On the genealogy of morals

Description

On the Genealogy of Morals (1887) is a book about the history of ethics and about interpretation. Nietzsche rewrites the former as a history of cruelty, exposing the central values of the Judaeo-Christian and liberal traditions - compassion, equality, justice - as the product of a brutal process of conditioning designed to domesticate the animal vitality of earlier cultures. The result is a book which raises profoundly disquieting issues about the violence of both ethics and interpretation. Nietzsche questions moral certainties by showing that religion and science have no claim to absolute truth, before turning on his own arguments in order to call their very presuppositions into question. The Genealogy is the most sustained of Nietzsche's later works and offers one of the fullest expressions of his characteristic concerns. This edition places his ideas within the cultural context of his own time and stresses the relevance of his work for a contemporary audience.

Subjects

Series Statement

• Oxford world's classics

Other Editions

• On the genealogy of morals: a polemic : by way of clarification and supplement to my last book, Beyond good and evilOxford University Press2008-01-01
• A genealogy of moralsMacmillan1897-01-01
• The genealogy of moralsFoulis1910-01-01
• The genealogy of moralsBoni and Liveright1923-01-01
• Ecce homo.Vintage Books1967-01-01
• On the genealogy of moralsRandom House1969-01-01