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Apollo vs. Dionysus
Apollo vs. Dionysus
14 pages
Author: Emma Johnson
PHILOSOPHY
CURIOUS
GODS
JOY
DANCE
Summary
Harvey is introduced to new philosopher by Mr. Smith. His name is Friedrich Nietzsche and he was one of the most influential German classical scholar of the 18th century. Mr. Smith told Harvey that Nietzsche was the youngest person as chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in Switzerland in 1869, at the age of 24. Harvey was so impressed and amazed. Mr. Smith continues to explain Friedrich Nietzsche's main philosophical concept which is based on two figures in ancient Greek mythology Apollo and Dionysus. Mr. Smith also said that Nietzsche found in classical Athenian tragedy an art form that transcended the pessimism found in the so-called wisdom of Silenus. The Greek spectators, by looking into the abyss of human suffering depicted by characters on stage, passionately and joyously affirmed life, finding it worth living. The main theme in The Birth of Tragedy is that the fusion of Dionysian and Apollonian Kunsttriebe ("artistic impulses") forms dramatic arts or tragedies. He argued that this fusion has not been achieved since the ancient Greek tragedians. Apollo represents harmony, progress, clarity, logic and the principle of individuation, whereas Dionysus represents disorder, intoxication, emotion, ecstasy and unity (hence the omission of the principle of individuation). Nietzsche used these two forces because, for him, the world of mind and order on one side, and passion and chaos on the other, formed principles that were fundamental to the Greek culture: the Apollonian a dreaming state, full of illusions; and Dionysian a state of intoxication, representing the liberations of instinct and dissolution of boundaries. In this mould, a man appears as the satyr. Harvey felt so empowered and understood what Nietzsche meant; life is full of suffering and chaos and hard work and that's where we should find enjoyment and happiness by valuing what is most worth to us.
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