a different memory than the strong man's memory. Nietzsche writes that the ascetic people's memory is "unforgettable, `fixed,' with the aim of hypnotizing the entire nervous and intellectual system with these `fixed ideas'" (p61) The strong memory is proactive, for it is "an active desire", the weak memory is reactive, for it is about "hypnotizing" the mind. One is used to help the will all its directions, while the wills in only one direction-the abyss into suffering.

This individual who possesses the control over past and future, memory and promises, is the "emancipated individual". This person is liberated "from morality of customs". This emancipation is not accomplished through killing the innocents or running naked, but through the ability to set "measure of value" (p60) based on reality. Nietzsche writes, "...this mastery over himself also necessarily gives him mastery over circumstances, over nature, and over all more short-willed and unreliable creatures." Nietzsche is calling people to become "masters" over circumstances, not to destroy circumstances. The swordsman who is a master over his sword does not use his hands to fight, but is a master precisely because he uses the sword and knows where to find the best sword and how to use it the best.

The difficulty of this mastery is precisely the difficulties of acquiring new languages: it is hard for an adult thrown into a different country to learn the native tongue, but unlike those of the slave morality who give up and blame oneself for inherent inability or blame the language for being evil, the strong people will patiently learn the language. All this requires is a little bravery! Nietzsche writes, man's suffering is

"the result of a forcible sundering from his animal past, as it were a leap and plunge into new surroundings and conditions of existence, a declaration of war against the old instincts upon which his strength, joy and terribleness had rested hitherto." (P85)

Indeed, instinct is the ability of man to react quickly to familiar environment, but the civil man's life requires a new set of skills and understandings, new instincts. Just like the strong with their new tongue can now express themselves in anyway way they desire, the strong man in the greater world will be a master of the "language" of the civil society and thus gain the ability to set values and fulfill wills.

The above ideas draw a positive conclusion from the genealogy, and offers hope to those who are brave, but the Genealogy is a pessimistic book. Nietzsche writes,

"Man has all too long had an `evil eye' for his natural inclinations, so that they have finally become inseparable from his `bad conscience.' An attempt at the reverse would in itself be possible-but who is strong enough for it?... The attainment of this goal would require a different kind of spirit from that likely to appear in this present age..." (p96)

Reading this, it seems that our age is doomed, and the essay in front of you has been promoting a pointless hope that even the hope's supposed originator does not have. But Nietzsche's words are no mere pessimism, they carry a pessimism that is angry at the "bad air" in life, it is pessimism with passion! Nietzsche is an angry mother telling her son that he has no future at all because he only drinks himself to death in a bar every night. The world perhaps has been dark, but this anger will be the lightening rod which shakes away the shells of our complacent irreverence toward truth and nature!

When a reader is confounded by the world which Nietzsche depicts, he may turn to Politics as Vocation by Weber. In this essay, Weber paints a specific case of the grandiose problem of adaptation, or survival in new environments, in the person of the conflicted politician.

Politics as Vocation inherits the essence of Genealogy of Morals in calling for the politician's mastery over circumstances. The politician must both be a master of his internal conditions, and his external conditions. Internally, for the politician to be a politician, he must have "passionate devotion to a `cause'". This passion, or excessive energy, however, can lead to vanity and then the "striving for power ceases to be objective and becomes purely personal self-intoxication" (p116). In order to counterbalance this tendency, Weber says that the politician must have a "cool sense of proportion" (p115). One's ardent political passion is the fire that will draw the hearts of a thousands followers, however, if he gets carried away by the worshipping crowds, then the fire has burnt onto himself. In another word, there is no strength in the ecstasy of self-adulation, there is no power when one does not even notice the reality within himself and is merely fooled by vanity. Although the context is different, Weber is asking exactly what Nietzsche asked: the politician must know what words of praises he should forget and always know what he needs to remember to keep his crowds in control; he needs to constantly adapt to the changing conditions of the crowd so that he will always know its language and express his Will with this tongue.

Extending this into a greater sphere, politicians must rely on the support of businessmen and interest groups, and he necessarily have to use his power to bring to his backers a profit on their investments. Living in this reality, Weber advises the politician to gain mastery over the situation, to know the goals of their political life with a clarity, and to pursue this goal with a sense of responsibility to the goal. In Nietzsche's terms, the politician must learn to forget and not fall into the moral trap of self-deprecation against every "unethical" act that he necessarily takes, but he must also always remember his promised end which he will reach with his mastery over the tools of politics.

Behinds Webber, Plato also has similar things to say as Nietzsche. Nietzsche offers his readers hope with the model of the truthful he erects which all who have a little bravery could follow. Despite differences that can not be discussed here, Plato's creation of the noble city with the noble people could be regarded as an imaginary application of Nietzche's theory (although 2000 earlier).

