Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality

A landmark work of western philosophy, "On the Genealogy of Morality" is a dazzling and brilliantly incisive attack on European "morality". Combining philosophical acuity with psychological insight in prose of remarkable rhetorical power, Nietzsche takes up the task of offering us reasons to engage in a re-evaluation of our values. In this book, David Owen offers a reflective and insightful analysis of Nietzsche's text. He provides an account of how Nietzsche comes to the project of the re-evaluation of values; he shows how the development of Nietzsche's understanding of the requirements of this project lead him to acknowledge the need for the kind of investigation of "morality" that he terms "genealogy"; he elucidates the general structure and substantive arguments of Nietzsche's text, accounting for the rhetorical form of these arguments, and he debates the character of genealogy (as exemplified by Nietzsche's "Genealogy") as a form of critical enquiry. Owen argues that there is a specific development of Nietzsche's work from his earlier "Daybreak" (1881) and that in "Genealogy of Morality", Nietzsche is developing a critique of modes of agency and that this constitutes the most fundamental aspect of his demand for a revaluation of values. The book is a distinctive and significant contribution to our understanding of Nietzsche's great text. Cover ......Page 1 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgements......Page 10 Abbreviations and note on translations used in the text......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 I. The project of re-evaluation and the turn to genealogy......Page 22 Introduction to Part I......Page 24 1. Towards the project of re-evaluation......Page 30 2. Revising the project of re-evaluation......Page 40 3. Rhetoric and re-evaluation......Page 58 II. On the "Geneaology of Morality" ......Page 74 Introduction to Part II......Page 76 4. Reading the "Genealogy"......Page 80 5. The first essay: "‘Good and Evil’, ‘Good and Bad’"......Page 88 6. The second essay: "‘Guilt’, ‘Bad Conscience’ and Related Matters"......Page 104 7. The third essay: "What is the Meaning of Ascetic Ideals?"......Page 126 8. Debating the "Genealogy"......Page 144 Conclusion......Page 158 An annotated guide to further reading......Page 166 Notes......Page 170 Bibliography......Page 184 Index......Page 190 A landmark work of western philosophy, "On the Genealogy of Morality" is a dazzling and brilliantly incisive attack on European "morality". This book offers an analysis of Nietzsche's text. It provides an account of how Nietzsche comes to the project of the re-evaluation of values.