尼采的《古希臘式國家》「前言」本是《悲劇的誕生》中最為核心的章節，因與瓦格納的政治觀點向左，被迫刪除，生前從未刊發。作為早期遺稿之一，如今這篇文稿已被學界公認為尼采在隨後一生中一以貫之的政治哲學立場的最早宣示，其重要性勝過《悲劇的誕生》。通過對比古希臘和現代的政治倫理，尼采在文中對現代西方思想的人性論提出了極為尖銳的批判，並宣稱他所揭示的古希臘人的「人性」觀堪稱「殘酷」的真理。本稿以尼采宣導的細讀文本方式，釋讀這篇文本的前六個自然段，以便深入理解，尼采的「人性」觀的「殘酷」性究竟何在。

The preface of The Greek State should have been the core of Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy. However, as it involves thoughts contrasting Wagner’s political views, it was forced to be deleted and remained unpublished until the death of its author. As one of the earliest posthumous manuscripts, the “preface,” which was more importan than the main body of the book, has been regarded as the first demonstration of Nietzsche’s political philosophical position that was maintained consistently in his later life. By a comparison of the political ethics between ancient Greece and modern, Nietzsche sharply criticized the theory of human narure in modern western thoughts, claiming that what he had revealed about the theory of “human nature” of the ancient Greeks may be called “cruel” truth. The essay, following the approach of close reading advocated by Nietzsche, reads the first six paragraphs of the “Preface,” trying to delve into the “cruelity” of the view of “human nature” adopted by Nitzsche.