The whole of Republic is about understanding man and the world. Plato writes, "this very thing, good judgment, is clearly some kind of knowledge, for it's through knowledge, not ignorance, that people judge well." (IV, 426e) The ultimate search for knowledge rests in understanding the light from the "sun", but practically speaking, Plato has made it his duty to search for human nature and the social nature of the Greek-state. The "tripartite soul" conclusion that he draws from the natural conditions of his world is contentious today, and Nietzsche certainly has much to say against it, however, the resolute search for understanding the internal and external conditions of man, however, is the same.

Furthermore, in building his world, Plato asks his nobles to be able to forget certain things with the noble lie. The goal here is precisely the same as Nietzsche's: Plato wanted to leave the inessentials in the past, and prevent obsession with the "dark" things that gods supposed did or the petty accounts of who was truly "silver" or "gold", stories and accounts that will elude man on their journey for greater power. With their passion freed from the foolishness of the past, from the plays of dark shadows reflected from the fires in the cage, men and society as a whole is better positioned to get out of the hole of the past and embrace the glory of truth.

In all, Nietzsche's strong men are not scary. The weak ones of the slave morality are not scary either, it is merely so sad to behold them that catapulted Nietzsche writes about them with such vehement anger. Nietzsche never says that the strong should be followed, and perhaps in other books of his one can draw differing conclusions about what Nietzsche really is promoting, however, from the Genealogy, it is clear that the contrast between the strong and the weak makes the strong a more appropriate role model. Again, one does not need to be scared of them, they are merely adroit adaptationists, masters of their environment, not destroyers.

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"A promise reaching across millennia"

On the Genealogy of Morality
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche , Maudemarie Clark , and Alan J. Swensen
Manufacturer: Hackett Publishing Company
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ASIN: 0872202836

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"A promise reaching across millennia".......2000-06-20

Reading the newly pre-eminent translation of "The Genealogy of Morality" by Maudemarie Clark (a standard-bearer in Nietzsche scholarship) and Alan Swensen, a book regarded by Nietzsche himself as "a touchstone for what belongs to me," one may well wonder if, since its publication in 1887, much has been established in the genres of moral philosophy or moral psychology that is not merely an unwitting (or unacknowledged) footnote to the scintillating propositions, probabilities, and speculations this book.

Book Description

Various historians, philosophers, and social scientists have attempted to provide convincing explanations of the roots of violence, with mixed and confusing results. This book brings Kierkegaard's voice into this conversation in a powerful way, arguing that the Christian intellectual tradition offers the key philosophical tools needed for comprehending human pathology.

Customer Reviews:

Marriage of Kierkegaard and Girard?.......2001-07-24

Written by Matthew Taylor

Charles Bellinger's book joins a very impressive body of work applying the "theological anthropology" of Rene Girard to the problem of human evil and, particularly, violence. Bellinger brings Soren Kierkegaard into the Girardian conversation, arguing that Kierkegaard is an indispensable thinker concerning the roots of human violence, though seldom recognized as such, and that his thought is fully compatible with Girard's. Bellinger's book is rewarding and probably essential reading for Girardians. It serves as a good introduction to Kierkegaard to those who (like myself) have badly neglected him.

Bellinger brings Girard's and Kierkegaard's to bear particularly on the most horrible atrocities of the twentieth century, Hitler's and Stalin's. Bellinger overviews some well-known theories of violence to explain these mass murders. While rejecting none of the theories completely, Bellinger nonetheless tries them and find them greatly wanting. Since violence is the outward manifestation of a moral and spiritual disease that infects all of us, Bellinger maintains that it cannot be adequately approached through the morally neutral language and categories of the social sciences. Theology is not just helpful here; it is indispensable.

Bellinger argues, with Kierkegaard, that a violence-prone orientation toward our fellow human beings is rooted in our disordered orientation to God. God wants to cooperate with us in a continual act of loving creation out of the inner void of our being (hence the subtitle of Bellinger's book). Rejecting God's creative work, literally fleeing from it in terror (angst), we opt to perform our own. But in so doing, we are creating, against God, a false knowledge built out of illusions of our own and others' making, in particular the false knowledge of the "crowd."

Turning to Girard (whose work is much more familiar to me) Bellinger calls him "the most significant theorist of violence in the twentieth century," and I completely agree. Girard posits that we are "hardwired" for violence in two fundamental ways: 1) we look to others ("mimetic desire") to learn what we want, and are often drawn into rivalry and conflict with them, 2) we may purchase a tenuous "peace" with those with whom we are in conflict by scapegoating a third party. These twin modes of violence (mimetic rivalry and scapegoating) can manifest at different levels: national (as when a disturbed population singles out an entire group for persecution or elimination), local (as when disgruntled villagers turn into a lynch mob), interpersonal (as when two peers solidify their friendship by ridiculing a third party), or internal (as when a disturbed individual seeks a "sacrificial" resolution to his or her psychological torment through murder, suicide, self-mutilation, addiction, etc.). Any theological approach to violence, especially a Christian one, needs to address the violence perpetrated by Christians over the centuries. Kierkegaard and Girard do not flinch here (many of Girard's key examples of scapegoating come from medieval persecutions by Christians) and neither does Bellinger. Where did/do Christians go wrong? While Girard's answer is nuanced and, I feel, very enlightening, this is the one part of Bellinger's book that I might be tempted to call simplistic. Bellinger says in effect that, before Constantine, Christianity was a world-transforming pacifistic sect, but after Constantine became institutionalized, it took on (whether Catholic or Protestant) the violent, sacrificial propensities of every other human institution. Thus, Bellinger implies (I think) that Christ's pacifistic mission seems to be most successfully re-engaged by small, dissenting sects (e.g. Anabaptist).

