Product Description

The philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was almost wholly neglected during his sane life, which ended abruptly in 1889. Since then he has been appropriated as an icon by an astonishingly diverse spectrum of people, whose interpretations of his thought range from the highly irrational to the firmly analytical. Thus Spake Zarathustra introduced the ubermensch, or "superman," and The Twilight of the Idols developed the notorious "will to power" concept. These terms, together with Sklavenmoral and Herrenmoral became confused with the rise of nationalism in early twentieth-century Germany, and more particularly with the advent of Adolf Hitler.
With his well-known idiosyncrasies and aphoristic style, Nietzsche is always bracing and provocative, and temptingly easy to dip into. Michael Tanner's readable introduction to the philosopher's life and work examines the numerous ambiguities inherent in his writings and explodes many of the misconceptions that have grown in the hundred years since Nietzsche wrote "do not, above all, confound me with what I am not!"
A new addition to the acclaimed Past Masters series, this volume offers a wealth of insight into the mind of one of the most fascinating--and most misunderstood--western philosophers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #926516 in Books
• Published on: 1995-04-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Review

"...I find Tanner's book enormously useful for introducing Nietzsche philosophically.... Tanner manages to be succinct without being boring or pedantic.... I think his succinct and highly critical readings encourage genuine philosophical grappling with our modern self-proclaimed Dionysus, who after all needs to be treated as a philosopher, not an idol or a god."--Teaching Philosophy
"A breezy first look at Nietzsche....useful for undergraduates who need a quick and painless dose of Nietzsche's ideas."--Ethics

About the Author
Michael Tanner is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, and University Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge.

Customer Reviews

The Will to Brevity...
No one can reasonably expect to sum up Nietzche's views and philosophy in under 100 pages. The reader should not go into this work expecting to come out understanding Nietzsche, but maybe make him a little less obscure or receive a slight bit more context in which to read Nietzsche's books. For those who have already read some Nietzsche and are left nonplussed, this tiny book may help you out as well (it did me).

The book follows Nietzsche's publications more or less in chronological order. The longest and most difficult chapter is the one on "The Birth of Tragedy." This work gets the most attention of all of Nietzsche's works, presumably because it is easier to "sum up" or encapsulate than any of his other works. For instance, the section on "The Genealogy of Morals" will leave you wondering what the book is about (in fact, reading the book itself may also have this effect - it's a tad difficult).

"Morality and its Discontents" is one of the most illuminating chapters, and will shed some light on Nietzsche's proclamation that "God is dead" which is probably his most infamous and misunderstood concept (there's also a lot more meat to it than the eternal recurrence and the Ubermensch, which Tanner points out).

Overall I agree with Tanner's assessment of Nietzsche's "Thus Spake Zarathustra." It was the first book of his I read, and I came out of the experience energized, but I had no idea why. "Zarathustra" is a passionate but potentially misleading read. It's nothing like his other works, and introduces concepts that never come up again, though they seem to be of utmost importance in the context of the book (i.e., the eternal recurrence, Ubermensch, and the will to power - at least in his published works).

The pace of Tanner's book quickens and the delineation of Nietzsche's texts becomes more and more sparse towards the final few chapters. There is very little information about Nietzsche's insanity, or Lou Salomé or even the details of his life. The book is almost completely dedicated to Nietzsche's philosophy. In fact, the book ends as abruptly as Nietzsche's own sane life must have. There's a slight feeling of "so what's next?!?" at the end of the last and shortest chapter that discusses the works of 1888 in a flash.

Nietzsche is a huge subject, and his books are thick conceptually if not physically. He was a thinker that wanted to teach us to think differently, which makes him a valuable read no matter what your stance on the views he covers. This minute book will help you peek through the keyhole of this enormous and overwhelming subject.

Lastly, Richard Wagner figures hugely in Nietzsche's work. Knowing more about Wagner will only elucidate some of Nietzsche's works and concepts. Tanner also supports this view.

Nietzsche demystified (well, sort of)
Tanner's NIETZSCHE provides as plain-spoken an account as can be managed of what the philosopher was all about, taking the reader through Nietzsche's life and work step by step. There are a few things about the book I do not like -- for instance, insufficient discussion of the abuses of Nietzsche by others, too short shrift to THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA, and an unhelpful final chapter of assessment -- but its merits outweigh these several flaws. I would definitely recommend that others read this book before tackling Nietzsche's works directly.

Somwhat confused
Nietzche is indeed a rather interesting philosopher however I feel after reading this book that I still do not know much about his philosophy. I can contrast this to the outstanding VSI book on Kant from which I think I learned a great deal. The author has the tendency to write very obscurely which is not a good thing for these kind of books which are written about authors or subject matter that often considered obscure to begin with. I think one would do a lot better just to pick up one of Nietzche's books and have a go at it.