Synopsis:
- Greek tragedy exhibits two complementary aesthetic principles: Apollonian (the plot) and Dionysian (the chorus)
- The Apollonian plot creates the illusion that the hero's will determines actions
- The Dionysian chorus reveals the reality that the hero is only part of a primordial universal design
- Apollonian: visions, physical, civilization, individualistic
- Dionysian: intoxication, symbolic, savagery, holistic
- Dionysian pessimism:
- The Dionysian insight into nature helps us understand the ultimate meaning of life, but it would destroy us if not tempered by the Apollonian illusion of order
- Dionysian pessimism: The Dionysian is key the overcome the limits of the human condition, but we still won't be able to overcome our fate
- We can only learn to accept and love our fate
- Human behavior is caused by the will to power (urge to order the course of one's experiences)
- All living beings strive for a higher order of their living condition to overcome their present state's limitations
- Will to power: an extension of Schopenhauer's will to live
- It is a consequence of the Dionysian insight
- Philosophy, art and history have an infinite scope
- Science has a finite scope
- Science is interpretation/exegesis of the world
- There are no facts, only interpretations
- Truth is an illusion
- Knowledge is an illusion
- Truth and knowledge are only relative to how useful they are to our "will to power"
- Morality is a device invented by the weak to assert their will to power over the strong
- Christian values are a "slave morality", a morality of the weak ones
- Christian values are obsolete ("God is dead")
- Christianity is an expression of the will the power, but only the will to power of the weak who are full of resentment
- The new morality is the morality of the "uebermensch" ("superman/ overman"), who is above the masses and is interested in solving the problems of this world, not of the otherworld
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