The Dawn of Day: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality

‘The Dawn of Day’ marks the arrival of Nietzsche's 'mature' philosophy. In the book Nietzsche devotes lengthy passages to his criticism of Christian biblical exegesis including its arbitrary interpretation of objects and images in the Old Testament as prefigurations of Christ's crucifixion. The main themes of the book are located in their intellectual and philosophical contexts: in Nietzsche's training as a classical philologist and his fascination with the Sophists and Thucydides; in the moral philosophies of Kant and Schopenhauer which are the central foci of Nietzsche's critique of morality; and in the German Materialist movement of the 1850s and after which shaped Nietzsche's conception of persons. Regarded as one of the most profound German philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) is popularly considered a cultural critic and philologist whose work exerted a scholarly influence on modern intellectual history. His intellectual works focus on widespread themes such as religion morality philosophy and science. Prominent elements of his philosophy include his radical critique of truth a genealogical criticism of religion and Christian morality. His body of work touched a wide range of topics including art philology history music tragedy and culture most of which drew inspiration from Greek tragedy.