This book offers a wide-ranging interpretation of On the Genealogy of Morality, arguing that Nietzsche’s genealogy is at once historical, diagnostic and metaphysical. Rather than constituting separate strands of his thought, these dimensions are shown to be mutually constitutive elements of a single philosophical enterprise.

Widely regarded as one of Nietzsche’s greatest philosophical achievements and as one of the defining works of modern philosophy, On the Genealogy of Morality occupies a central place in Nietzsche’s writings. While stressing that Nietzsche brings the key features of his philosophy and their underlying unity into particularly sharp focus in this work, the book argues that he does not do so through a straightforward logical critique aimed at assessing the presumed validity of morality. Instead, Nietzsche’s approach takes the form of a meticulous genealogical-historical investigation of the emergence of morality, examining how it came to prevail and why it continues to do so. The aim of this genealogical approach is not to criticise and abolish morality per se but temporarily to suspend consideration of its validity or non-validity in order to raise the more nuanced critical question of the value of morality and the effects of its concrete manifestations within a wider context.

History, Diagnostics and Metaphysics in Nietzsche’s ‘On the Genealogy of Morality’ is essential reading for scholars, researchers and advanced students of the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche. It is also ideal for researchers in the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of the self.

Sverre Raffnsøe is Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Business Humanities and Law, Copenhagen Business School.

Stuart Pethick is an independent writer and researcher within early modern and modern European philosophy with a special interest in the relationship between affectivity, ideas and language.