Friedrich Nietzsche, in Beyond Good and Evil,…

Friedrich Nietzsche, in Beyond Good and Evil, accuses past philosophers of lacking critical sense and blindly accepting Judeo-Christian premises in their consideration of morality.

The work moves into the realm "beyond good and evil" in the sense of leaving behind the traditional morality which Nietzsche subjects to a destructive critique in favor of what he regards as an affirmative approach that fearlessly confronts the perspectival nature of knowledge and the perilous condition of the modern individual.

Nietzsche has broken with his editor, Ernst Schmeitzner, in 1886, disgusted by his anti-Jewish opinions.

He now prints Beyond Good and Evil at his own expense, and issuessecond editions of his earlier works (The Birth of Tragedy, Human, All Too Human, Dawn, and The Gay Science) in 1886–1887, accompanied by new prefaces in which he reconsidered his earlier works.

Hereafter, he will see his work as complete for a time and will hope that a readership will soon develop.

Interest in Nietzsche's thought does increase at this time, if rather slowly and in a way hardly perceived by him.

During these years, Nietzsche has met Meta von Salis, Carl Spitteler, and also Gottfried Keller.

Nietzsche had acquired the publication-rights for his earlier works in 1886 and has begun a process of editing and re-formulation that places the body of his work in a more coherent perspective.

In the same year, his sister Elisabeth marries the anti-Jewish Bernhard Förster and travels to Paraguay to found Nueva Germania, a "Germanic" colony—a plan to which Nietzsche responds with mocking laughter.

Through correspondence, Nietzsche's relationship with Elisabeth continues on the path of conflict and reconciliation, but they will meet again only after his collapse.

He continues to have frequent and painful attacks of illness, which make prolonged work impossible.