10 Best Books to Understand Nietzsche's Philosophical World! A Journey into the Existentialism!
Ready to dive headfirst into the tumultuous realm of Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy? For those unversed in his works, untangling Nietzsche's thoughts on life, selfhood, morality, truth, and the cosmos can seem like a Gordian knot, but fear not! I’m here to guide you through this spectacular, mind-bending maze.
Nietzsche's musings are often misinterpreted or given a nihilistic spin. However, they're rather a quest for truth, an embrace of life in all its chaos, and a celebration of individualism and freedom beyond societal constructs. For Nietzsche, life isn’t black or white; it's a panorama of perspectives.
These 10 handpicked books – a delightful blend of graphic novels and tomes – offer profound insights, unravel untold aspects, and set a solid foundation for comprehending Nietzsche's existentialist vision. Filled with intellectual drama, these works elucidate his revolutionary ideas with vivid storytelling and captivating artwork, making for an immersive reading experience.
Whether you're a budding philosopher, or someone intrigued by Nietzsche's musings, this collection will serve as your compass. So gear up and get ready to journey deeply into Nietzsche's chaotic yet fascinating philosophical world. It's a wild ride, my friends. And remember, in Nietzsche's own words, "You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star."
『Thus Spoke Zarathustra』
Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a foundational work of Western literature and is widely considered to be Friedrich Nietzsche's masterpiece. It includes the German philosopher's famous discussion of the phrase 'God is dead' as well as his concept of the Superman. Nietzsche delineates his Will to Power theory and devotes pages to critiquing Christian thinking, in particular Christianity's definition of good and evil. Revised translation with modern American English spelling.
Author | Friedrich Nietzsche |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Lulu.com |
Release Date | Nov 27, 2017 |
Source | Google Books |
『Beyond Good and Evil』
Beyond Good and Evil, Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, by Friedrich Nietzsche expands on the ideas of his work, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, takes an approach from a more critical, polemical direction. In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche accuses past philosophers of lacking critical sense and blindly accepting Judeo-Christian premises in their consideration of morality. The work moves beyond good and evil in the sense of leaving behind the traditional morality which Nietzsche subjects to a destructive critique in favor of what he regards as an affirmative approach that fearlessly confronts the perspectival nature of knowledge and the perilous condition of the modern individual. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and aphorism.
Author | Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | |
Release Date | Feb 01, 2012 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Gay Science』
The book Nietzsche called "the most personal of all my books." It was here that he first proclaimed the death of God—to which a large part of the book is devoted—and his doctrine of the eternal recurrence. Walter Kaufmann's commentary, with its many quotations from previously untranslated letters, brings to life Nietzsche as a human being and illuminates his philosophy. The book contains some of Nietzsche's most sustained discussions of art and morality, knowledge and truth, the intellectual conscience and the origin of logic. Most of the book was written just before Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the last part five years later, after Beyond Good and Evil. We encounter Zarathustra in these pages as well as many of Nietzsche's most interesting philosophical ideas and the largest collection of his own poetry that he himself ever published. Walter Kaufmann's English versions of Nietzsche represent one of the major translation enterprises of our time. He is the first philosopher to have translated Nietzsche's major works, and never before has a single translator given us so much of Nietzsche.
Author | Friedrich Nietzsche |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Vintage |
Release Date | Jan 12, 1974 |
Source | Google Books |
『On the Genealogy of Morality』
On the Genealogy of Morality contains some of Nietzsche's most disturbing ideas and images: eg the 'slave revolt' in morality, which he claims began with the Jews and has now triumphed, and the 'blond beast' that must erupt, which he claims to find behind all civilisation. It is therefore a major source for understanding why 'Nietzschean' ideas are controversial. Further, it is one of Nietzsche's most important books, a work of his maturity that shows him at the height of his powers both as a thinker and as an artist in the presentation of ideas.
Author | Friedrich Nietzsche/Maudemarie Clark/Alan J. Swensen |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Hackett Publishing |
Release Date | Mar 13, 1998 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Birth of Tragedy』
This new edition of Nietzsche's discussion of the nature of art, science, and religion, expounds on the origins of Greek tragedy and its relevance to the German culture of its time. The book's argument raises important questions about the problematic nature of cultural origins, which are still valid today.
Author | Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Oxford University Press, USA |
Release Date | Jan 01, 2000 |
Source | Google Books |
『Nietzsche’s Meta-Existentialism』
Vinod Acharya presents a new existential interpretation of Nietzsche's philosophy. He contends that Nietzsche's peculiar form of existentialism can be understood only by undertaking a thorough analysis of his characterization and critique of metaphysics. This reading remedies the shortcomings of previous existential interpretations of Nietzsche, which typically view existentialism as concerned primarily with the meaning of individual existence, and therefore necessarily at odds with the abstraction and objectivity of metaphysical thought. Acharya argues that the approach of Nietzsche's philosophy, especially in his mature works, is to make the typical existential position foundational, and then to develop to the fullest the implications of this position. This meta-existential approach necessarily yields an ambiguous and open-ended critique of metaphysics. Taking issue with the Heideggerian, the poststructuralist, and the naturalistic interpretations, this book contends that Nietzsche neither simply overcomes metaphysics nor remains trapped within its confines. Acharya argues that an ever-renewed encounter with and critique of metaphysics is an essential aspect of Nietzsche's meta-existentialism.