I think this is problematic, both as history and as an approach to Christian violence, and I don't think Girard (a practicing Catholic) would put it like that. Let me just note that small bands of noble-minded Christian dissenters can devolve into scary, apocalyptic cults, while popes (for instance, the present one) can pursue breathtaking, globe-spanning efforts in repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. Big is not necessarily bad, nor small necessarily beautiful, and Girard has shown that violence and scapegoating take place at all levels. Christianity can fail grotesquely AS an institution. That doesn't mean that it fails because it IS an institution.

Another quibble I have is that, while persuasively arguing that there is an important social element in Kierkegaard's thought, Bellinger turns around and says that we can also derive an implicit "individualism" from Girard's. Either I haven't fully absorbed this argument, or I have misconstrued Girard's idea that we are all "interdividuals" (inescapably constituted by others, whether for good or ill). I suspect that here, again, Bellinger is importing Protestant assumptions (which may after all be right) into Girard's thought (which may after all be wrong).

The recent publication of Girard's own is fortuitous for Bellinger. Girard's book takes his mimetic theory in a direction that Bellinger anticipates and endorses; that is, Girard throws down the gauntlet and takes an unapologetically theological approach to the problem of violence. Girard also deals with both Naziism and Stalinism in ways that complement and augment Bellinger's book. Does Bellinger get to the roots of human violence? All I can say is that people like Bellinger, who are engaging Girard's mimetic theory, are coming closer than anyone I know of. Do we dare address the magnitude of Hitler's and Stalin's crimes by pursuing such theories? Do we dishonor their victims? Is the evil finally just too hideous and impenetrable? I think the evil is certainly hideous, but perhaps not so impenetrable, because (and I think Bellinger, Kierkegaard or Girard would agree) there is almost literally nothing behind it. There is the pathetic human (which we all are) fleeing from the emptiness inside, feeding on a lot of resentments and illusions, and looking for scapegoats. This is certainly deadly, but maybe it is not so scary after all. We do no dishonor to the dead by flushing out the grotesque lie that murdered them.

The Roots of Violence.......2001-07-12

Bellinger is primarily a follower of Soren Kierkegaard and he offers compelling arguments for why SK is particularly helpful in understanding the psychology of human violence. He puts SK in dialogue with several 20th century thinkers, but most especially dialogues with Rene Girard,with references to Schwager, Alison, Bailie, etc.
SK has been associated so strongly with the existentialists that it is hard to get people to adjust to a new way of pegging SK, but this book is a great help. He gives a strong argument for the so-called individualism of SK being, in reality, a trenchant social critique. The "individual" for SK is NOT individualistic. Rather, such a one is grounded in GOD rather than grounded in the crowd. That is a fundamental human choice.
SK experienced first-hand the bitter rewards of the being himself a victim as a leading periodical in Copenhagen, the "Corsair," launched a scapegoating campaign against SK that ecame so virulent that it became impossible for him to walk the streets without being surrounded by mockers.
This book is challenging,but clearly argued. Hihly recommended to anyone interested in understanding violence from a theological viewpoint.

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Before Good and Evil

Hard work but worth it.

Nietzsche's most sustained philosophical discussion

Nietzsche: 'On the Genealogy of Morality' and Other Writings: Revised Student Edition (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)
Friedrich Nietzsche
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Nietzsche: The Anti-Christ, Ecce Homo, Twilight of the Idols: And Other Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy)

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ASIN: 052169163X

Book Description
Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most influential thinkers of the past 150 years and On the Genealogy of Morality (1887) is his most important work on ethics and politics. A polemical contribution to moral and political theory, it offers a critique of moral values and traces the historical evolution of concepts such as guilt, conscience, responsibility, law and justice. This is a revised and updated edition of one of the most successful volumes to appear in Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought. Keith Ansell-Pearson has modified his introduction to Nietzsche's classic text, and Carol Diethe has incorporated a number of changes to the translation itself, reflecting the considerable advances in our understanding of Nietzsche in the twelve years since this edition first appeared. In this new guise the Cambridge Texts edition of Nietzsche's Genealogy should continue to enjoy widespread adoption, at both undergraduate and graduate level.
Customer Reviews:

Before Good and Evil.......2006-11-12
"We are unknown to ourselves" (3) writes Friedrich Nietzsche, beginning his work On the Genealogy of Morality with a sweeping statement not just about the human condition, but about the state of Europe at the end of the 19th century. "We have never looked for ourselves" he continues, "so how are we ever supposed to find ourselves?" (ibid.) Nietzsche's famous - or, infamous - belief that Judaism, through Christianity, has bequeathed to the world a "slave morality" that has held the West captive is what this book is about.

