Paul Ree – författare

This book contains the first English translations of The Origin of the Moral Sensations and Psychological Observations, the two most important works by the German philosopher Paul RÉe. These essays present RÉe’s moral philosophy, which influenced the ideas of his close friend Friedrich Nietzsche considerably.  Nietzsche scholars have often incorrectly attributed to him arguments and ideas that are RÉe’s and have failed to detect responses to RÉe’s works in Nietzsche’s writings. RÉe’s thinking combined two strands: a pessimistic conception of human nature, presented in the French moralists’ aphoristic style that would become a mainstay of Nietzsche’s own writings, and a theory of morality derived from Darwin’s theory of natural selection. RÉe’s moral Darwinism was a central factor prompting Nietzsche to write On the Genealogy of Morals and the groundwork for much of today’s “evolutionary ethics.”In an illuminating critical introduction, Robin Small examines RÉe’s life and work, locating his application of evolutionary concepts to morality within a broader history of Darwinism while exploring RÉe’s theoretical and personal relationship with Nietzsche. In placing Nietzsche in his intellectual and social context, Small profoundly challenges the myth of Nietzsche as a solitary thinker.

Paul Rée (1849-1901), an interdisciplinary traveller and admirer of the French moralistes, but also of Schopenhauer and Darwin, was for a time one of the closest friends of Lou Andreas-Salomé and Friedrich Nietzsche. With his publications, Rée wanted to convert moral philosophy into moral science.This edition presents his books Psychologische Beobachtungen (Psychological Observations) (1875), Der Ursprung der moralischen Empfindungen ( The Origin of Moral Sensations) (1877), Die Entstehung des Gewissens (The Genesis of Conscience) (1885) and Die Illusion der Willensfreiheit (The Illusion of Free Will) (1885). Together with a sketch of Rée's biography and the history of his works, which makes hitherto unknown documents accessible (such as the official record of Rée's fatal fall), Treiber reveals numerous sources for Rée's texts. In addition, he reproduces available contemporary reactions to the publications.

Paul Rée (18491901) är idag mest känd som en av Friedrich Nietzsches vänner, och i någon mån lärjunge. Här presenteras för första gången hans eget tänkande på svenska. Detta i form av hans Psykologiska iakttagelser (1875). Boken består av ett stort antal aforismer och »Essä om fåfängan«. Tobias Dahlkvist har översatt Rée och skrivit ett omfattande efterord som inte bara beskriver Rées tänkande och relation till Nietzsche utan också hans plats i den större tankeströmningen av pessimistisk filosofi.