Nietzsche's On The Genealogy of Morality

Taking recent scholarship on board and using it to inform its analysis of this challenging text, Rex Welshon's Guide introduces readers of all levels to the major arguments found in the Genealogy. Welshon also shows how arguments Nietzsche develops elsewhere clarify and buttress what he says in the Genealogy. The guide begins by introducing the reader to Nietzsche's life, identifying some of his major intellectual influences, and tracking his influence on subsequent philosophers, artists, literary critics, social and political thinkers, and moral psychologists. Then, in four longer chapters, the Genealogy's Preface and three essays are investigated in detail. Each chapter is divided into two parts, the first dedicated to section-by-section examinations of Nietzsche's claims and arguments as they unfold in the book, the second to detailed analyses of the most important, intricate, and perplexing of those arguments.