Nietzsche's On The Genealogy Of Morality (a Critical Guide)

Edited by May Simon
Description:
On the Genealogy of Morality is Nietzsche''s most influential, provocative, and challenging work of ethics. In this volume of newly commissioned essays, fourteen leading philosophers offer fresh insights into many of the work''s central questions: How did our dominant values originate and what functions do they really serve? What future does the concept of ''evil'' have - and can it be revalued? What sorts of virtues and ideals does Nietzsche advocate, and are they necessarily incompatible with aspirations to democracy and a free society? What are the nature, role, and scope of genealogy in his critique of morality - and why doesn''t his own evaluative standard receive a genealogical critique? Taken together, this superb collection illuminates what a post-Christian and indeed post-moral life might look like, and asks to what extent Nietzsche''s Genealogy manages to move beyond morality.
Table of contents:
List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Note on texts, translations, references; Introduction Simon May; 1. The future of evil Raymond Geuss; 2. On the nobility of Nietzsche''s priests R. Lanier Anderson; 3. The genealogy of guilt Bernard Reginster; 4. Why Nietzsche is still in the morality game Simon May; 5. Who is the ''sovereign individual''? Nietzsche on freedom Brian Leiter; 6. Ressentiment and morality Peter Poellner; 7. The role of life in the Genealogy Nadeem Hussain; 8. The relevance of history for moral philosophy: a study of Nietzsche''s Genealogy Paul Katsafanas; 9. Why would master morality surrender its power? Lawrence Hatab; 10. ''Genealogy'' and the Genealogy Peter Kail; 11. The promising animal: the art of reading On the Genealogy of Morality as testimony Stephen Mulhall; 12. Nietzsche and the ''aesthetics of character'' Edward Harcourt; 13. Nietzsche and the virtues of mature egoism Christine Swanton; 14. Une promesse de bonheur? Beauty in the Genealogy Aaron Ridley; Bibliography; Index.
Review quote:
''This is a fine volume with a very impressive range, featuring genuinely new and, in some cases, provocative lines of interpretation. It will make an incisive contribution to discussion of this important text.'' Duncan Large, Swansea University
Review quote:
''This collection is a showcase for some of the best contemporary scholarship on the Genealogy of Morality, and will prove invaluable to both scholars of Nietzsche as well as moral philosophers with an interest in moral psychology. Taken together, these articles make an excellent argument for the vitality, modernity, and urgency of Nietzsche''s genealogical challenge to morality.'' Judith Norman, Trinity University
Biographical note:
Simon May is Visiting Professor of Philosophy at King''s College, University of London. His monographs include Nietzsche''s Ethics and His War on ''Morality'' (1999), a book of his own aphorisms entitled Thinking Aloud: A Collection of Aphorisms (2009), and Love: A History (2011).
Promotional headline:
This book features original scholarly essays by leading philosophers, which bring to life Nietzsche''s most challenging work of ethics.