Beyond Good And Evil

Friedrich Nietzsche was a Prussian philosopher who was born in 1844 and died at the age of 55. A philosopher, philologist, cultural critic, and expertly trained in Greek and ancient philosophy (in addition to his knowledge of contemporary thought), he was the youngest person to ever have held the chair in philology at the University of Basel where he taught for a decade before resigning his position at the age of 34 due to poor health. Experiencing a physical breakdown at the age of 45, his health deteriorated rapidly; he was admitted to the Basel psychiatric hospital after experiencing a psychotic episode, finally dying of complications from his illnesses on August 25, 1900.

One of the most preeminent minds while still working, Nietzsche’s writing covered a vast range of topics, touching on issues related to religion, ethics, poetry, art, science, and cultural institutions. Known most popularly for his elevation of the concept of the Übermensch, doctrine of eternal return, the character Zarathustra, and the parable of the madman in which the death of God is proclaimed, most of his influence came after his death. While his sister posthumously doctored many of his manuscripts and writings in favor of her own radical political and social beliefs, Nietzsche’s works have since been restored and have proved to be profoundly influential on the thought of numerous great thinkers and philosophers in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The work of Beyond Good and Evil was penned in 1886 during the second half of his prolific writing career, which saw seven books written over a span of three years (from 1886 to 1888). Beyond Good and Evil followed immediately upon the more infamous Thus Spoke Zarathustra, a work in which many of the concepts and ideals put forth in Beyond Good and Evil are present in a more subtle narrative format. Nietzsche’s influence grew exponentially in the second half of the 20th century and proved to be influential on the likes of Bertrand Russell, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Oswald Spengler, Leo Strauss, and Max Scheler.