Is
God dead? Is traditional morality just “a
useful mistake”? Does “the will
to power” lead to the Holocaust? What
are the limitations of scientific knowledge?
Is human evolution complete or only just beginning?
All of these questions are raised by Friedrich
Nietzsche’s philosophy.
It
is difficult to over-estimate the importance
of Nietzsche for our present epoch. His extraordinary
insights into human psychology, morality,
religion and power seem quite clairvoyant
today: existentialism, psychoanalysis, semiotics
and postmodernism are plainly anticipated
in his writings.
Introducing
Nietzsche reflects the diversity and depth
of this great 19th-century thinker. It shows
Nietzsche as a fearless critic of vanity and
bad faith – the philosopher who Freud
believed had “greater self-knowledge
than anyone I have read”.
***
Laurence
Gane read Philosophy at University College
London and Kings College, London. He teaches
at the Royal College of Art and lives in Snowdonia,
Wales.
Piero
is an illustrator and graphic designer whose
work has twice been included in the Royal
College of Art’s “The Best of British
Illustration”. He has also illustrated
Introducing Shakespeare, Introducing Psychiatry
and Introducing Anthropology.