"[A]ll religions are, at their most fundamental, systems of cruelty" (41) - and they are ultimately perpetuated by priests whose own state of inferiority once upon a time led to a great revolt in the world such that the priests came out on top and the powerful were castigated. One can, in many ways, see the old Protestant polemic against Catholicism now turned against not just Protestantisms, but against all religion in general. In many ways Nietzsche's attack on asceticism is like Martin Luther's, only without any positing of salvation from Christ. Instead, salvation comes from the anti-Christ, who is also an anti-nihilist, that frees people to enact their own "will to power" - an aesthetic creating that pays no attention to distictions between good and evil.

Nietzsche seeks what he terms "the revaluation of all values", particularly in the realm of moral judgment; the aesthetic will to power exists to return us "to the innocent conscience of the wild beast" (25) for "no cruelty, no feast" (46). By claiming that our current conceptions of "good" are ultimately due to the ressentiment of religious persons thousands of years ago, he is able to claim that our current understanding of "good" is really actually the opposite of what it purports to be. Aesthetics of the Nietzschean sort is "beyond good and evil" and therefore far closer to the old morality of nobility that once reigned supreme in the West before the revolt of the priests. In short, "what if God himself turned out to be our oldest lie?" (119)

This is not just an attack on religion, however, for Nietzsche sees the "ascetic ideals" of religion as being identical to those of philosophers: "the unconditional will to truth is faith in the ascetic ideal itself, evin if, as an unconscious imperative, - make no mistake about it, - it is the faith in a metaphysical value, a value as such of truth as vouched for and confirmed by that ideal alone" (119). Even our faith in science is based upon the old idea that truth really exists - that it is "out there" to be discovered - which means, ironically, that in their claims of the existence of truth religion and science are actually far closer together than they often like to think of themselves as being.

Nietzsche, as the back of the book states, "is one of the most influential thinkers of the past 150 years". Regardless of what one makes of him - and intellectual historians such as Steven Aschheim have noted that there have been a bewildering number of interpretations of Nietzsche since he went insane in 1890 - he is, because of his influence (whether on the Nazis or on radical French intellectual in the 1960s or the doyens of intellectual posers) worth reading. This is not his most literary work by any stretch of the imagination - one should read Thus Spoke Zarathustra for an example of Nietzsche's literary genius - or his most pointed and polemical - Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christ, which often come together in a single volume, are Nietzsche short, fast, and hard. Genealogy of Morality, however, represents an important step in the development of his own thought, and therefore in much intellectual history since. If that is one's interest, then Nietzsche's Genealogy is worth reading.
Hard work but worth it........2004-12-12
Firstly I am going to say i am no expert in philosophy or Nietzsche, so if you are it's time to scroll up to the above review (far more detailed). What I will try and do is tell you why you should read this book if you are new to the subject. Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the finest minds to have considered the problems of philosophy and this text gives an insight into his thought. Far more importantly it causes one to reconsider their attitudes and justify many assumptions that were unthinkingly held. The real beauty of this book is that the aphoristic structure and polemical, quasi metaphorical style provide huge space for individual response to the text, you will learn a lot about yourself reading this text as well as a lot about politics, morality and even epistemology and metaphysics. In short read and enjoy although it might be a good idea to get a commentary or introduction to Nietzsches' thought otherwise you may get a little lost.
Nietzsche's most sustained philosophical discussion.......2004-08-22
This translation of Nietzsche's ON THE GENEALOGY OF MORALITY by Carol Diethe, edited by Keith Ansell-Pearson for Cambridge texts in the History of Political Thought, includes some supplementary material, as is now customary for English translations of this book published by Nietzsche in 1887. Section 4 of Nietzsche's Preface calls attention to ten sections in his other books. Walter Kaufmann's translation has an Appendix of Seventy-five Aphorisms from Five Volumes, 28 of which are three lines or less long, showing Walter Kaufmann's preference for discreet little thoughts. Not all ten sections mentioned by Nietzsche were included in Kaufmann's Appendix, but a footnote in this book promises to include "All the passages Nietzsche mentioned" (p. 6, n. 7). Twenty-nine sections are included in the supplementary material in this book, none of which are less than ten lines long, showing more of an appreciation for sustained thought. Titles of these sections are not given in Nietzsche's preface, except for HUMAN, ALL TOO HUMAN volume II, section 89, which is called `Morality of Custom' on page 6, `Custom and its sacrifices' on page 135, and `Mores and their victim' in the Mixed Opinions and Maxims (1879) section 89 of Kaufmann's Appendix.

