Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Sämtliche Werke: Kritische Studienausgabe in 15 Einzelbänden

Rate this book
The Kritische Studienausgabe is a paperback edition of the philosophical works of Friedrich Nietzsche, in 15 volumes.

Since 1967, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin-New York, has been publishing the authoritative critical edition of Nietzsche's complete works, Kritische Gesamtausgabe (KGW), edited by Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari. Divided into 8 sections, the entire edition will comprise approximately 33 volumes, 19 of which have been published to date.

The most important result of the editor's 13 years of work on this critical edition is that Nietzsche's posthumous writings from 1869 to 1889, (the period from the preparatory work on the Birth of Tragedy up to the time of Nietzsche's mental collapse) are published in their entirety. These posthumous writings comprise some 5,000 pages, a considerable increase over the 3,500 pages in the most complete previous edition, the famous "Gross-oktav-Ausgabe" (Leipzig, 1894-1926, Naumann/Kroner).

Now, with the publication of the paperback critical edition, Nietzsche's posthumous works are finally available to a wider audience.

For the first time in the history of Nietzsche editions, the Kritische Gesamtausgabe includes not only Nietzsche's complete works and posthumous writings from 1869-1889, but also full critical and philological commentary. Volume 14 of the paperback edition condenses in approximately 800 pages selected material from the critical apparatus of the hardcover edition as published to date. This volume contains selected variant readings, complete footnotes, and in cases where the text is similar in subject matter to material in the critical apparatus of the hardcover edition, this is indicated. Since the Kritische Studienausgabe is a collection of the philosophical works of Friedrich Nietzsche from 1869, Juvenilia, philological writings, and the Basel Lectures have been omitted (but may be found in the Kritische Gesamtausgabe). The works that are included in the paperback edition are otherwise identical in text to the hardcover edition, and a comparative page-index contained in volume 15 facilitates cross-referencing between the paperback and the Kritische Gesamtausgabe.

A detailed chronicle of Nietzsche's life from 1869-1889, numerous excerpts from letters by Nietzsche, his family, and his contemporaries, as well as related documents, help to show the relationship between Nietzsche's life and his work. A 100-page index makes the works, posthumous writings and commentaries easily accessible.

The publication of the Kritische Studienausgabe finally makes an authoritative paperback edition of Nietzsche's work available at a reasonable price.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1887

1360 people are currently reading
1344 people want to read

About the author

Friedrich Nietzsche

4,353 books25.6k followers
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture, who became one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest person to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24, but resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and probably vascular dementia. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900, after experiencing pneumonia and multiple strokes.
Nietzsche's work spans philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for aphorism and irony. Prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth in favour of perspectivism; a genealogical critique of religion and Christian morality and a related theory of master–slave morality; the aesthetic affirmation of life in response to both the "death of God" and the profound crisis of nihilism; the notion of Apollonian and Dionysian forces; and a characterisation of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power. He also developed influential concepts such as the Übermensch and his doctrine of eternal return. In his later work, he became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome cultural and moral mores in pursuit of new values and aesthetic health. His body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, music, religion, tragedy, culture, and science, and drew inspiration from Greek tragedy as well as figures such as Zoroaster, Arthur Schopenhauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Richard Wagner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
After his death, Nietzsche's sister Elisabeth became the curator and editor of his manuscripts. She edited his unpublished writings to fit her German ultranationalist ideology, often contradicting or obfuscating Nietzsche's stated opinions, which were explicitly opposed to antisemitism and nationalism. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with fascism and Nazism. 20th-century scholars such as Walter Kaufmann, R.J. Hollingdale, and Georges Bataille defended Nietzsche against this interpretation, and corrected editions of his writings were soon made available. Nietzsche's thought enjoyed renewed popularity in the 1960s and his ideas have since had a profound impact on 20th- and early 21st-century thinkers across philosophy—especially in schools of continental philosophy such as existentialism, postmodernism, and post-structuralism—as well as art, literature, music, poetry, politics, and popular culture.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
295 (60%)
4 stars
123 (25%)
3 stars
50 (10%)
2 stars
8 (1%)
1 star
8 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for Rosa Ramôa.
1,570 reviews85 followers
January 28, 2015
~~~
Não fiques em terreno plano.
Não subas muito alto.
O mais belo olhar sobre o mundo
Está a meia encosta
~~~
Profile Image for Karl.
408 reviews67 followers
November 6, 2017
Nietzsche is the champion of skepticism and intellectual honesty.

His conclusions are not always pleasant, but always honest. He does not bend reason to reach cute conclusions, he does not mince words, he observed, thought carefully over many years and questioned. He questioned absurdities very few notice, like why do we even care about truth. He saw everything metaphysical and morality as inventions.

At a first glance he seems mad and out to provoke, but that impression is erroneous. If you afford him the benefit of doubt, test out his ideas and you yourself are able to be intellectually honest, then I sincerely believe your worldview only can become what Nietzschean, not in detail but in general. N had his tastes, and you do not have to share them - you can to desire equality or whatever you feel like, Nietzsche does not forbid you from having moral feelings, what he does is demolish the idea that morality has a metaphysical existence.

Sometimes N gets speculative, in a few sentences he might present a convincing account of how Christian morality formed - but he does this so briefly, with so little evidence, that it is shocking. He must have thought about these things for years and discussed them so much, that he could pick a few sentences that would convince an erudite.

He has earned my confidence.
41 reviews4 followers
March 2, 2007
It's Nietzsche! Heidegger said not to study him till you'd studied Greek philosphy for 20 years. Well, I read him at 16 and then the rest of my life and with the help of professors and the learned I think I've come to understand the philosophy as the majority of intellectuals choose to as well as in my own way. If you want a personal relationship with the man, I suggest read all this works, from the beginning, with a critical eye and the help of someone that knows more than you. Kaufmann is good. Nietzsche will almost certainly change the way you think. On the other hand, he's really not meant for anyone at all. As Hesse would said, Nur Für Verrückte! (Only for Madmen!)
Profile Image for Eye Summers.
112 reviews10 followers
February 14, 2019
Happy that to say that I have "finally" read Nietzsche, but I found myself half-read most of "Thus Spake Zarathustra," my attention-span wandering. I wish I had read this alongside "Leaves of Grass," "Siddhartha, " "the Prophet" et cetera and I hope to re-read this again & read more Nietzsche in the future.
Profile Image for Sanjay Saini.
23 reviews1 follower
November 27, 2020
This is very helpful and informative book for university students.
Profile Image for A..
37 reviews
November 14, 2024
Nietzsche is insufferable.
My time is too precious to waste it reading this bs.
1 review2 followers
December 5, 2020
Philosophy majors and general snowflakes

Philosophy majors and general snowflakes
The follow is sarcastic.. If Fred shows up again God really is dead....if he can call me a cow,I can call him Fred!
16 reviews
August 6, 2018
Incomplete

It is an incomplete edition of Nietzsche book “human all too human” you better buy a more expensive edition and have it complete.
Profile Image for Oliver.
2 reviews
May 10, 2021
Niemand schreibt einen Philosophie Master... außer über Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche! Danke Herr Prof. Kanzler
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.