German philosopher and philologist, Friedrich Nietzsche, was one of the most influential thinkers of our time. His works include critical texts on philosophy, science, cultural norms, religion and morality. His aim was the "truth" as he saw it, no matter how unpalatable, penned in a style characterised by metaphor and aphorism.
First published in 1887,
The Genealogy of Morals
is considered Nietzsche's most analytically powerful work. It is the least aphoristic and perhaps because of that, his examining lens is all the more unrelenting. The polemic expands on the ideas that were sketched out in
Beyond Good and Evil
by tracing the history of ethics and our changing interpretation of concepts such as good and bad, guilt and conscience, and ascetic ideals. In so doing, he spares no feelings towards our moral prejudices, religious doctrines or the priesthood, particularly Christian and Jewish.
This is a treatise that is as thought-provoking and contentious today as when it was first published - Nietzsche at his analytical best.