Introduction

On the Genealogy of Morality stands out among Nietzsche’s works as his most cohesive and self-contained book. Each of its three essays is devoted to an explicitly stated topic, which it subjects to a fairly sustained and systematic treatment. The topics are unified insofar as they are the conceptual elements of a coherent outlook. And the essays devoted to them turn out to be linked in various ways: each draws on the findings of the others, while also shedding light on them. The contrast with Nietzsche’s other writings is striking, and fuels the expectation that a clearly delineated, well worked-out critical analysis of morality can be found in the book. Moreover, the book makes some arresting claims about morality: most prominently, that its invention is an act of revenge....