偶像的黄昏 (1889)

《偶像的黄昏：或怎样用锤子从事哲学》（德语：Götzen-Dämmerung, oder, Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophirt）是弗里德里希·尼采著于1888年，并于1889年出版的作品。

起因

《偶像的黄昏》是尼采在1888年8月26日到9月3日期间，在瑞士锡尔斯-玛利亚度假时，只用了一个来星期写的。 因为当时尼采在国内外有很高的名声，他觉得他需要写本书简短地介绍一下他的成果。最初起名叫《一个心理学家的闲逛》，后来改名叫为《偶像的黄昏：或怎样用锤子从事哲学》

《偶像的黄昏》（Götzen-Dämmerung）这个名字，是取自理查德·瓦格纳的歌剧《尼贝龙根的指环》中的第四部，《诸神的黄昏》（Götterdämmerung）。Götze是德语“偶像”的意思。沃尔特·考夫曼认为，尼采使用这个词可能是感激弗朗西斯·培根。

内容简介

尼采批判了当时的德国文化相当单纯而幼稚，并向许多主要的法国、英国、以及意大利文化代表人物开炮。比起那些所谓的“颓废主义”，尼采更赞成像凯撒、拿破仑、歌德、修昔底德以及诡辩家们，他认为后者比起前者要来的健康而强壮多了。这本书的最后告诉了读者们尼采最重要的计划：“重估一切价值”（德语：Umwertung aller Werte）。同时古罗马的文明成就在尼采来看要比古希腊高多了。

这本书共分为12个部分:

格言与箭

苏格拉底的问题

哲学中的“理性”

“真实的世界”最终如何变成了寓言——一个错误的历史

违反自然的道德

四大谬误

人类的“改善者”

德国人缺少什么

一个不合时宜者的漫游

我要感谢古人什么

锤子之言

Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with a Hammer (German: Götzen-Dämmerung, oder, Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophiert) is a book by Friedrich Nietzsche, written in 1888, and published in 1889.

Genesis

Twilight of the Idols was written in just over a week, between 26 August and 3 September 1888, while Nietzsche was on holiday in Sils Maria. Nietzsche wrote about Twilight in a letter: "This style is my philosophy in a nutshell—radical to the point of criminality..."

The latter title, Götzen-Dämmerung in German, is a pun on the title of Richard Wagner's opera Götterdämmerung, or "Twilight of the Gods". Götze is a German word for "idol" or "false god". Walter Kaufmann has suggested that in his use of the word Nietzsche might be indebted to Francis Bacon who used the concept of the idol in his philosophy.

Synopsis

Nietzsche criticizes German culture of the day as unsophisticated, decadent and nihilistic, and shoots some disapproving arrows at key French, English, and Italian cultural figures who represent similar tendencies. In contrast to all these alleged representatives of cultural decadence, Nietzsche applauds Caesar, Napoleon, Goethe, Thucydides and the Sophists as healthier and stronger types. The book states the transvaluation of all values as Nietzsche's final and most important project, and gives a view of antiquity wherein the Romans for once take precedence over the ancient Greeks, albeit only in the field of literature.

The book is divided into twelve sections:

Foreword

In the foreword, Nietzsche says that the book is an escape into the idle hours of a psychologist. He then calls his book a "Great Declaration of War", saying he intends to sound out famous idols with a hammer. He inscribes it with the date 30 September 1888.

Maxims and Arrows

This section comprises 44 short maxims that introduce the main themes of the work.

Maxim number eight

Out of life’s school of war—What does not kill me makes me stronger. (German Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker)

Nietzsche elaborates on this theme in Ecce Homo, published shortly after Twilight of the Idols, stating that "...to an intrinsically sound nature, illness may even constitute a powerful stimulus to life, to a surplus of life. ... He divines remedies for injuries; he knows how to turn serious accidents to his own advantage; that which does not kill him makes him stronger." As an illustration of this principle in practice, Nietzsche explains that his own overcoming of pessimism occurred during a period of dramatic downturn in his health, writing that "it was during those years in which my vitality reached its lowest point that I ceased from being a pessimist: the instinct of self-recovery forbade my holding to a philosophy of poverty and desperation."

Maxim number 12

If a man knows the wherefore of his existence, then the manner of it can take care of itself. Man does not aspire to happiness; only the Englishman does that.

In Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche makes twenty-two sarcastic or sardonic quips about the English, forty-one about women, over one hundred about the Germans.

Maxim number 31

When stepped on, a worm doubles up. That is clever. In that way he lessens the probability of being stepped on again. In the language of morality: humility.

Nietzsche elaborates on his opinion of humility in On the Genealogy of Morality. He considers virtues such as humility, patience, and compassion as qualities useful to the weak. Therefore, the weak praise qualities that ease their suffering. Aphorism 31 echoes the idea of humility serving the purpose of reducing the chances of suffering.

The Problem of Socrates

Throughout history, Nietzsche asserts, the most learned seem to have shared a common belief that life is worthless. Nietzsche argues that this idea was not a symptom of a healthy society but of one in decline. Philosophers such as Socrates or Plato, Nietzsche explains, shared a common physiological disposition to feel negatively about life, which reflected the decay of the superior Greek culture that preceded them.