Nietzsche's Evolving Dionysus: From a Dialectic of Tragedy to a Philosophy of Becoming

Out of all the philosophers of the 20th century, Nietzsche stands out through his influence and his originality. There was no other thinker in his day that so forcefully challenged prevailing customs and traditions in thought and everyday life. There was perhaps no other thinker in his time with such a startling influence on the modern world. Nietzsche possessed a tremendous scope. He was one of the first existentialists. He was also a philologist, a scholar of Ancient Greece, well versed in the Christian religion, and deeply knowledgeable about the current, philosophical thought of his day. Though recognized by many at first for his potential, his first book, The Birth of Tragedy (1872) was met with great disdain. In a typical Nietzschean fashion, it stood out from the crowd. The Birth of Tragedy was a challenge against the popular philosophical idealism of his day (Anderson). In this work, Nietzsche began his investigation into the Dionysian and Apollonian conflicts in tragedy. Though he later loses a significant interest in Apollo, Nietzsche’s first book is still an intriguing insight into his thought on art and Greek life and Dionysus. It is necessary to begin with The Birth of Tragedy if one wishes to know better the Dionysian heart in Nietzsche’s work. It is my aim in this thesis to look at the evolution of Dionysus in Nietzsche’s thought. The Dionysian element of Nietzsche’s thinking was chosen for the significant influence it has on the philosopher’s ever-changing perspectives. In his last works, Nietzsche desires to do nothing less than recover the Dionysian in German life, and perhaps for the world itself. In order to know Nietzsche better through Dionysus, I first investigated a compelling and beautifully written work, Dionysus at Large, by Marcel Detienne on Dionysus’s role in Ancient Greek life, and how the Greeks saw and interacted with him. This Dionysus is not different from Nietzsche’s Dionysus. Nietzsche, always admiring the life of the pre-Socratic Greeks, stayed loyal to the nature of the original Dionysus in his work. His Dionysus is therefore not something novel as it is unique in its place in a philosophical system. Nietzsche, being one of the most creative and ingenious philosophers of his time, and indeed after his time, resurrects the Dionysian from ancient Greek life in a way few other philosophers could ever imagine doing.Bachelor of Art