Scan barcode
A review by tsushimashu
Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
2.0
actual rating: 2.5 stars
nietzsche has a very dense writing style which made reading this book really difficult, it wasss mostly worth it.
↪ part one - on the prejudices of philosophers
i enjoyed reading his thoughts on freedom of will. however, nothing else made sense and seemed like he was just rambling to fill up page space, or maybe i failed to understand. the topics discussed failed to connect in my brain and i wasnt a fan of this part, but this doesnt mean it was objectively bad. the main theme of this part was where nietzsche spoke of philosophers and what drives them and i couldnt have been more bored. there were some pieces of treasure that i found in that vomit of words, but overall didnt enjoy this part. "What is called 'freedom of will' is essentially the affect of superiority over him who must obey: 'I am free, "he" must obey'."
↪ part two - the free spirit
for the most part, i can understand the points hes trying to get across, but they just dont matter to me. hes speaking of the continued theme of new age of philosophers and something about free spirits, but i dont feel a connection to any of it. despite what i just stated, there were some really enjoyable sections. "Everything profound loves the mask; the profoundest things of all hate even image and parable. Should not nothing less than the opposite be the proper disguise under which the shame of a god goes abroad?"
↪ part three - the religious nature
this part was increasingly more enjoyable and the first two, mainly because i do care about what he discussed in this section. i found his thoughts on religion and its relevancy in our new modern world to be a very interesting concept and definitely worth paying attention to. to keep me interested (as im not used to non fiction) i paced around my room while reading, and i stopped in my tracks when i read, "Perhaps the most solemn concepts which have occasioned the most strife and suffering, the concepts 'God' and 'sin', will one day seem to us of no more importance than a child's toy and a child's troubles seem to an old man."
↪ part four - maxims and interludes
this felt like a breath of fresh air, what with the short sections compared to the page long ramblings of the previous sections. this was my favorite part by far, and if the entire book had explicitly stated his thoughts as simply as he did here, then it would've been a masterpiece. the majority of his statements regarding women were gross; "When a woman has scholarly inclinations there is usually something wrong with her sexuality." i retched. however, ignoring those claims, he said some absolutely jaw droppingly beautiful things; "Terrible experiences make one wonder whether he who experiences them is not something terrible.", "Under conditions of peace the warlike man attacks himself.", "He who despises himself still nonetheless respects himself as one who despises.", and "A soul which knows it is loved but does not love itself betrays its dregs - its lowest part comes up."
↪ part five - on the natural history of morals
i liked this section for the most part. it wasnt particularly memorable, so im struggling to think of things to say. so obviously it wasnt breathtaking if im not even sure how i feel about it a few days after reading. in this part he talks about the nature of morals while incorporating christianity into it. i enjoyed that, though at some parts he was a bit incomprehensible. "here again fear is the mother of morality.", "'Thou shalt obey someone and for a long time: otherwise thou shalt perish and lose all respect for thyself'" [referencing natures imperative of christianity], "in order to be able to command they would have to practice a deceit upon themselves, that is, that they too were only obeying."
↪ part six - we scholars
general summary: philosophers are really really cool and special and and and gifted and cool. safe to say i didnt really like this section it just didnt interest me much. his writing was so dense that i genuinely dont even know what he was talking about. "Actual philosophers, however, are commanders and lawgivers."
↪ part seven - our virtues
this was a very enjoyable section! he was a lot more comprehensible and i was interested in the topic of virtues and vices and other similar concepts he vaguely mentioned. he connects christianity and religion to virtues and i think how he did this was interesting and really drew me in. nietzsches beliefs on the topic of god and christianity is single handedly saving this book for me, i also love when he talks about self-destruction. however, his absurdly misogynistic views on women are really gross (at one point compares woman to "something which has to be caged up so that it shall not fly away"). looking past that, he has some genuinely thought provoking statements in here. "they are glad there exists a standard according to which those overloaded with goods and privileges of the spirit are their equals - they struggle for the 'equality of all before god' and it is virtually for that purpose that they need the belief in god. "he is secretly lured and urged onward by his cruelty, by the dangerous thrills of cruelty directed against himself."
↪ part eight - people and fatherlands
boring.
↪ part nine - what is noble?
probably my favorite section (maxims and interludes at a very close second)!!! as is stated in the title of this part, it discusses the themes of what makes a person noble and the nature of the noble soul. its hard for me to paraphrase here what he said but it was one of the most beautiful pieces of literature ive read and i had not expected it at all (considering my thoughts on the previous sections). nietzsche im sorry for ever doubting you!!! "Even that body within which, as was previously assumed, individuals treat one another as equals - this happens in every healthy aristocracy - must, if it is a living and not a decaying body, itself do all that to other bodies which the individuals within it refrain from doing to one another: it will have to be the will to power incarnate, it will want to grow, expand, draw to itself, gain ascendancy - not out of any morality or immorality, but because it lives, and because life is will to power.", "that the mob worshipped a god - and that the 'god' was only a poor sacrificial beast!", "Gods are fond of mockery: it seems that they cannot refrain from laughter even when sacraments are in progress.".
↪ from high mountains: epode
not really sure what the point of this was, but i liked it.
general thoughts:
gave me whiplash from "this book is HORRIBLE" to "this book is AMAZING" over and over again and in the end i gotta say its worth reading if youre interested in nietzsche, but its not an enjoyable read and was really hard to get through at some points. however, he does make up for it at the end with an absolute masterpiece of philosophy.
nietzsche has a very dense writing style which made reading this book really difficult, it wasss mostly worth it.
