"He who has really gazed… down into the most world-denying of all possible modes of thought – beyond good and evil… may have had his eyes opened to the opposite ideal: to the ideal of the most exuberant, most living and most world-affirming man…" (pg. 82)

Philosophy is a discipline that tends to deliver thoughts on the most profound and remarkable questions of human existence with no more energy, flair or brevity than you would find in the U.S. Tax Code. The exception to this unfortunate rule is Friedrich Nietzsche. A genius thinker, a tortured soul, a passionate artist and – perhaps speaking uncharitably – an unhinged ranter, his books are that rarest of all things: a philosophical discussion that does not bore or weary the reader, but instead electrifies him.

This is not to say that Beyond Good and Evil is easy to read, only that it rewards those who accept the challenge. I much preferred Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche's artistic masterpiece which delivers his concepts with the lyricism and epic creativity of a Milton or Dante, but Beyond Good and Evil is a good companion piece, discussing his ideas in a more straightforward way – or at least as straight as Nietzsche's crooked wand will allow.

I won't discuss Nietzsche's specific ideas here; the only true way to imbibe them is through Nietzsche's own chaotic brew, and the abstractions and analyses of his commentators too often deny them their stimulating flavour. Nor, with respect to the author, do the specific ideas matter too much: what is compelling about them and about Nietzsche is the sense of depth and abyss, of epic power, of true art and galvanised chaos which reading them conveys. Nietzsche is a bracing air in a discipline plagued by stuffiness, and while his 'overman' concept seems almost quixotic more than a century later, in our world of influencers and company men, he deserves to be read by the regular, aspiring men of tomorrow and the overmorrow. ( )

There’s not much to be said about this book that hasn’t already been said by people a bit more well spoken than me. Took it chapter by chapter when I felt up to it, didn’t gain much insight as opposed to annoyance. ( )

Mostly read this as an sort of counter argument against Brothers Karamazov which I finished just before starting this. Nietzsche is someone I’ve sort of danced around my whole intellectual life - I started and stopped Zarathustra a few times in my late teens, and at some point got around to Birth of Tragedy which had a big impact on me. I find his ideas most cogent when considered as abstractions. I think his writing about art and artists is usually spot on and can be pretty inspiring. I can’t go there with him when it comes to his views on society and politics. Most of Nietzsche’s defenders seem to harp on the fact that he is often speaking metaphorically, symbolically, rhetorically. I think they are often right. But this being so doesn’t mean that these rhetorical choices sound regressive to the modern reader, and there are many moments where it does seem that he literally means what he has written. Perhaps Nietzsche would consider me a degenerated modern underling, devoid of nobility, but I can’t square his denunciations of equity and cultural mixing. I also find it strange that for a book about breaking down the dichotomies of morality is written in such a militant tone - he’s doesn’t seem to be much of a relativist.

Interesting that this year I accidentally read three of the most important philosophers of the 19th century, Marx, Dostoyevsky, and now Nietzsche. Certainly lots to learn from all of them, but I find Dostoyevsky to have the most to say about the breadth of human experience as it is lived today. His pragmatic attitude and down to earth realism when it comes to considering human nature is so prescient when you see what the work of the two others helped to inspire in the following century.

All in all, I find Nietzsche and his thought most useful when going to battle with myself. He sets himself up to antagonize the reader by transgressing boundaries that we seldom consider, much less cross over, in western society. Yet his views on how people can and should interact with one another seem simplistic in a modern world where interdependence is no longer a choice but a sociological imperative. To be an “individual” has a much different definition than it did in 1880, and so who could expect the ideas contained herein not to taste a little off to the modern palate? Yet the most “dangerous” idea contained in this book to my mind is that any edge lord can find his vindication in Nietzsche, claiming that they are stepping beyond the bounds of conventional, “slave” morality by abusing, oppressing, or mindlessly hoarding. ( )

He really beats the phrase "order of rank" into the ground. There is so much good stuff in this book, and so much that it is best to ignore. ( )

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