Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality

A landmark work of western philosophy, "On the Genealogy of Morality" is a dazzling and brilliantly incisive attack on European "morality". Combining philosophical acuity with psychological insight in prose of remarkable rhetorical power, Nietzsche takes up the task of offering us reasons to engage in a re-evaluation of our values. In this book, David Owen offers a reflective and insightful analysis of Nietzsche's text. He provides an account of how Nietzsche comes to the project of the re-evaluation of values; he shows how the development of Nietzsche's understanding of the requirements of this project lead him to acknowledge the need for the kind of investigation of "morality" that he terms "genealogy"; he elucidates the general structure and substantive arguments of Nietzsche's text, accounting for the rhetorical form of these arguments, and he debates the character of genealogy (as exemplified by Nietzsche's "Genealogy") as a form of critical enquiry. Owen argues that there is a specific development of Nietzsche's work from his earlier "Daybreak" (1881) and that in "Genealogy of Morality", Nietzsche is developing a critique of modes of agency and that this constitutes the most fundamental aspect of his demand for a revaluation of values. The book is a distinctive and significant contribution to our understanding of Nietzsche's great text.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Part I: The Project of Re-evaluation and the Turn to Genealogy 1. Towards the Project of Re-evaluation 2. Revising the Project of Re-evaluation 3. Rhetoric and Re-evaluation Part II: On the Genealogy of Morality 4. Reading the Genealogy 5. The First Essay: 'Good and Evil', 'Good and Bad' 6. The Second Essay: 'Guilt', 'Bad Conscience', and Related Matters 7. The Third Essay: What is the Meaning of Ascetic Ideals? 8. Debating the Genealogy Conclusion Further reading Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
David Owen is Professor of Social and Political Theory at the University of Southampton.

Review :
"Owen's book will be found valuable by beginners as well as by advanced students and scholars of Nietzsche. It is one of the clearest and most powerful statements of Nietzsche's case in On the Genealogy of Morality." - Peter Poellner, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews Written with admirable clarity and precision, and a great deal of philosophical acumen, David Owen's introduction is indispensable for students seeking an understanding of core aspects of Nietzsche's text and its figuration in recent philosophical debates.A" - Keith Ansell-Pearson, University of Warwick David Owen has established himself in recent years as one of the most insightful readers of Nietzsche. In this book he not only sheds new light on Nietzsche's understandings of morality, but he shows conclusively Nietzsche's debt and differences to other moral and ethical theories.A" - Tracy B. Strong, University of California, San Diego