"The Birth of Tragedy" is Nietzsche's debut work. Its content is to explain his views on art, culture, history, society, and human behavior through the study of the origin, essence, development, and decline of ancient Greek tragedy art. , morality and many other aspects of basic views. This book presents Nietzsche's idealist philosophy-aesthetic thoughts to the world for the first time, which is worthy of people's attention. The greatest achievement is that it is a general outline. But it runs through and summarizes almost all of his own aesthetic theories and philosophical views. Many of his subsequent works are just discussions and summaries of "The Birth of Tragedy". The article discusses aesthetic issues from beginning to end. The commentary and excavation of the tragic art in Greek art leads to the duality impulse of Apollo and Dionysus, and then puts forward the author's aesthetic point of view.
In this book, Nietzsche explains the inner mechanism of Greek tragedy straight to the point. pointed out that it is the spirit of Apollo and the spirit of Dionysus. That is Sun God and Dionysus. The so-called Apollonian spirit is an illusion that indulges in appearance and opposes the pursuit of the true nature. The brilliance of the Apollonian makes everything appear beautiful and creates an illusion. The subtext of the Apollonian spirit is: Even if life is a dream, we must live it with gusto. Don’t lose the passion and fun of this dream. ; The so-called Dionysus symbolizes emotional indulgence, and one of its states is a state of madness in which pain and ecstasy are intertwined. The spirit of Dionysus must break through the illusion of appearance and communicate and integrate with the ontology. The subtext of the Dionysian spirit is: Even if life is a tragedy, we must act out the tragedy vividly and not lose the magnificence and comfort of the tragedy. The former uses a beautiful veil to cover the tragedy of life, while the latter lifts the veil and looks directly at the tragedy of life. The former teaches people not to give up the joy of life, and the latter teaches people not to avoid the pain of life. The former is obsessed with the moment, while the latter yearns for eternity.
We all like to listen to music, and music is the expression of a comprehensive emotion of the Apollonian and Dionysian spirits. Nietzsche regards tragedy as the Apollonian spirit and the Dionysian spirit. of composites. But in essence he appreciates the spirit of Dionysus more. This is what he calls the spirit of music. Nietzsche believed that when watching tragedy, "a kind of metaphysical comfort allows us to temporarily escape the chaos of the changing world." Through the destruction of personality, we feel the abundance and indestructibility of the world's life will, so we feel pleasure. The suffering of reality turns into aesthetic joy, the tragedy of life turns into the comedy of the world, affirming life, along with the pain and destruction it inevitably contains, playing with pain, and gaining aesthetic pleasure from the tragedy of life. This is Nietzsche The true meaning of the aesthetic attitude towards life advocated. "Re-evaluating all values ??focuses on criticizing Christian morality. The aesthetic attitude towards life is first of all a non-ethical attitude towards life." Life itself is immoral. All things belong to the eternally generated "whole" nature, and there is no good or evil to speak of. Christianity makes an ethical evaluation of life and regards life instinct as sin, which results in a widespread sense of guilt and self-repression. Aesthetic life requires us to get rid of this sense of guilt, transcend good and evil, and enjoy the freedom of the soul and the joy of life. joy. "So Nietzsche has these two sentences: "Art is the highest mission of life and the original metaphysical activity of life", "Only as an aesthetic phenomenon, life and the world appear to have sufficient reasons. ”
The main part of "The Birth of Tragedy" can be divided into two major parts. The first fifteen chapters are the explanation of Nietzsche's literary theory, and the sixteenth chapter to the end is the literary and aesthetic thoughts proposed in the previous article. The application of methodology in the German Renaissance, so the following content is mainly summarized in the first section. The contents of the next ten chapters are mostly repeated with the previous ones, and can be used to support and explain the previous concepts. As can be seen from the above, Nietzsche. "The Birth of Tragedy" has two levels. The first is the discussion of the origin of ancient Greek tragedy and the resulting criticism of modern rationalism. The other is the real core hidden behind these discussions-aesthetics. The decisive role in the meaning of human existence is the original form of the so-called "attempt to revalue all values". The latter is the core of Nietzsche's aesthetics, the basis for our understanding of his Apollinian-Dionysian theory, and a thread throughout the book. Clues.
About Nietzsche’s “The Birth of Tragedy”, scholar Zhou Guoping once summarized: “As for the purpose of “The Birth of Tragedy,” Nietzsche has repeatedly pointed out that it is to create a pure aesthetic for life. Evaluation, aesthetic value is the only value recognized by the book, and the 'totally non-speculative, amoral god of the artist' is the only 'god' recognized by the book.
