Friedrich Nietzsche reading

Greetings. I hope all of you are having a great day. How should I start reading Friedrich Nietzsche? After educating myself a bit about him and doing some basic research on his ideology, I decided that I would like to spend some time reading his works. Above all, I am very attracted to his perception of morality and would like to know more about his worldview. However, I would like to know if there is a “right order” to read his work or if I can start with any of his books; I have heard that he can be a complicated author. Which of his books would be “beginner friendly”, so to speak? Thank you very much in advance.

>>11010 this is the order i recommend. one thing to keep in mind is that he changed his thought a lot before writing his most famous works. To put it in perspective, he had a priest as a father (who died early), he spent most of his younger life in 1800 german academia and one of his points was his struggle to unchain himself from that world. Be careful, Nietzsche is not your typical philosopher a la Kant. If you like philosophy as in Kant logical reasoning this is not for you. His writings are often in aphorisms and he constantly challenges the so called logical "perfection" of the Illuminist philosophers. The book you should get are: The portable Nietzsche (Penguin Books, translated by Walter Kauffman) which contains Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, Zarathustra and some more; Human, All too Human (Cambridge) Daybreak (Cambridge) The Gay Science (Translated by Kauffman) Basic writings of Nietzsche (by Kauffman) which contains Beyond Good and Evil and Ecce Homo and other stuff. Kauffman translations are considered to be the best in quality, because other than being a translator he also knows nietzsche's philosophy well and criticized the use of other words by other translator for terms such as Spirit etc.. The order i read them all is: 1) Twilight of the Idols a.k.a. "Philosophizing with a hammer" This book was written in his last years of life, and was meant to be an introductory book to his philosophy. It goes over many things without going too deep, so it's a perfect introduction. 2) The Antichrist Basically same as 1, but goes on more detail on Christianity and (dis)honest morality in Europe (it's still very relevant) 3) Human, all too Human This is the oldest book i recommend and it's when this list starts to get chronological (so from now on the books are somewhat chronological and reflect the evolution of his thought) It was written just about when Nietzsche was starting to get mad to academia as a whole so you can see some of his important concepts forming here like the shadow, but it still contains some faith in rigorous science, which will later change for a more skeptical, "gay" science (explained later) 4) Daybreak I don't remember much about this book. IIRC it's somewhat similar to human all too human. 5) The Gay Science This is one of his best books and it's where the death of god concept is announced. The title is a reference to his detatchment and disgust for an Apollonian academia that promotes having knowledge for the sake of it, and instead promotes a Dyonisian, practical science (and way of life in general) that "affirms life" (it's very hard to understand as a beginner, you need to read the book). 6) Beyond Good and Evil Another masterpiece, it deals with various subject with a focus on dishonest morality in a post-christian europe. The concept of the eternal recurrence is expanded here as well. 7) Thus Spoke Zarathustra Why this for last? This book takes another format: it's fictional and it's written by metaphors, kinda like the bible. To understand these metaphors you need to read the other books first, otherwise you are going to misinterpret it bad like most people that just read this book. Bonus content: Ecce Homo This could be very well considered his last book. It's basically an autobiography and trust me, once you read all these books you are going to ask yourself some questions about his life. Well this book basically answers them. Really puts into perspective the nietzsche as a philosopher with the nietzsche as a human being. What i was surprised the most in this book is that after he studied so much as a philologist professor and felt that he wasted his life, he couldn't read books anymore for years unless they had some practical knowledge. If you still want more after this I personally recommend Jung. Both start from the premise that the psychology of a human being comes first. Avoid people like Peterson and other so called successors of Nietzsche.

>>11011 Thank you very, very much for giving me such a complete answer; you are really going to heaven. Yep, I had read that he was a man who, in fact, questioned and even criticized the teachings of philosophers more oriented to metaphysical concepts. I think what really appeals to me about him is how he has no qualms about challenging what other great exponents of philosophy promulgated; which, by the way, I understand that these ideas earned him a lot of criticism and even repudiation from many people (even in contemporary times). Well, I have a lot of reading to do. Again, I thank you infinitely for the guidance you have given me. I wish you all the best!