I believe ON THE GENEALOGY OF MORALITY is Nietzsche's most philosophically sophisticated work, and found that my knowledge of Latin was helpful in reading Walter Kaufmann's translation of the long Tertullian (circa 197 A.D.) quote in section 15 of the first essay, because Nietzsche's comments, such as "in better voice, yet worse screamers" were located in parentheses within the Latin text, while the English translation in the footnote contained additional information in brackets, such as `[Quaestuaria means prostitute, not carpenter: see Nietzsche's parenthesis above.]' This book also has Nietzsche's comments in parentheses in the Latin text, "(in better voice, screaming even louder)" (p. 33), but the brackets in the footnote also contain Nietzsche's comments "[i.e. screaming even louder] in their own tragedy" (p. 34, n. 42) so it is much easier to follow reading only the English, which tries to encompass every possible translation with its "`This is he', I will say, `that son of a carpenter or prostitute . . .'" (p. 34, n. 42). I am leaving out a few insults after Nietzsche refers to `this well-known description of the mother of Jesus from the Talmud' (p. 34, n. 42), but they are just before Nietzsche adds some Latin of his own, "(Per fidem: that is what is written.)" (p. 33).

This translation adds a footnote at this point quoting Tacitus at ANNALS XV. 44, which suggests why the supplementary material includes sections 195-203 of BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL. Kaufmann's translation mentioned section 200 in a footnote at this point, but it is interesting that section 195 started with "The Jews -- a people `born for slavery', as Tacitus and the whole ancient world says," (p. 155 and n.1: Tacitus, HISTORIES V. 8.). Kaufmann's Appendix did not include BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL, but he certainly assumed that readers would have access to an English translation of that work, having done one himself.

My interest in ON THE GENEALOGY OF MORALITY is mainly in combining Nietzsche's ideas about will to truth, listed in the index for pages xix-xx, 119-20, 126-7, 169, which includes the idea that will to truth is not so much a remnant of the ascetic ideal `as its kernel' (p. 126) with comedy, listed in the index for 9, 81. Nietzsche links "the Dionysian drama of the `fate of the soul'" with "the grand old eternal writer of the comedy of our existence!" (p. 9), leading up to "you almost need to be a cow for this one thing and certainly not a `modern man': it is rumination" (p. 10). Nietzsche seems less interested in comedy itself than in philosophers. "A married philosopher belongs to comedy, that is my proposition: and the exception, Socrates, the mischievous Socrates, . . . Every philosopher would say what Buddha said when he was told of the birth of a son: `Rahula is born to me, a fetter is forged for me' (Rahula means here `a little demon'); . . `freedom is leaving the house': so thinking, he left the house." (p. 81). Nietzsche goes into Latin again to say `Let the world perish, but let philosophy exist, let the philosopher exist, let me exist' (p. 82, n. 76). Thoughts about throwing `the human soul out of joint' (p. 110) hardly seem like the way to comedy or even music, but "The main contrivance which the ascetic priest allowed himself to use in order to make the human soul resound with every kind of heart-rending and ecstatic music was -- as everyone knows -- his utilization of the feeling of guilt." (p. 110). The order of Assassins can be found in the Index of Names for the discussion on page 118, with its "inkling of that symbol and watchword which was reserved for the highest ranks alone as their secretum: `nothing is true, everything is permitted' " that challenges the belief in truth.

Nietzsche mentioned THE WILL TO POWER as `a work I am writing' at the beginning of section 27 for serious consideration of the History of European Nihilism, but wanted to draw this book to a conclusion "that the ascetic ideal has, for the present, even in the most spiritual sphere, only one type of real enemy and injurer: these are the comedians of this ideal -- because they arouse mistrust." (pp. 125-6). This leads right into the will to truth being the kernel of the ascetic ideal, as mentioned above.

The early Prefaces for `The Greek State' and `Homer on Competition' found on pages 176-194 are interesting for comparing the noble ideals of antiquity with the possibility `that we will be destroyed because we fail to keep slaves' (p. 180). Concluding with `it then only takes a panicky fright to make it fall and smash it. . . . they betray the Hellenic . . ." (p. 194).

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Greatest destructor

An important work

Not your normal 'God is dead' type of heresy

THE HIGHLIGHT ABOUT MORALITY

Life changing

The Genealogy of Morals (Dover Thrift Editions)
Friedrich Nietzsche
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486426912

Book Description

Major work on ethics, by one of the most influential thinkers of the last 2 centuries, deals with master/slave morality and modern man's current moral practices; the evolution of man's feelings of guilt and bad conscience; and how ascetic ideals help maintain human life under certain conditions.

Customer Reviews:

Greatest destructor.......2006-11-18
What Socrates tried to build troughout his whole life, Nietzsche almost destroyed in couple of books. Said like this, it seems simplistic enough, but it is far from that. To understand Nietzsche, one has to reach much deeper than Nietzsche's words suggest. One has to know Schoppenhauer, has to now french philosophers, contractualist, and most of all one has to know greek philosophy. And greek culture. The place where it all began. At least for the westerners. Nietzsche was also great admirer and critic of Indian, Vedanta tradition, so to understand Nietzsche one will eventualy have to travel even to those horisons, which are in itself something completely different.

Why am I saying all of this?

