NIETZSCHE WORK SPACE
Welcome to the Nietzsche workspace. At present this
particular page introduces to the Nietzsche's first major text The Birth of
Tragedy. As pages develop and various approaches to reading are developed you
will be able to read more work on Nietzsche here. Nietzsche is a major
philosopher in his own right but his influence has been enormous.
Deleuze,Derrida, Foucault, Habermas, Heidegger, Gadamer; all in different ways
were influenced by this thinker.
THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY
This was Nietzsche's first book published in 1870-71. I will
give a brief exposition of the book here but will direct you to accompanying
pages to explore the text for yourself. Nietzsche uses his classical
scholarship to explore the development of what he sees as two major trends in
Greek thought: the Apollonian and the Dionysiac. We shall meet these terms
again. I shall emphasise here that the opening to the book is particularly
important: it raises questions over the relationship between author and reader,
the personal experiences of the author, the relationships between author and
key others in the immediate circle which often accompanies the production of a
book. These features will be explored in linked pages. But before we explore
this let us at see what Nietzsche took from classical Greek thought.
NIETZSCHE'S USE OF GREEK THOUGHT
Nietzsche upset the academic establishment of the
late 19th century for the following reasons:
- he appeared to have distorted the 'facts';
- he was making ridiculous parallels between the
ancient Greek world and the 19th century.
To follow this line of argument is to miss the point
behind Birth of Tragedy. Nietzsche was a Greek scholar and philologist
but his purpose in writing the text was not one of developing the discipline of
classical scholarship. He wanted to use such scholarship to illuminate cultural
problems of his own day:
Much will have been gained for esthetics once we have
succeeded in apprehending directly - rather than merely ascertaining - that art
owes its continuous evolution to the Apollonian-Dionysiac duality, even as the
propagation of the species depends on the duality of the sexes, their constant
conflicts and periodic acts of reconciliation. (p.19)
Nietzsche at once shows us that he is exploring a contemporary issue: the
impact of the Apollonian-Dionysiac duality from Greek thought on 19th century
aesthetics. To make sure you follow this argument check out the definitions I
give of the duality from Nietzsche. You will draw on these in later parts of
this text
Apollonian-Dionysiac.
If you feel confident over what Nietzsche means by these terms you can explore
the questions (currently under development!)
NIETZSCHE'S PURPOSE