>>11012 happy to help anon, this is the least i can do for what these books did to me. wish you the best too

>>11011 Good list >>11010 if I had to add anything: Do bare minimum for Kant (Prolegomena, Groundwork) Schopenhauer (I'd suggest Hamlyn) just to help frame the kinds of concerns Nietzsche will raise. It'll just make following along a little easier. As a personal sidenote, I surprisingly found Jean-Luc Marion's book God without Being to do really well placing Nietzsche in the broader currents of philosophical history. The first 5 chapters in particular. Made reading Nietzsche even more interesting.

Thus Spake Zarathustra is quite clear and fun to read. His other books feel like reader helpers for academics that are too caught up mistaking language for reality. If you want to quickly understand his worldview and have motivation for getting back to your actual life then start there. It speaks to your subconscious. If you want to argue with people then read the others also. Ecce Homo summary: I am so great. Germans are the worst especially at cooking. I like Italy and coffee.

You will be able to better understand his worldview if you start with Birth of Tragedy. BoT sets up the push and pulling of opposites that are at the core of his writings and ultimately his worldview. It also sets up what he deems to be good art, which is important because at a time art was seen to be the best way of stepping into truth for N. You can get a better understanding of his morality and worldview if you read some Descartes as well. Meditations On First Philosophy will help. Nietzsche goes against this Cartesian worldview, but really, will to power is just that at the end of the day. After BoT I think reading the first section of Heidegger's first Nietzsche lecture is very beneficial as well.

>>11010 Literally what everyone else said but I want to add a few things. 1. I think that if you want to read an author it's a good idea to read about him for a general idea. In my case I read Safranski's book, but I understand that reading the Kaufmann one is a better idea. 2. https://www.youtube.com/@untimelyreflections 3. Once you feel comfortable, you could try to read papers and academic stuff (I don't really know if this is advisable, but it helped me digest better) 4. Read "On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense" 5. Read sloooow, and try reading other philosophers of your interest between books.

>>11010 >Friedrich Nietzsche Simply gaze long into The Void, whilst chanting: "God is Dead..." Soon, The Void will gaze back... thus self disproving Nietzsche's "god is dead" claim. Protip: Niet is nothing, Chi or [s]Xe, etc. Means living or life. Do you believe a boy was named via "occult" lame-name game sound-same as "Nothing-Life", then he became an adult destined to profess belief in a god[life] made of nothing? Perhaps read the great works of his apparently precient parents[which never existed], or drop your desire to be poisoned with such mind-rot [shoveled at the masses to demoralize them]. If you find it hard to believe that Nietzsche's parents named him such, why read any further into this drivel constructed in bad faith by a group of "satanic"/rebellious parasites [as a (death by 1000 cuts) political tool]?

>>11010 On the Genealogy of Morals is a must. Don't skip.

>>11529 >Soon, The Void will gaze back... thus self disproving Nietzsche's "god is dead" claim. Ah, the proudly filtered return. The concept "god is dead" is not saying that god is literally dead / does not exist. It's that, in the human consciousness, god does not exist. His claim "god is dead" is followed with the idea that we (humanity) have killed him and must take responsibility for our atrocity. Nietzsche is simply saying if people do not believe in god, they will naturally fall into nihilism -- He is worried that nihilism will destroy humanity. And it has been. His entire philosophy is offering a solution to this nihilism, since it would be rather hard to redirect humanity onto believing in god.

As per usual, you start with Kant. I advise you don't go full Kant, just some overview (but for god's sake not a website) is enough. Then, as usual, hegel, schopenhauer, nietzsche.

Nietzsche was a sick fuarrrk and will only make you a more sick fuarrrk if you read him. Basically striving for unobtainable ideals of being the bridge to the übermensch wont get you anywhere. Better to read Camus