Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morality

Robert Guay is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Binghamton University. He is the editor of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment: Philosophical Perspectives (Oxford University Press, 2019). He is the author of a number of articles in the Journal of Nietzsche Studies and The European Journal of Philosophy.

• ChronologyIntroductionThe PrefaceApproaching the GenealogyKnowing ourselves A memoir of the genealogistThe descent of our moral prejudicesThe critique of morality: the value of valuesThe Dionysian Drama of the soulFirst Treatise: ‘Good and Evil’, ‘Good and Bad’IntroductionThe basic narrativePhilosophical argumentsMethodological and rhetorical issuesSecond Treatise: ‘Guilt’, ‘Bad Conscience’, and Related MattersIntroductionThe basic narrativePhilosophical argumentsMethodological and rhetorical issuesThird Treatise: What Do Ascetic Ideals Mean?IntroductionThe basic narrativePhilosophical argumentsMethodological and rhetorical issuesConclusionGlossary of Key TermsGuide to Further ReadingIndex

Written with clarity and intelligence, Guay’s guide to Nietzsche’s Genealogy offers a sensitive and original reading of the text as well as a careful engagement with the wider secondary literature on it. All students of Nietzsche will benefit from the lucidity of the analysis and argument that Guay offers. Highly recommended.