Ecce Homo (Nietzsche)

Encyclopedia : E : EC : ECC : Ecce Homo (Nietzsche)

For other uses of Ecce Homo, see Ecce Homo (disambiguation)

Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is (Ecce Homo: Wie Man wird Was Man Ist) is the title of the last original book written by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche before his last years of insanity that spanned until his death in 1900. It was written in 1888 and was not published until 1908.

According to one of Nietzsche's most prominent English translators, Walter Kaufmann, the book offers "Nietzsche's own interpretation of his development, his works, and his significance" (Kaufmann 1967: 201). The book contains several chapters with self-adulatory titles, such as "Why I Am So Wise", "Why I Am So Clever", "Why I Write Such Good Books", and "Why I Am a Destiny", in biting self-mockery of the arrogance of autobiographies. In many ways, Ecce Homo is a quintessential reflection of Nietzsche's work as a philosopher, writer, and thinker.

Within this work, Nietzsche is self-consciously striving to present a new image of the philosopher and of himself, for example, a philosopher "who is not an Alexandrian academic nor an Apollonian sage, but Dionysian" (Kaufmann 1967: 202). On these grounds, Kaufmann considers Ecce Homo a literary work comparable in its artistry to Van Gogh's paintings. Just as Socrates was presented in Plato's Apology as the wisest of men precisely because he freely admitted to his own ignorance, Nietzsche argues that he is a great philosopher because of the scorn he has suffered during his life. Nietzsche insists that his suffering is not noble but tragic. In this regard, the wording of his title was not meant to draw parallels with the Christ, but suggest a contrast, that Nietzsche truly is "a man." Nietzsche's point is that to be "a man" alone is to be more than Christ.

One of the main purposes of Ecce Homo was to offer Nietzsche's own perspective on his work as a philosopher and human being. He wrote: "Under these circumstances I have a duty against which my habits, even more the pride of my instincts, revolt at bottom—namely, to say: Hear me! For I am such and such a person. Above all, do not mistake me for someone else!" Throughout the course of the book, he expounds – in the characteristically hyperbolic style found in his later period (1886–1888) –upon his life as a child, his tastes as an individual, and his vision for humanity. He gives reviews and insights about his various works, including: The Birth of Tragedy, The Untimely Ones, Human, All-Too-Human, The Dawn, The Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, Twilight of the Idols, and The Case of Wagner. The last chapter of Ecce Homo, entitled "Why I Am a Destiny", is primarily concerned with reiterating Nietzsche's thoughts on Christianity, corroborating Christianity's "decadence" and his ideas as to "uncovering" Christian morality. The last phrase of the book, and Nietzsche's last few written words are (Voltaire's motto) Écrasez l'infâme ("Crush the infamy!") written soon before his collapse in Turin, Italy. In its original context, the French Enlightenment, the phrase recommended the destruction of the Christian Church.

References

Kaufmann, Walter 1967 "Editor's Introduction" in ''On the Genealogy of Morals (translated by Walter Kaufmann and R.J. Holingdale) and Ecce Homo (translated by Walter Kaufmann), edited by Walter Kauffman. 201-209. New York: Vintage.

External links

[Free eBook: Ecce homo, Wie man wird, was man ist] at Project Gutenberg (In original German)

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.