Sunday 21 June 2009

Beyond Good and Evil


Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil is a work of considerable analytical power, which penetrates right to the source of all moral concepts. Here are two of my favourite aphorisms-

What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil

Madness is the exception in individuals but the rule in groups.

The latter might best be illustrated by Arthur Miller's play The Crucible and Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. In Ibsen's play a doctor takes a principled stand against the collective 'good' of his local community, earning much hatred in the process, but he continues to defend the truth notwithstanding, because '...the strongest man in the world is the man who stands most alone.'

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