E-Thesis 796 views 1436 downloads
How the Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche can be succinctly encapsulated within his Apollonian-Dionysian dichotomy / CHARLES CLEMENT
Swansea University Author: CHARLES CLEMENT
Abstract
This thesis aims to illustrate that the broad philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche can be subordinated to his conceptual dichotomy: the Apollonian-Dionysian dichotomy. Through an analysis of the Birth of Tragedy, Beyond Good and Evil, Twilight of the Idols, as well as a brief analysis of the Will to Po...
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Swansea
2023
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| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Master of Research |
| Degree name: | MA by Research |
| Supervisor: | Herrmann, Fritz-Gregor ; McQueen, Paddy |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa62767 |
| Abstract: |
This thesis aims to illustrate that the broad philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche can be subordinated to his conceptual dichotomy: the Apollonian-Dionysian dichotomy. Through an analysis of the Birth of Tragedy, Beyond Good and Evil, Twilight of the Idols, as well as a brief analysis of the Will to Power, I will make the case that the dichotomy is the umbrella under which all Nietzschean concepts are to be read and understood. The texts that were chosen represent key stages in Nietzsche’s intellectual development – from the Birth of Tragedy, which marks the beginning of Nietzschean philosophy; to Twilight of the Idols, which represents the end. The constituent parts of the dichotomy are to be understood in two contexts: firstly, the terms (Apollonian/Dionysian) are used to denote the forces required for the creation of art; secondly, the terms come to signify the type of individual who makes use of those forces as it is the case that different types of art can be created by different types of men. Nietzschean philosophy is to be understood through art as it is explicitly stated that the essence of existence is one of a perpetual Becoming wherein there exists only that which is created by man, for man, in service of man’s own will to power. All attempts to discern a fixed Being in-itself existing outside of this will to power are false and are indicative of a weak and sickly disposition, the symptoms of which are found in the progenitors’ art (be it a morality, table of categories, or a transcendent deity). Through the positing of the thing-in-itself as the will to power Nietzsche conceptualises the world of Becoming as a canvas onto which two different types of men imprint a Being which reveals, physiologically, their endowment as either Apollonian or Dionysian. |
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| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |