Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900; Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900 -- Criticism and interpretation; Philosophy
The whole of Nietzsche's art theories are to be found in Part IV,
"The Will to Power in Art." It is not merely a system of æsthetics
that occupies the pages under this section, for Nietzsche never
divorces art from life itself; and the artist, according to him, is
the superior type, the creator of values. The concepts of beauty and
ugliness are the outgrowths of an overflow of Dionysian power; and
it is to the great artists of the past, the instinctive higher men,
that we owe our current concepts. The principle here is the dominant
one in Nietzsche's philosophy in relation to valuing:--_to the few
individuals of the race are we indebted for the world of values._ To
the student who wishes to go deeply into Nietzsche's ideas of art and
his conception of the artist, and to know in just what manner the
Dionysian and Apollonian figure in his theories, I unhesitatingly
recommend Anthony M. Ludovici's book, "Nietzsche and Art."
The first section of the second book in this volume contains some of
Nietzsche's finest writing. Its title, "The Order of Rank," explains in
a large measure what material comprises it. It is a description of the
various degrees of man, and a statement of the attributes which belong
to each. No better definition of the different classes of men is to
be found anywhere in this philosopher's writings. One part is devoted
to a consideration of the strong and the weak, and the way in which
they react on one another; another part deals with "the noble man"
and contains (in Aphorism 943) a list of the characteristics of the
noble man, unfortunately too long a list to be quoted in the present
chapter; another part defines "the lords of the earth"; another part
delineates "the great man," and enumerates his specific qualities;
and still another part treats of "the highest man as law-giver of the
future." This section, however, is not a mere series of detached and
isolated definitions, but an important summary of the ethical code
which Nietzsche advanced as a result of his application of the doctrine
of the will to power to the order of individual rank.
The two remaining sections--"Dionysus" and "Eternal Recurrence"--are
short, and fail to touch on new ground. There are a few robust and
heroic passages in the former section which summarise Nietzsche's
definitions of Apollonian and Dionysian; but in the latter section
there is nothing not found in the pamphlet called "The Eternal
Recurrence" and in "Thus Spake Zarathustra." I do not doubt that
Nietzsche had every intention of elaborating this last section, for
he considered the principle of recurrence a most important one in his
philosophy. But, as it stands, it is but a few pages in length and in
no way touches upon his other philosophical doctrines. If importance it
had in the philosophy of the superman, that importance was never shown
either by Nietzsche or by his critics.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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