Ecce Homo (book)

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

Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is (German: Ecce homo: Wie man wird, was man ist) is the title of the last original book written by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche before his final 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."^[1] The book contains several chapters with self-laudatory 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 many ways, Ecce Homo is a quintessential reflection of Nietzsche's humility 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."^[2] On these grounds, Kaufmann considers Ecce Homo a literary work comparable in its artistry to Vincent 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 himself is a great philosopher because of the scorn he has suffered during his life. Nietzsche insists that his suffering is not noble but tragic. He proclaims the goodness of everything that has happened to him (including his father's early death and his near-blindness — an example of amor fati). In this regard, the wording of his title was not meant to draw parallels with the Jesus, 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 Meditations, Human, All Too Human, The Dawn, The Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morality, 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.

He signs the book "Dionysus versus the Crucified."

References

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

External links

• Ecce homo, Wie man wird, was man ist at Project Gutenberg (in original German)
• Ecce homo, abridged English text at archive.org (Ludovici translation)