Why must we believe that God is dead? Can we accept that traditional morality is just a useful mistake? Did the principle of the will to power lead to the Holocaust? What are the limitations of scientific knowledge? Is human evolution complete or only beginning? It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Friedrich Nietzsche for our present epoch. His extraordinary insights into human psychology, morality, religion and power seem quite clairvoyant today: existentialism, psychoanalysis, semiotics and postmodernism are plainly anticipated in his writings. Introducing Nietzsche reflects the diversity of this great 19th century thinker. It shows Nietzsche as a fearless critic of vanity and bad faith - the philosopher whom Freud believed had greater self-knowledge than anyone I have read. Today we cannot read his work without recognizing an accurate diagnosis of the ills of the late 20th century.
