In the first of the nine parts that make up Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche denounces the prejudices of philosophers. The most significant of these is the belief in the absolute value of truth: “What is it within us that seeks 'truth'?”, the author questions.

Why did philosophers not investigate the untrue, the uncertain, the erroneous? Why do they value only honesty, selflessness, reality, and disdain lies, egoism, and appearances? This happens because the inquiries of philosophers are entirely oriented by the moral ideas they wish to conclude. Thus, the norms they believe they draw from universal logic are merely reflections of their personal instincts and the hierarchy to which these conform.

Nietzsche also denounces the way people use certain concepts, such as those of cause, law, freedom, necessity, and purpose: it is mistaken to believe that these concepts allow us to explain phenomena, as they are nothing but figments of imagination intended to name them.

The second part is dedicated to the free spirit. Not the free thinker, who dreams of realizing the 'happiness of the herd for everyone', but the philosopher of the future, who has understood that only the 'will to power', beyond any moral consideration, allows humanity to develop and progress.