↪ part one - on the prejudices of philosophers
i enjoyed reading his thoughts on freedom of will. however, nothing else made sense and seemed like he was just rambling to fill up page space, or maybe i failed to understand. the topics discussed failed to connect in my brain and i wasnt a fan of this part, but this doesnt mean it was objectively bad. the main theme of this part was where nietzsche spoke of philosophers and what drives them and i couldnt have been more bored. there were some pieces of treasure that i found in that vomit of words, but overall didnt enjoy this part. "What is called 'freedom of will' is essentially the affect of superiority over him who must obey: 'I am free, "he" must obey'."
↪ part two - the free spirit
for the most part, i can understand the points hes trying to get across, but they just dont matter to me. hes speaking of the continued theme of new age of philosophers and something about free spirits, but i dont feel a connection to any of it. despite what i just stated, there were some really enjoyable sections. "Everything profound loves the mask; the profoundest things of all hate even image and parable. Should not nothing less than the opposite be the proper disguise under which the shame of a god goes abroad?"
↪ part three - the religious nature
this part was increasingly more enjoyable and the first two, mainly because i do care about what he discussed in this section. i found his thoughts on religion and its relevancy in our new modern world to be a very interesting concept and definitely worth paying attention to. to keep me interested (as im not used to non fiction) i paced around my room while reading, and i stopped in my tracks when i read, "Perhaps the most solemn concepts which have occasioned the most strife and suffering, the concepts 'God' and 'sin', will one day seem to us of no more importance than a child's toy and a child's troubles seem to an old man."
↪ part four - maxims and interludes
this felt like a breath of fresh air, what with the short sections compared to the page long ramblings of the previous sections. this was my favorite part by far, and if the entire book had explicitly stated his thoughts as simply as he did here, then it would've been a masterpiece. the majority of his statements regarding women were gross; "When a woman has scholarly inclinations there is usually something wrong with her sexuality." i retched. however, ignoring those claims, he said some absolutely jaw droppingly beautiful things; "Terrible experiences make one wonder whether he who experiences them is not something terrible.", "Under conditions of peace the warlike man attacks himself.", "He who despises himself still nonetheless respects himself as one who despises.", and "A soul which knows it is loved but does not love itself betrays its dregs - its lowest part comes up."
↪ part five - on the natural history of morals
i liked this section for the most part. it wasnt particularly memorable, so im struggling to think of things to say. so obviously it wasnt breathtaking if im not even sure how i feel about it a few days after reading. in this part he talks about the nature of morals while incorporating christianity into it. i enjoyed that, though at some parts he was a bit incomprehensible. "here again fear is the mother of morality.", "'Thou shalt obey someone and for a long time: otherwise thou shalt perish and lose all respect for thyself'" [referencing natures imperative of christianity], "in order to be able to command they would have to practice a deceit upon themselves, that is, that they too were only obeying."
↪ part six - we scholars
general summary: philosophers are really really cool and special and and and gifted and cool. safe to say i didnt really like this section it just didnt interest me much. his writing was so dense that i genuinely dont even know what he was talking about. "Actual philosophers, however, are commanders and lawgivers."
↪ part seven - our virtues
this was a very enjoyable section! he was a lot more comprehensible and i was interested in the topic of virtues and vices and other similar concepts he vaguely mentioned. he connects christianity and religion to virtues and i think how he did this was interesting and really drew me in. nietzsches beliefs on the topic of god and christianity is single handedly saving this book for me, i also love when he talks about self-destruction. however, his absurdly misogynistic views on women are really gross (at one point compares woman to "something which has to be caged up so that it shall not fly away"). looking past that, he has some genuinely thought provoking statements in here. "they are glad there exists a standard according to which those overloaded with goods and privileges of the spirit are their equals - they struggle for the 'equality of all before god' and it is virtually for that purpose that they need the belief in god. "he is secretly lured and urged onward by his cruelty, by the dangerous thrills of cruelty directed against himself."
↪ part eight - people and fatherlands
boring.
↪ part nine - what is noble?
probably my favorite section (maxims and interludes at a very close second)!!! as is stated in the title of this part, it discusses the themes of what makes a person noble and the nature of the noble soul. its hard for me to paraphrase here what he said but it was one of the most beautiful pieces of literature ive read and i had not expected it at all (considering my thoughts on the previous sections). nietzsche im sorry for ever doubting you!!! "Even that body within which, as was previously assumed, individuals treat one another as equals - this happens in every healthy aristocracy - must, if it is a living and not a decaying body, itself do all that to other bodies which the individuals within it refrain from doing to one another: it will have to be the will to power incarnate, it will want to grow, expand, draw to itself, gain ascendancy - not out of any morality or immorality, but because it lives, and because life is will to power.", "that the mob worshipped a god - and that the 'god' was only a poor sacrificial beast!", "Gods are fond of mockery: it seems that they cannot refrain from laughter even when sacraments are in progress.".
↪ from high mountains: epode
not really sure what the point of this was, but i liked it.
general thoughts:
gave me whiplash from "this book is HORRIBLE" to "this book is AMAZING" over and over again and in the end i gotta say its worth reading if youre interested in nietzsche, but its not an enjoyable read and was really hard to get through at some points. however, he does make up for it at the end with an absolute masterpiece of philosophy.