He also clearly pointed out that the aesthetic evaluation of life is fundamentally opposed to the religious, moral and scientific evaluation of life. …Later it was pointed out: ‘Our religion, morality and philosophy are forms of human decadence. Opposite Movement: Art. ’ It can be seen that the standard of ‘revaluation’ is art in a broad sense, and its essence is to oppose the ethical life attitude and the utilitarian (scientific) life attitude with the aesthetic attitude towards life. "
When Nietzsche wrote "The Birth of Tragedy", he was still under the influence of Schopenhauer's philosophical thought. In the fifth section of this book, Nietzsche applied the perspective of Schopenhauer's musical philosophy and said: “I wish I had known him of his own volition. "In the fourth section, it is shown that a concept is proposed - "the original one that is always suffering and contradictory", also known as "the basis of existence". This is very similar to Schopenhauer's view of the universe as the representation of will. . Sure enough, in Chapter 16, he clearly stated that "we can call the world concrete music, just as we call it concrete expression of will", which exposed his voluntaristic view and later proposed "power." The proposition of "will" has already emerged here. The so-called "supermen" who can realize the will of rights, that is, "autocrats with artistic talents," are the creators of history and the enslavers of the masses. This superhuman philosophy is also There are also clues in the book. In section 18, Nietzsche calls for "a new generation with a fearless vision and a courageous impulse towards the unexplored world". This is what these irrational "geniuses" deny. The universal validity of science and the claim to achieve universal purposes begin to break the so-called confidence that humans can explore the universe through causal relationships. This means that Superman does not need rational guidance and constraints when acting, but only abstract will and primitiveness.
Based on the above, we can see that Nietzsche has constructed his pessimism in philosophy, society and history in "The Birth of Tragedy". The prototype of what he wants to promote to the world is a set of shocking ideas, such as: consciously praising evil and rejecting good, believing that pursuing good deeds is a mistake; true virtue is opposite to traditional virtue and is possessed by only a few people. ; Superior people wage war against the common people and resist the democratic trend of the times; the power of will is above all else, and in order to have the ability to harm others and endure pain, Spartan discipline must be implemented, which is even more painful; men should be trained to fight, women Should be trained for the entertainment of soldiers, etc...
If we look at it from a secular point of view, Nietzsche's life was unfortunate and his ending was tragic. He was a loser: his thoughts. The development failed to achieve the expected goals; there were very few people who could understand him in his era, and he was always surrounded by terrible loneliness; in the end, the disease came slowly and quietly, and even became a part of his life. , one can also say that without his illness and torture, his life and works would be unimaginable.
Nietzsche affirmed life through art, affirming the highest art of life, that is, tragedy. , will be alive. The premise is the tragic nature of life. The effect of tragedy is to comfort the individual's existence and bring it to a natural unity. Apollonian art gives the individual eternal creation in a formative way. Disaster is the eternity of a momentary existence.
Nietzsche, like Marx and Freud, is the thinker who has had the greatest influence on the spiritual life of the 20th century. This book is Nietzsche's blockbuster masterpiece. , is also an introductory book for readers to understand Nietzsche's aesthetics and philosophy. Nietzsche claimed that this is a book written for artists who have both analytical and reflective abilities. It is full of psychological insights and artistic mysteries. It is "a book full of young people's imagination." A Youthful Work of Courage and the Sorrows of Youth.” In this work, Nietzsche used the symbols of Apollo and Dionysus to explain the origin, essence, function of art and the meaning of life.
In this book Nietzsche criticizes modern civilization. He pointed out that in capitalist society, despite increasing material wealth, people have not achieved true freedom and happiness. The rigid mechanical model suppresses human personality, causing people to lose their passion for free thought and the impulse to create culture. Modern culture appears so decadent. This is a disease of modern civilization, and its root cause is the atrophy of life instinct.
Nietzsche’s life aesthetics has a tragic outlook on life, but he did not deny the meaning of life. He affirms life and art. The essence of life aesthetics is to insist on making art for life.
Art is the fundamental means to improve vitality and overcome the tragedy of life. It improves vitality through aesthetic care, faces the pain of life, and overcomes the tragedy of life, thereby achieving the fulfillment and joy of life. Therefore, Nietzsche said that art is the highest mission and highest value of life. Only by viewing life and its hardships as an aesthetic phenomenon can people dare to face reality and life. Only an aesthetic life is a fulfilling life that truly overcomes suffering.
Nietzsche’s life aesthetics puts the relationship between artistic life and life in the first place. Art, this "highest mission of life and the original metaphysical activity of life" becomes the possibility of salvation, because "it is the great means of making life possible, the great inducement to survive, and the great stimulant of life." Art. The emergence of art is due to the need for survival and insists on making art for life. This is the essence of Nietzsche's aesthetics of life. Through art, we can maximize the Dionysian spirit of loving life and realize the self-worth of life. Art is the stimulation and enjoyment of one's own life instinct and sense of power. It provides a magnificent defense for life, and it brings metaphysical comfort to life, making people feel that survival is worth pursuing. Look at life from an artistic and aesthetic perspective and love life. Love all things in the world and realize your own life value aesthetically.