Nietzsche's Middle Period

Abstract

Abstract This book offers a close study of the works that have come to be known as constituting Friedrich Nietzsche’s middle period: Human, All Too Human, Daybreak, and the first four books of The Gay Science. Some of the value in reading these works is genealogical — they show how the later Nietzsche became the thinker he did. A related benefit of reading them is the help they give in avoiding generalizations about Nietzsche — views and attitudes associated with Nietzsche come to be seen as peculiar to one of his periods or some of his texts. However, it is also argued that these are rich and fruitful works, deserving attention in their own right. The Nietzsche delivered by a reading of these works is a more careful, moderate, and modest thinker than he is usually interpreted to be. In these works, Nietzsche offers many subtle psychological insights, and has a powerful sense of the dialogical nature of identity. He values relationships like marriage and friendship, and eschews some of the misogyny, individualism, and elitism of the later works.