Editing Beyond Good and Evil (section)

{{Short description|1886 book by Friedrich Nietzsche}}{{about|the book by Friedrich Nietzsche}}
{{Distinguish|Beyond Freedom and Dignity}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{original research|date=November 2015}}
{{refimprove|date=November 2015}}
{{primary sources|date=December 2007}}
}}
{{Infobox book
| name              = Beyond Good and Evil
| title_orig        = Jenseits von Gut und Böse. Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft
| translator        = 
| image             = Jenseits von Gut und Böse - 1886.jpg
| caption           = Title page of the first edition.
| border            = yes
| author            = [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]
| illustrator       = 
| cover_artist      = 
| country           = Germany
| language          = German
| series            = 
| subject           = [[Morality]], [[metaphysics]]
| published         = 1886
| media_type        = Print
| pages             = 
| isbn              = 
| preceded_by       = [[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]] (1883–1885)
| followed_by       = [[On the Genealogy of Morality]] (1887)
| orig_lang_code    = de
| wikisource        = Beyond Good and Evil
}}

'''''Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future''''' ({{langx|de|Jenseits von Gut und Böse: Vorspiel einer Philosophie der Zukunft}}) is a book by [[philosopher]] [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] that covers ideas in his previous work ''[[Thus Spoke Zarathustra]]'' but with a more [[polemic]]al approach. It was first published in 1886 under the publishing house C. G. Naumann of Leipzig at the author's own expense and first translated into English by Helen Zimmern, who was two years younger than Nietzsche and knew the author.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Basic Writings of Nietzsche|publisher=Modern Library|year=1992|isbn=0-679-60000-0|location=New York|pages=182–185|translator-last=Kaufmann|translator-first=Walter}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Nietzsche|first=Friedrich|title=Beyond Good and Evil|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|year=1997|isbn=0-486-29868-X|location=New York|translator-last=Zimmern|translator-first=Helen|orig-year=translation originally published 1906}}</ref>

According to translator [[Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)|Walter Kaufman]], the title refers to the need for moral philosophy to go beyond simplistic black and white moralizing, as contained in statements such as "X is good" or "X is evil".<ref name=":0" /> At the beginning of the book (§&nbsp;2), Nietzsche attacks the very idea of using strictly opposite terms such as "Good versus Evil".<ref name=":0" />

In ''Beyond Good and Evil'', Nietzsche accuses past philosophers of lacking critical sense and blindly accepting dogmatic premises in their consideration of morality. Specifically, he accuses them of founding grand metaphysical systems upon the faith that the good man is the opposite of the evil man, rather than just a different expression of the same basic impulses that find more direct expression in the evil man. The work moves into the realm "beyond [[good and evil]]" in the sense of leaving behind the traditional morality which Nietzsche subjects to a destructive critique in favour of what he regards as an affirmative approach that fearlessly confronts the [[perspectival]] [[nature of knowledge]] and the perilous condition of the modern individual.

The book is well-known for the often-quoted line: ''"He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee."'' <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4363/4363-h/4363-h.htm | title=Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nietzsche-quotes.com/beyond-good-and-evil | title=Beyond Good and Evil Nietzsche Quotes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.themarginalian.org/2020/11/04/beyond-good-and-evil-nietzsche/ | title=Beyond Good and Evil: Nietzsche on Love, Perseverance, and the True Mark of Greatness | date=4 November 2020 }}</ref>