Human, All Too Human (1878) is often considered the start of Friedrich Nietzsche’s mature period. A complex work that explores many themes to which Nietzsche later returned, it marks a significant departure from his previous thinking. Here Nietzsche breaks with his early allegiance to Schopenhauer and Wagner, and establishes the overall framework of his later philosophy. In contrast to his previous disdain for science, now Nietzsche views science as key to undercutting traditional metaphysics. This he sees as a crucial step in the emergence of free spirits who will be the avant-garde of culture.

In summing up the crucial change of perspective expressed in Human, All Too Human, Nietzsche used the following words in his later work Ecce Homo:

"Human, All Too Human is a memorial of a crisis…. [W]ith this book I liberated myself from that in my nature which did not belong to me. Idealism does not belong to me…realities were altogether lacking in my knowledge, and the ‘idealities’ were worth damn all! A downright burning thirst seized hold of me: thenceforward I pursued in fact nothing other than physiology, medicine, and natural science."

This is an essential work for anyone who wishes to understand Nietzsche’s incisive critique of such diverse aspects of Western culture and values as the idea of good and evil, the roles of women and children in society, and the concept of power and the state.

弗裏德裏希·尼采（Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900），19世紀德國哲學傢，唯意誌論和生命哲學主要代錶之一，被認為是世界最偉大的思想傢之一。

早年在波恩大學和萊比锡大學學習，獲博士學位。不到25歲就被聘為瑞士巴塞爾大學的古典語文學副教授，並在一年以後成為正教授。一生著述頗豐，如《悲劇的誕生》、《查拉圖斯特拉如是說》、《善惡的彼岸》、《強力意誌》等，對20世紀的思想界産生重大影響。1889年初，在意大利的都靈街頭摔倒，就此精神錯亂，於11年後在德國的魏瑪去世。