Because it is often proven that it is too easy to misread Nietzsche, calling him an emerging point from which Nacism rose, and putting him, with Plato in a place where inventors of fascist state sleep their eternal sleep.

One has to be careful when reading Nietzsche. It is too easy to insert meaning which are not present in the text. And in that manner, it is easy to create philosophy totaly alien from its author.

If one wants to travel deep inside the Nietzsches core, one should start his journey with this book. It seems to be the most grateful for begginners. Not to mention that it is excellent for trying different approach to history of morals, approach that is in a way revolutionary if we were not customed to it nowadays. But in time of Nietzsches life, this sounded outrageous.

It may stand as constant reminder, if some of you forgot that, how radical criticism is not looked upon with kindness.

These are just few words which doesen't explain a thing in fact, but if you are at least interested in history (or geneaology) of morals, and conceptual problems which rise from it, you should definitely read this book.
An important work .......2005-10-14
This particular piece of Nietzsche's writing is a marvelous work - it is interesting and lively, much as Nietzsche's own writing and tendency toward the dramatic was noted by his contemporaries.

Nietzsche's father was a Lutheran minister, but he died five years after Nietzsche's birth in 1844. Nietzsche was raised by his mother, grandmother and aunts; later in his life, his sister would become executor of his estate (after Nietzsche had become incapable of managing his own affairs) and reshape his philosophy and writings in her own idea - this becomes a running motif in later anthologies of Nietzsche; editors can quote and clip to fit their own agendas. In some ways, that is true of the text here, but in much less inappropriate ways than others, particularly Nietzsche's first editor, his sister.

Nietzsche was a star pupil from his earliest days at university in Bonn and Leipzig. His formal study was in classical philology, but his attentions turned in various directions quickly during his writing and professional life - he had an intense interest in drama and the arts, with Wagner's music and Greek drama in principal interest. His first book was devoted to these topics - 'The Birth of Tragedy'. It was not highly regarded at the time, but has since become much more appreciated as an anticipation of later developments in philosophy and aesthetics.

Nietzsche's life after this period was a very choppy one - he left the university, claiming illness, and while this developed later to be a true situation, at the time is was probably academic politics and difficulties fitting in with the establishment he was trying to break. He had a formal falling-out with Wagner, even writing later a piece entitled ' Nietzsche contra Wagner', finished just a few week prior to his going insane.

In another edition, Walter Kaufmann states that Nietzsche's real career took off after his active life was over; under his sister's direction, many of the writings Nietzsche had managed to do and not get published, or which were published but forgotten, really took off in major directions. While his major works of Zarathustra, Ecce Homo, Will to Power and Genealogy of Morals were in various editions of disrepair (indeed, the Will to Power was never more complete than a series of notes), Nietzsche had a knack for language that made him very quotable, and his influence continued to grow well into the first half of the twentieth century, influencing art, philosophy, history, and politics in dramatic ways, if not always the ways in which Nietzsche envisioned.

For example, Nietzsche was not particularly impressed with the 'typical' German anti-semitism, which later erupted into the Nazi movement. He considered it rather bourgeois, and while he undoubted had his own issues with Jews (Nietzsche had issues with almost everyone, particularly any group, Christians included, who had a religious connection), the Nazi use of Nietzsche's work owes more to Nietzsche's sister's influence than anyone else.

'The Genealogy of Morals' is perhaps the closest in form to English-speaking philosophical discourse. This is a discussion that involves philosophy, psychology and linguistic theory, looking at morality in three different essays. The first essay explores the idea of good and evil as good and bad; Nietzsche develops the idea of master and slave morality - the slave resists the ideas of the master, and thus values things that are less likely to gain power - Nietzsche sees Christianity as an example of slave morality.

The second essay looks at the issues of conscience and guilt, and how these spawned the invention of gods. The third essay concludes the work with a look at ascetic ideas, how these relate to aesthetic ideas, and where in Nietzsche's opinion the great philosophers of the past have gone wrong.

In his book Ecce Homo (first published posthumously), Nietzsche analyses his own work piece by piece, as well as gives an overall assessment of his life. Nietzsche's insights into his own writings in hindsight is fascinating to behold. His own idea of 'The Genealogy of Morals' can be found in this piece as follows:

'Regarding expression, intention, and the art of suprise, the three inquiries which constitute this Genealogy are perhaps uncannier than anything else written so far. Dionysus is, as is known, also the god of darkness.'

Nietzsce is not easy reading, and this work is not the best for casual reading or the first-time reader of Nietzsche. However, for those who have already made some headway into understanding him, this is a good volume.
Not your normal 'God is dead' type of heresy.......2005-01-16
This is the intelligent man or woman's bible. It shows just how morals came to be. How they have dictated our lives ever since they have been created. How they have changed our society, and especially how they have silenced the common man. Nietzsche is, for lack of a better word, brillant. His writing never ever loses its passion. He believes in what he writes and he supports it even more, with not just what Christians call "athiest dogma" but with theory and evne fact.

