The first part of the book provides a detailed study and new interpretation of Nietzsche's much disputed relationship to Darwinism. Uniquely,Moore also consider the importance of Nietzsche's evolutionary perspective for the development of his moral and aesthetic philosophy. The second part analyses key themes of Nietzsche's cultural criticism -- his attack on the Judaeo-Christian tradition,his diagnosis of the nihilistic crisis afflicting modernity and his anti-Wagnerian polemics -- against the background of fin-de-siecle fears about the imminent biological collapse of western civilisation.
Part 1 Evolution
1 The physiology of power
2 The physiology of morality
3 The physiology of art
Part 2 Degeneration
4 Nietzsche and the nervous age
5 Christianity and degeneration
6 Degenerate art