Die Reihe Monographien und Texte zur Nietzsche-Forschung (MTNF) setzt seit mehreren Jahrzehnten die Agenda in der sich stetig verändernden Nietzsche-Forschung. Die Bände sind interdisziplinär und international ausgerichtet und spiegeln das gesamte Spektrum der Nietzsche-Forschung wider, von der Philosophie über die Literaturwissenschaft bis zur politischen Theorie. Die Reihe veröffentlicht Monographien und Sammelbände, die einem strengen Peer-Review-Verfahren unterliegen. Die Buchreihe wird von einem internationalen Redaktionsteam geleitet.
How does Nietzsche, as psychologist, envision the future of religion and atheism? While there has been no lack of “psychological” studies that have sought to illuminate Nietzsche's philosophy of religion by interpreting his biography, this monograph is the first comprehensive study to approach the topic through the philosopher's own psychological thinking. The author shows how Nietzsche's critical writings on religion, and especially on religious decline and future possibilities, are informed by his psychological thinking about moods. The author furthermore argues that the clarification of this aspect of the philosopher’s work is essential to interpreting some of the most ambiguous words found in his writings; the words that God is dead. Instead of merely denying the existence of God in a way that leaves a melancholic need for religion or a futile search for replacements intact, Nietzsche arguably envisions the possibility of a radical atheism, which is characterized by a mood of joyful doubt. The examination of this vision should be of great interest to scholars of Nietzsche and of the history of philosophy, but also of relevance to all those who take an interest in the interdisciplinary discourse on secularization.
In his first book, The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche observes that Greek tragedy gathered people together as a community in the sight of their gods, and argues that modernity can be rescued from 'nihilism' only through the revival of such a festival. This is commonly thought to be a view which did not survive the termination of Nietzsche's early Wagnerianism, but Julian Young argues, on the basis of an examination of all of Nietzsche's published works, that his religious communitarianism in fact persists through all his writings. What follows, it is argued, is that the mature Nietzsche is neither an 'atheist', an 'individualist', nor an 'immoralist': he is a German philosopher belonging to a German tradition of conservative communitarianism - though to claim him as a proto-Nazi is radically mistaken. This important reassessment will be of interest to all Nietzsche scholars and to a wide range of readers in German philosophy.
"I have slain all gods—for the sake of morality!" — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche Although often regarded as an atheist who did not take religion seriously, Nietzsche in fact thought deeply about the gods and how they functioned in the human psyche. The son of a Lutheran pastor who dropped theology in college after only one semester, Nietzsche was a profound religious thinker who devoted much of his writing to reevaluating the concept of god that prevailed in nineteenth-century Germany. As this volume demonstrates, Nietzsche sharply discerned between the positive and negative aspects of various gods, including the Christian God, the Jewish God (Yahweh), the Greek gods (especially Apollo and Dionysus), and the Buddha. The essays further touch upon Nietzsche's relationship to prominent religious thinkers of his time, as well as his influence on later religious thinkers, such as Martin Buber and Paul Tillich. Wide-ranging and diverse, Nietzsche and the Gods will be indispensable to our continuing understanding of Nietzsche's thought and to the broader study of philosophy and religion.
"The Happy Science", sometimes translated as "The Gay Science" or "The Joyful Science" is a pivotal work in which Nietzsche further develops his critique of traditional values and his vision of a life-affirming philosophy beyond the Pessimistic outlook on reality he inherited from Schopenhauer. The book is known for its proclamation of the "death of God" and the challenges it poses to the foundations of morality and religion. In this work, Nietzsche emphasizes the importance of embracing uncertainty and creating one's own values, advocating for a joyful and creative approach to life. The Happy Science is notable for its aphoristic style and its blend of poetic and philosophical elements, echoing Nietzsche's belief in the interconnectedness of art and philosophy, and is one of the most elegant books of Nietzsche. Written while he was living in Genoa, Italy, the text is notable for its aphoristic style (borrowed from Schopenhauer, who borrowed from Rabelais and Erasmus) and its exploration of themes such as the affirmation of life, the death of God, and eternal recurrence. Nietzsche's concept of the "happy science" refers to a joyful and liberated approach to philosophy, one that embraces the uncertainty and chaos of existence with a playful and creative spirit. The book includes famous passages such as "The Madman," which proclaims the death of God and examines the profound implications of this event for Western civilization. Camus would go on to create a watered-down version of this "positivist nihilism," all based on Schopenhauer's pessimism. The text marks a transition from Nietzsche's earlier, more skeptical and critical writings to a more affirmative and constructive phase of his philosophy. It foreshadows the themes he would develop in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, including the superman and the will to power. The work's cheerful and provocative tone reflects Nietzsche's call for a reassessment of values and a new way of thinking that transcends traditional moral and metaphysical constraints. "Die fröhliche Wissenschaft" was first published in Leipzig, Germany, in 1882 by the publishing house E. W. Fritzsch. This is a new 2024 translation from this original 1882 German manuscript (first manuscript published in 1901) and contains a new Afterword by the Translator, a timeline of Nietzsche's life and works, an index with descriptions of his core concepts and summaries of his complete body of works. This extra material amplifies upon the text to give the reader a holistic view of this enigmatic philosopher. This translation is designed to allow the armchair philosopher to engage deeply with Nietzsche's works without having to be a full-time Academic. The language is modern and clean, with simplified sentence structures and diction to make Nietzsche's complex language and arguments as accessible as possible. This Reader's Edition also contains extra material that amplifies the manuscript with autobiographical, historical and linguistic context. This provides the reader a holistic view of this very enigmatic philosopher as both an introduction and an exploration of Nietzsche's works; from his general understanding of his philosophic project to an exploration of the depths of his metaphysics and unique contributions. This edition contains: • • An Afterword by the Translator on the history, impact and intellectual legacy of Nietzsche • Translation notes on the original German, Latin and Greek manuscript • An index of Philosophical concepts used by Nietzsche with a focus on Existentialism and Phenomenology • A chronological list of Nietzsche's entire body of works • A detailed timeline of Nietzsche's life and works
Beyond Good and Evil is a book by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche that expands the ideas of his previous work Thus Spoke Zarathustra with a more critical and polemical approach. In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche accuses past philosophers of lacking critical sense and blindly accepting dogmatic premises in their consideration of morality. Specifically, he accuses them of founding grand metaphysical systems upon the faith that the good man is the opposite of the evil man, rather than just a different expression of the same basic impulses that find more direct expression in the evil man. The work moves into the realm "beyond good and evil" in the sense of leaving behind the traditional morality which Nietzsche subjects to a destructive critique in favour of what he regards as an affirmative approach that fearlessly confronts the perspectival nature of knowledge and the perilous condition of the modern individual.
One of philosophy's most accessible and easily understood works, this denunciation of Christianity and organized religion consists of 62 brief chapters, each an aphorism that advances the philosopher's argument.
