On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo

ON THE GENEALOGY OF MORALS (1887) is Nietzsche's major work on ethics. It shows him using philosophy, psychology, and classical philology in an effort to give new directions to an ancient discipline. The work consists of three essays. The first contrasts master morality and slave morality and indicates how the term "good" has widely different meanings in each. The second inquiry deals with guilt and the bad conscience; the third, with ascetic ideals--not only in religion but also in the academy.

ECCE HOMO, written in 1888 and first published posthumously in 1908, is Nietzsche's review of his life and works. It contains separate chapters on all the books he himself published. His interpretations are as fascinating as they are invaluable. Nothing Nietzsche wrote is more stunning stylistically or as a human document.

Walter Kaufmann has again provided masterful translations that are faithful to the word and spirit of Nietzsche. In an Appendix to the Genealogy, Professor Kaufmann also offers aphorisms from Nietzsche's early books, many of them referred to by Nietzsche in the Genealogy, but never before published in the same volume. An Appendix to Ecce Homo contains drafts and variants, not previously translated. This edition also contains indices to each volume and to the aphorisms. Walter Kaufmann's running footnote commentaries on both books are more comprehensive than those in his other Nietzsche translations because these two works have been so widely misunderstood. He has also contributed an illuminating introductory essay to each title.

Filosofia