He outlines how "Good and Evil" really came to be. How what we define as good is only what the people in power (the rich and people of religion) tell us is good. They only share with us the good that keeps us in line, not what sets us free. This is what Nietzsche outlines so very well. This book is brillant, one of a kind, and possibly one of his most important novels.

No matter your race, religion, or creed, I hope you check this book out. It is worth your time, trust me. What he talks about affects us all and should be shared in the public. It really is a shame that even today, long after his death, his words still have not had the affect they should have had.
THE HIGHLIGHT ABOUT MORALITY.......2004-10-24
This is a REAL HIGHLIGHT out of the last "creative period" of Nietzsche, dating from about one and a half year before he fell in that cruel mental illness (NOT syphillis, as is told in the streets...), that lead him to his death: HE WROTE THIS BOOK IN ONE BREATHE, WITHOUT INTERRUPTION, IN 3 WEEKS: FROM JULY 10th UNTIL JULY 30th OF 1887 !!! In his "Genealogy" we find back some basic concepts, principles of ethics as there are "GOOD AND EVIL", "GUILT AND CONSCIENCE" and "THE ASCETIC IDEAL". These subjects stay central anywhere in the book. But the author DOES NOT AT ALL "TREAT" these notions conform to their normal usage in the philosophy of morality. He is NOT INTERESTED IN WHAT THEY (the morals) MEAN, or in THEIR VALUE in whatever kind of morality, NOR in their NORMATIVE VALUE OR MERIT. Instead he is in search of their "BIRTH", their "ORIGIN" and in how they "FUNCTION" in an organised society.

Again, it is NOT IMPORTANT to Nietzsche what is the VALUE of this or that action. WHAT IS REALLY OF IMPORTANCE HERE IS THE VALUE/MERIT OF THIS OR THAT VALUE ITSELF. As he wrote (and said so many times): "WE NEED A CRITICISM OF MORAL VALUES: FIRST OF ALL, THE VALUE OF THESE VALUES MUST BE QUESTIONED." As to him there doesn't exist anything like a linear, progressive development of morality: the latter is the RESULT of the eternal combat between "masters and slaves", between "those who govern and those that are being reigned over". Each of these "GROUPS" tries - ALWAYS AND EVERYWHERE - to acquire as much power as possible versus the other.
MORALITY ("MORALS") IS THE MOST IMPORTANT INSTRUMENT - IF NOT BY EXCELLENCE - IN THIS FIGHT, THIS COMBAT, WHICH IS THE RESULT OF THE DRIFT, THE PASSION OF EACH MAN OR GROUP: THE WILL FOR POWER.

This MASTERPIECE from the giant German philosopher DOES NOT READ like a novel. BUT THE BOOK IS SO IMPORTANT FOR THE THOUGHTS, THIS HIGHEST-LEVEL THINKING of this genius concerning morals which he describes, even DISSECTS here. "Not an easy read" DOES NOT MEAN that it can't and/or shouldn't be read! ON THE CONTRARY: THANKS TO THE ENORMOUS LITERARY TALENT OF NIETZSCHE, THE THEMES AND THOUGHTS THAT TOUCH, AFFECT ALL OF US EVERY DAY, THIS WORK "NEEDS" OUR ATTENTION (and vice versa).
TO EVERY READER WHO KNOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF INTROSPECTION, AND WHO WANTS TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF "OUR MORALS", I RECOMMEND THIS "GENEALOGY" (OH YES, HE CHOSE THE RIGHT WORDS...) OUT OF MY HEART AND REASON. NONE OF YOU WILL EVER REGRET HAVING READ THIS SO "MATURE" MASTERPIECE, WHICH TOUCHES ALL OF OUR BEINGS AND SOULS.
Life changing.......2004-08-18
Nietzsche, like no other philosopher that I have read, has changed the way that I see the world. This is a book to read if you want to learn something about yourself. Nietzsche may have gone insane and had delusions that he was God, but he revolutionised modern thought. There is a special place in hell for German philosophers, but it's a place that's worth visiting.

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Late Comer in the Cultural Disputes over the "True"

An important work

A Wonderful Intelligent Study, Although Slightly Wayward

An Important Book

Truth and Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy
Bernard Williams
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description
What does it mean to be truthful? What role does truth play in our lives? What do we lose if we reject truthfulness? No philosopher is better suited to answer these questions than Bernard Williams. Writing with his characteristic combination of passion and elegant simplicity, he explores the value of truth and finds it to be both less and more than we might imagine.
Modern culture exhibits two attitudes toward truth: suspicion of being deceived (no one wants to be fooled) and skepticism that objective truth exists at all (no one wants to be naive). This tension between a demand for truthfulness and the doubt that there is any truth to be found is not an abstract paradox. It has political consequences and signals a danger that our intellectual activities, particularly in the humanities, may tear themselves to pieces.
Williams's approach, in the tradition of Nietzsche's genealogy, blends philosophy, history, and a fictional account of how the human concern with truth might have arisen. Without denying that we should worry about the contingency of much that we take for granted, he defends truth as an intellectual objective and a cultural value. He identifies two basic virtues of truth, Accuracy and Sincerity, the first of which aims at finding out the truth and the second at telling it. He describes different psychological and social forms that these virtues have taken and asks what ideas can make best sense of them today.
Truth and Truthfulness presents a powerful challenge to the fashionable belief that truth has no value, but equally to the traditional faith that its value guarantees itself. Bernard Williams shows us that when we lose a sense of the value of truth, we lose a lot both politically and personally, and may well lose everything.

