Nietzsche: Biography, Works, and Vitalism
Nietzsche: Biography and Works
Initially a supporter of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche radically changed his views on this 19th-century author throughout his life. Born in Röcken, Germany, in 1844, he died in 1900. He was raised in a religious environment, as his father and grandfather were Protestant pastors. He received a humanistic and musical education. He first attended university in Bonn and then Leipzig, where he studied theology and classical philology. His training was so brilliant that he became a professor of classical philology at the University of Basel. He was devoted to university teaching and had a strong social commitment, leading him to leave his classes to serve in the Franco-German War. After the war, he returned to university teaching and writing.
One of his early works was The Birth of Tragedy, which shows the influence of Schopenhauer’s thought and demonstrates knowledge of Greek tragedy. Untimely Meditations is another early work. He took early retirement for health reasons in 1879 and began a period of travel, during which he wrote his most important works.
Major Works
- Thus Spoke Zarathustra: Expresses typical themes such as the transmutation of man, the superman, and the return of the death of God.
- Beyond Good and Evil: Reviews the values of Western culture, particularly Christianity.
- The Gay Science: Addresses the issue of the death of morality.
- The Antichrist
- Ecce Homo
- On the Genealogy of Morality: More autobiographical.
Around the age of 44, he became mentally ill and was unable to produce comparable work.
The Vitalism of Nietzsche: Apollo and Dionysus
Nietzsche initially agreed with Schopenhauer that all reality corresponds to the will to live. However, he rejected Schopenhauer’s pessimism, which implied a fight against pain and suffering and proposed asceticism and renunciation. Nietzsche agreed with the basic idea of the will to live but did not accept resignation. Instead, Nietzsche proposed a total affirmation of life, embracing both joy and suffering. This option is reflected in Greek tragedy.
For Nietzsche, Greek tragedy reveals the two main principles that form reality: the Apollonian spirit and the Dionysian spirit. These terms refer to Greek gods. The Dionysian spirit is associated with imbalance, fertility, and unrestraint, as this deity is the god of dance, wine, and orgies. The Apollonian spirit is associated with balance, order, harmony, and serenity, the opposite of the Dionysian spirit.
In the pre-Socratic philosophy, these two spirits are present. For example, in Greek tragedy, the Dionysian spirit is present in the actions of heroes, where there is always an imbalance that is ultimately defeated. Anaximander said that everything comes from Apeiron, and an imbalance would be separated. In literature and thought, Apollo is more subtle (Socrates, Plato, and other philosophers). Socrates emphasizes rationality and reason, believing that we should direct the trial. Nietzsche gives us a vision of man cut off from reality, where there is balance and imbalance, pleasure and suffering. According to Nietzsche, Socrates avoids mentioning the Dionysian side of life, downplaying human instincts and embodiment. Of the two components, the soul is subtle, and even death is sweetened (as seen in Socrates).