In the opening two parts of the book, Nietzsche discusses in turn the philosophers of the past, whom he accuses of a blind dogmatism plagued by moral prejudice masquerading as a search for objective truth and the 'free spirits,' like himself, who are to replace them. On philosophers, free spirits, and scholars Part Five: On the Natural History of Morals.Part One: On the Prejudices of Philosophers.The sections are organized into nine parts: The work consists of 296 numbered sections and an 'epode' (or 'aftersong') entitled 'From High Mountains'. Religion and the master and slave moralities feature prominently as Nietzsche re-evaluates deeply held humanistic beliefs, portraying even domination, appropriation and injury to the weak as not universally objectionable. In their place, he offers the ' will to power' as an explanation of all behavior this ties into his 'perspective of life,' which he regards as 'beyond good and evil,' denying a universal morality for all human beings. In it he exposes the deficiencies of those usually called 'philosophers' and identifies the qualities of the 'new philosophers': imagination, self-assertion, danger, originality, and the 'creation of values.' He then contests some of the key presuppositions of the old philosophic tradition like 'self-consciousness,' 'knowledge,' 'truth,' and ' free will,' explaining them as inventions of the moral consciousness. Of the four 'late-period' writings of Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil most closely resembles the aphoristic style of his middle period.

Beyond good and evil walter kaufmann