Customer Reviews:

Late Comer in the Cultural Disputes over the "True".......2005-08-05
William's book is a psychological, epistemological, and ethical inquiry into the meaning of "the true" and what it means, derivatively, to be "truthful." Center stage to the intellectual dispute belongs those that deny that anything is true: Literary deconstruction, social constructionists, scientific paradigms, etc. The thrust of his argument is based on a fictive genealogy of the State of Nature designed to bring out, in abstract form, the functional elements of truthfulness. The operative word here is "functional" and how we ordinarily apply truth-telling to the world we find ourselves in. Truth-telling is both normative and operative. Instead of philosophically dry truth values, Williams raises the question of "values of truth," like sincerity and accuracy. Most of the book resides in describing ancillary aspects of this fictive state, as a running commentary on relativism in general, the importance of true-statements, and Rorty's pragmatic relativism in particular. Except for myopic humanities programs, the prevailing academic winds are no longer blasting behind William's opponents, so many of his arguments are dated and under-inflated. It's a very poignant exercise, but one that seems more tangential to the central theme than head-on polemics like Ellis' "Against Deconstruction," Kripke's "Naming and Necessity," Searle's "Social Construction," and Hirsch's "Validity of Interpretation." Primarily for philosophy students and libraries.
An important work.......2003-05-20
I found Williams' treatment of truth to be an important contribution. I thought well enough of it that I'm coming our of retirement to do a graduate course on the book in the Fall. Non-philosophers will find it tough going, but well worth the effort. I think this is an important book and everyone I've recommended it to has agreed with that judgment.
A Wonderful Intelligent Study, Although Slightly Wayward.......2002-11-16
Williams is one of the wisest and more learned of philosophers working in English, a man of capacious intelligence and brilliant insight, and a man gracious enough to have learned how to write lucid, enjoyable prose. I share Michael Colson's enthusiasm, although I share none of his worries or dislikes. His "Enemies List" is not mine. And I think it should not be Williams's. I remain unpersuaded that the account of what we mean by true discourse given by the bogeymen of postmodernity amounts to a denial that anything's true or that in matters of the mind "anything goes." Williams is on the right track but turns off a little too soon--in what amounts to a failure of attentiveness. But the second part of the book easily compensates for the occasional disappointments of the first part. One can feel he is not entirely fair to some of his philosophical contemporaries, and still feel a great deal of gratitude for the pleasure of his company.
An Important Book.......2002-09-11
Williams is a philosopher of extraordinary depth and insight, and this book is a splendid example of how members of glistening Ivory Towers can indeed address the concrete concerns of those who bustle among the popular hordes of relativism. Williams--a wise veteran philosopher--takes up the topic of truth. He approaches the notions of trust, authenticity, and sincerity, and by contrast, he engages the problems of lies, deception, and infelicity. There are numerous lessons to be learned in these pages, some of which the present reviewer notwithstanding most dutifully needs to assimilate into his own deliberative set.
I cannot stress enough how important this book is in our current social and academic milieu. It reaches into the thoracic cavity of philosophy and liberates its hardened, cold heart by messaging throbbing life into it.
Those persuaded by the respective New Age, Poststructuralism, Relativism bent are highly encouraged to read this book. If your nightstand reading is A Course on Miracles or anything pertaining to Ayn Rand, C. Castenada, S. Maclaine, Lacan, Adorno, Rorty, Derrida, K. Silverman, J. Butler, Krishnamurti, tantric sex, or the healing properties of desert rocks, you MUST read this book. If you believe sand fleas are space aliens and are responsible for the human population of Mother Gaia, order now. Hear Ye, Cultural Relativists and anthropology majors!
I also recommend: Nozick, Invariances; Searle, Social Construction; Krausz, Relativism; Nagel, Last Word; and the Williams corpus.
The fundamental point of discussion here is a tension between the pursuit of truthfulness and a certain skeptical doubt as to whether truth is to be had. This book embraces the nature and scope of philosophical inquiry with subtle, clear, and rigorous arguments.
Chapter One: Defines and spells out the philosophical problem. Chapter Two: A fictional account about how the problem of truth arises--its "genealogy." Chapter Three: Discusses language, plain truths, and values. Chapter Four (most important): On truth, assertion, and beliefs. Chapter Five: Sincerity, Lying, and Styles of Deceit. ETC.
This book deserves my highest recommendation.

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The Birth of Tragedy and the Genealogy of Morals. (Translated by Francis Golffing)
Friedrich Nietzsche
Manufacturer: Doubleday Anchor 1956.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000L5CWGY

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