We now turn to what might be my favorite chapter of the book — Part Five: Natural History Of Morality.
Nietzsche on morality is my personal favorite topic that he covers, since it subverts conventional thinking and truly forces individuals to question their lives.
Morality also serves as the intersecting point of many of his other themes: religion, psychology, art, history, and so on.
This chapter of BGE is a condensed version and precursor to Nietzsche’s next great work On The Genealogy Of Morals.
Below I provide a thematic overview as well as a section-by-section commentary on select sections from the reading.
Suggested Reading
Beyond Good And Evil, Part Five: Natural History of Morality
Thematic Overview
In German, Naturgeschichte (“natural history”) can refer directly to study of the development or evolution of life forms, from the past to the present.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the expression would have brought Darwinian theory to mind.
Nietzsche’s title tells us that he is goi…