Author | Vinod Acharya |
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Price | $158.99 |
Publisher | Walter de Gruyter |
Release Date | Nov 27, 2013 |
Source | Google Books |
『The Cambridge Companion to Existentialism』
These essays demonstrate the contemporary vitality of existential thought, engaging critically with the main concepts and figures of existentialism.
Author | Steven Crowell |
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Price | unknown |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Release Date | Feb 16, 2012 |
Source | Google Books |
『Living with Nietzsche』
Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most popular and controversial philosophers of the last 150 years. Narcissistic, idiosyncratic, hyperbolic, irreverent--never has a philosopher been appropriated, deconstructed, and scrutinized by such a disparate array of groups, movements, and schools of thought. Adored by many for his passionate ideas and iconoclastic style, he is also vilified for his lack of rigor, apparent cruelty, and disdain for moral decency. In Living with Nietzsche, Solomon suggests that we read Nietzsche from a very different point of view, as a provocative writer who means to transform the way we view our lives. This means taking Nietzsche personally. Rather than focus on the "true" Nietzsche or trying to determine "what Nietzsche really meant" by his seemingly random and often contradictory pronouncements about "the Big Questions" of philosophy, Solomon reminds us that Nietzsche is not a philosopher of abstract ideas but rather of the dazzling personal insight, the provocative challenge, the incisive personal probe. He does not try to reveal the eternal verities but he does powerfully affect his readers, goading them to see themselves in new and different ways. It is Nietzsche's compelling invitation to self-scrutiny that fascinates us, engages us, and guides us to a "rich inner life." Ultimately, Solomon argues, Nietzsche is an example as well as a promulgator of "passionate inwardness," a life distinguished by its rich passions, exquisite taste, and a sense of personal elegance and excellence.
Author | Robert C. Solomon |
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Price | $19.24 |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Release Date | Aug 21, 2003 |
Source | Google Books |
『Basic Writings of Nietzsche』
Introduction by Peter Gay Translated and edited by Walter Kaufmann Commentary by Martin Heidegger, Albert Camus, and Gilles Deleuze One hundred years after his death, Friedrich Nietzsche remains the most influential philosopher of the modern era. Basic Writings of Nietzsche gathers the complete texts of five of Nietzsche’s most important works, from his first book to his last: The Birth of Tragedy, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, The Case of Wagner, and Ecce Homo. Edited and translated by the great Nietzsche scholar Walter Kaufmann, this volume also features seventy-five aphorisms, selections from Nietzsche’s correspondence, and variants from drafts for Ecce Homo. It is a definitive guide to the full range of Nietzsche’s thought. Includes a Modern Library Reading Group Guide
Author | Friedrich Nietzsche |
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Price | $12.99 |
Publisher | Modern Library |
Release Date | Feb 23, 2011 |
Source | Google Books |
『Irrational Man』
Widely recognized as the finest definition of existentialist philosophy ever written, this book introduced existentialism to America in 1958. Barrett speaks eloquently and directly to concerns of the 1990s: a period when the irrational and the absurd are no better integrated than before and when humankind is in even greater danger of destroying its existence without ever understanding the meaning of its existence. Irrational Man begins by discussing the roots of existentialism in the art and thinking of Augustine, Aquinas, Pascal, Baudelaire, Blake, Dostoevski, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Picasso, Joyce, and Beckett. The heart of the book explains the views of the foremost existentialists—Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre. The result is a marvelously lucid definition of existentialism and a brilliant interpretation of its impact.
Author | William Barrett |
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Price | $13.99 |
Publisher | Anchor |
Release Date | Jan 26, 2011 |
Source | Google Books |
Alright then, folks! That wraps up our whirlwind tour of the top books to dig into if you're thirsting to get a handle on Nietzsche's mind-bending philosophical world! From explorations of the 'God is Dead' proclamation to the infamous Will to Power, we're really leaving no existential stone unturned here! Keep in mind, though, Nietzsche isn't about simple answers. He's all about wrestling with questions, grappling with the uncanny, dancing on the tightrope of human existence - it's an exciting ride, to say the least, but surely not for the faint of heart! So go ahead, don your philosophical cap, arm yourself with one (or heck, all!) of these books, and take that leap into a profound abyss of existential thought. But remember, as good ol' Nietzsche himself said: "You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star." Happy reading and happy contemplating!
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