Nietzsche and Classical Greek Philosophy: Beautiful and Diseased explains Friedrich Nietzsche’s ambivalence toward Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Daw-Nay N. R. Evans Jr. argues that Nietzsche’s relationship to his classical Greek predecessors is more subtle and systematic than previously believed. He contends that Nietzsche’s seemingly personal attacks on his philosophical rivals hide philosophically sophisticated disputes that deserve greater attention. Evans demonstrates how Nietzsche’s encounters with Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle reveal the philosophical influence they exercised on Nietzsche’s thought and the philosophical problems that he sought to address through those encounters. Having illustrated Nietzsche’s ambivalence regarding Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Evans draws on Nietzsche’s admiration for Heraclitus as a counterpoint to Plato to suggest that the classical Greek philosophers are just as important to Nietzsche’s thought as their pre-Socratic precursors. This book will appeal to those interested in continental philosophy, ancient philosophy, and German studies.

In "Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks," in keeping with his obsession with Pre-Socratic philosophers, Nietzsche examines the philosophical insights of the pre-Socratics in the context of the tragic sensibility of ancient Greek culture. He highlights the profound connection between the tragic view of life and the philosophical quest for understanding, arguing that the early Greek philosophers were deeply attuned to the complexities and contradictions of existence. Nietzsche reflects on the essential dispositions and metaphysical conjectures of figures such as Thales, Anaximander, and Heraclitus, noting how their ideas gestated within a culture that both nurtured and was nurtured by philosophical inquiry. Nietzsche's analysis emphasizes the intrinsic connection between the temperament of the individual philosopher and the broader cultural and existential inquiries of the age. The text highlights the tragic sensibility inherent in Greek culture and suggests that the interplay between this sensibility and philosophical thought reveals deeper truths about the human condition and the cosmos. Through a lens that combines historical insight with philosophical speculation, Nietzsche articulates a vision of philosophy not merely as an academic discipline, but as a profound dialogue with existence itself. This view that the philosophic is important to human life conflicts with his anti-metaphysical worldview, according to Heidegger. The work was first published posthumously in 1913 by C. G. Naumann as part of a collection edited by Nietzsche's sister, Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche, and his friend Peter Gast. This new 2024 translation from the original German, Latin and Greek manuscript contains a new Afterword by the translator, a timeline of Nietzsche's life and works, an index with descriptions of his core concepts and summaries of his complete body of works. This translation is designed to allow the armchair philosopher to engage deeply with Nietzsche's works without having to be a full-time Academic. The language is modern and clean, with simplified sentence structures and diction to make Nietzsche's complex language and arguments as accessible as possible. This Reader's Edition also contains extra material that amplifies the manuscript with autobiographical, historical and linguistic context. This provides the reader a holistic view of this very enigmatic philosopher as both an introduction and an exploration of Nietzsche's works; from his general understanding of his philosophic project to an exploration of the depths of his metaphysics and unique contributions. This edition contains: • An Afterword by the Translator on the history, impact and intellectual legacy of Nietzsche • Translation notes on the original German manuscript • An index of Philosophical concepts used by Nietzsche with a focus on Existentialism and Phenomenology • A complete chronological list of Nietzsche's entire body of works • A detailed timeline of Nietzsche's life journey

This work presents a portrait of Nietzsche as the skeptic par excellence in the modern period, by demonstrating how a careful and informed understanding of ancient Pyrrhonism illuminates his reflections on truth, knowledge and morality, as well as the very nature and value of philosophic inquiry.

For Nietzsche the Age of Greek Tragedy was indeed a tragic age. He saw in it the rise and climax of values so dear to him that their subsequent drop into catastrophe (in the person of Socrates - Plato) was clearly foreshadowed as though these were events taking place in the theater. And so in this work, unpublished in his own day but written at the same time that his The Birth of Tragedy had so outraged the German professorate as to imperil his own academic career, his most deeply felt task was one of education. He wanted to present the culture of the Greeks as a paradigm to his young German contemporaries who might thus be persuaded to work toward a state of culture of their own; a state where Nietzsche found sorely missing.

Nietzsche's philosophy - at once revolutionary, erudite and deep - reaches into all spheres of the arts. Well into a second century of influence, the profundity of his ideas and the complexity of his writings still determine Nietzsche's power to engage his readers. His first book, "The Birth of Tragedy", presents us with a lively inquiry into the existential meaning of Greek tragedy. We are confronted with the idea that the awful truth of our existence can be revealed through tragic art, whereby our relationship to the world transfigures from pessimistic despair into sublime elation and affirmation. It is a landmark text in his oeuvre and remains an important book both for newcomers to Nietzsche and those wishing to enrich their appreciation of his mature writings. "Nietzsche and The Birth of Tragedy" provides a clear account of the text and explores the philosophical, literary and historical influences bearing upon it. Each chapter examines part of the text, explaining the ideas presented and assessing relevant scholarly points of interpretation. The book will be an invaluable guide to readers in Philosophy, Literary Studies and Classics coming to "The Birth of Tragedy" for the first time.

Roughly formulating many of the themes he later developed at length, Nietzsche sketches concepts such as the will to power, eternal recurrence, and self-overcoming and links them to specific pre-Platonics." "This translation, complete with Nietzsche's own extensive sidenotes and philological citations, is accompanied by a prologue, introductory essay, and extensive translator's commentary.".