Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future is the second of four seminal late period works by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and perhaps the best at clearly stating the principles of his call for a radical departure from the traditional presumptions of philosophy. He exposes what he sees as a lack of critical thinking and a blind acceptance of moral dogma in which good and evil are strict opposites. He urges us instead to see good and evil as simply different expressions of the impulses towards a “will to power”. He calls for “free spirits” who are “investigators to the point of cruelty, with rash fingers for the ungraspable, with teeth and stomach for the most indigestible” to undertake the daunting task of seeing the world as it is and accepting the harsh realities that likely result. He challenges the key precepts of the philosophic tradition by dissecting the shortcomings of its major thinkers. He subjects religion to similar scrutiny, noting the tendency to bow to the “order of rank” as well as an eternal and cruel connection to “three dangerous dietary prescriptions: solitude, fasting, and sexual abstinence.” He also discusses the philosophical particularities of the major western nations and cultures. His statement that ““The time for petty politics is past: the very next century will bring with it the struggle for mastery over the whole earth” is both a validation of his thinking and an eerie prophecy.

First published in 1886 at the author’s own expense and written in an aphoristic style consisting of 296 numbered sections and an “epode”, Beyond Good and Evil, along with all of Nietzsche’s work, has been a significant influence in the work of many leading figures in the life of the culture, from artists to academics to statesmen and revolutionaries.

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