Nietzsche on Morality [Paperback]

Both an introduction to Nietzsches moral philosophy, and a sustained commentary on his most famous work, On the Genealogy of Morality, this book has become the most widely used and debated secondary source on these topics over the past dozen years. Many of Nietzsches most famous ideas - the slave revolt in morals, the attack on free will, perspectivism, will to power and the ascetic ideal - are clearly analyzed and explained. The first edition established the centrality of naturalism to Nietzsches philosophy, generating a substantial scholarly literature to which Leiter responds in an important new Postscript. In addition, Leiter has revised and refreshed the book throughout, taking into account new scholarly literature, and revising or clarifying his treatment of such topics as the objectivity of value, epiphenomenalism and consciousness, and the possibility of autonomous agency.

1. Introduction: Nietzsche, naturalist or postmodernist?  2. Intellectual history and background  3. Nietzsches critique of morality I: the scope of the critique and the critique of moral agency  4. Nietzsches critique of morality II: the critique of moral norms  5. What is genealogy and what is the Genealogy?  6. A commentary on the First Essay  7. A commentary on the Second Essay  8. A commentary on the Third Essay  9. Nietzsche since 1900: critical questions.  Index

Praise for the first edition:

[A]rguably the most important book on Nietzsches philosophy in the past twenty years&. - Mark Jenkins, Journal of Nietzsche Studies(2009)

[T]he book offers one of the most comprehensive and compelling interpretation of Nietzsches critique of morality&.With its distinctive emphasis on naturalistic themes, it forms a very significant contribution to the study of Nietzsche and is poiselÓD