Nietzsche on Being-Toward-Death in Beyond Good and Evil 29

Abstract: Beyond Good and Evil 29 is a short and opaque aphorism about which little has been written. This essay argues that it is more important than has usually been recognized. The theme of death appears to be mostly absent from BGE . However, Nietzsche himself said that BGE “says the same things” as Thus Spoke Zarathustra , but “differently, very differently,” and the earlier book has a whole speech on death. This essay argues that BGE 29 is Nietzsche’s most important reflection on death in the entire book. It argues that this aphorism implicitly distinguishes between the philosopher’s attitude toward death as a final event in human life from the religious attitude as the occasion for judgement by God. It also argues that BGE 29 fits into the developing argument of BGE as a whole. While BGE 29 deals with death, the immediately succeeding BGE 30 deals with the style of writing adopted by books which will be circulated by a writer’s followers after his inevitable death.