Beyond Good and Evil is one of the most famous works by Friedrich Nietzsche, written in 1886. This work is a kind of analysis that wills certainly to truth. His ideas are “beyond good and evil”; they are much deeper, and this is why they are so attractive and correct to lots of readers.
This work helps to discover not only the truth as it is, but also men’s truth that is crucially important for the society. With the help of a deep analysis of self-perception and religious issues, the reader gets a wonderful opportunity to analyze the truth and its components, to comprehend why truth is so important, and to investigate all spheres of life taking into consideration various perspectives.
Nietzsche was the only person who affirmed that “God is dead”. This statement appears in his several works. Even if Nietzsche did not concentrate on the idea of the dead God in his Beyond Good and Evil, that very thought is still considered to be present between the lines of the book, just expressed in other words.
In order to comprehend whether Nietzsche kept to such an idea of the dead God in all his works, and Beyond Good and Evil in particular, it is better to analyze his original works, written in German, and grasp the major idea of translation and the reproduction of the thoughts, and only than start analyzing them.
Friedrich Nietzsche is a German philosopher and writer, this is why it is necessary to underline that all his works were written in German and translated by other people in many languages in different ways. The point is that translated works may not represent the major idea that the original author had in mind.
For example, in The Gay Science (in German, it sounds as Die fröhliche Wissenschaft),Nietzsche said that “God ist tot!” All writers translated this very idea literary, as “God is dead!” Maybe, it is one of their big mistakes to translate the words with such a serious meaning in a literary way, which can easily confuse the reader.
Such translations make lots philosophers and Nietzsche’s followers in particular to think that Nietzsche was an atheist. However, it was not true. In spite of all facts, Nietzsche believed in God (if this were not true, he could hardly create his works and write about God and his role in every person’s life). If Nietzsche says that there is no God, it will make all his works and our life senseless. If God is already dead, he had to be alive some time.
And if he was alive, there should be some reasons for his death. In The Gay Science, Nietzsche mentions that God is dead because “we” have killed him. (p. 120) The first question that appears in my who all those “we” – all people or philosophers only. But, in fact, is it possible to kill God? Hardly! This is why, it is crucially important to think once again how it can be true that God is dead.
The German word tot may be also translated as obsolete or even no longer useful. Taking into account such meanings, it is possible to think that Nietzsche had another thought in mind that not the idea, which is know to lots of people. This is why it is possible to find out the similar ideas in Beyond Good and Evil.
The major theme in Beyond Good and Evil is the exploration of truth regardless of numerous religious, social, and moral aspects. According to Nietzsche, every person is able to comprehend truth on a certain level. Unfortunately, each belief may be comprehended in different ways and even makes a person blindly faithful.
Nietzsche underlines the fact that only men may understand and delve feels. Women are not able to complete the same task of the same level. Even more, Nietzsche scorns females from time to time. In Beyond Good and Evils, Nietzsche supposes that Truth itself is a woman, and lots of male philosophers have already tried to comprehend female nature and failed all their attempts. Female nature will never allow herself to be won by men. (p. 3)
In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche also tells about Nihilism and its effect on the exploration of truth. The author tells that one of the possible reasons, which do not allow to comprehend everything clearly, is the idea of the old God. (p. 22) And this is what is so crucially important in order to answer the major question – if Nietzsche uses the idea of the dead God in Beyond Good and Evil.
After we analyze, that the translations of the works by Nietzsche may not really correctly represent his ideas and intentions, and clear up that his idea of the dead God may be interpreted in English in several ways, we can surely say that Beyond Good and Evil is also one of the works, which are based on the Nietzsche’s idea that God is dead.
In this work, he underlines that all humans are biological creatures, which are ruled by certain instincts. In order to live a full life, they need to will to power and truth, create their own values, live according to them, and do not take into consideration the principle of other people, who are not as strong as they are.
Without any doubts, to hear about the death of God may shock lots of people. (Kuehls, 6) However, exactly such ideas attract the attention of many readers. Searching for truth is one of the most important things in the whole world. People spend lots of time in order to comprehend what is really truth and what is not.
Friedrich Nietzsche created a wonderful work Beyond Good and Evil to help people and show them one of the possible ways in such kind of searching. He divides people according to their genders and points out why he makes such a choice. He grounds each his idea with the help of historically prevalent points of view and explain it to the reader. It is crucially important to comprehend all his words not literary, as it constricts the meaning he wants to represent.
The death of God is the common idea for Nietzsche’s numerous works, and the reader should not accept it literary in order to understand that God’s death represents the crisis, people live in. In order to overcome this crisis, it is important to explore truth casting aside all moral, religious, and social principles. All people have the right of choice, and if their choice is to understand the truth of life, Nietzsche is eager to help them and show the right way.
Works Cited
Kuehls, T. Beyond Sovereign Territory: the Space of Ecopolitics. U of Minnesota Press, 1996.
Nietzsche, F. W. Beyond Good and Evil. Plain Label Books, 1917.
Nietzsche, F. W. The Gay Science. Cambridge University Science, 2001.