PHI408Ethical Responses to Genocide
Fall Courses 2017
First Written Assignment
PHI 408
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David Pettigrew, PhD,
Philosophy Department,
Southern Connecticut State University

email: pettigrewd1@southernct.edu


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Nietzsche’s Return to the Greeks”

“Here we have in our present age, the result of a Socratism bent on the extermination of myth. Man today, stripped of myth, stands famished among all his pasts, and must dig frantically for roots, be it among the most remote antiquities.” (137)

"there we have the present age, the result of that Socratism which is bent on the destruction of myth. And now the mythless man stands eternally hungry, surrounded by all past ages, and digs and grubs for roots, even if he has to dig for them among the remotest antiquities" (135-136).

(Please note: This is the expanded version of the preliminary draft of the assignment.)

Selected Quotes:

“At this stage artistic urges are satisfied directly…through an ecstatic reality which once again takes no account of the individual and may destroy him, or else redeem him through a mystical experience of the collective.” (24)

...art impulses are satisfied in the most immediate and direct way...through an intoxicated reality, which likewise does not heed the single unit, but even seeks to destroy the individual and redeem him by a mystical feeling of oneness" (38).

“The Dionysiac musician, himself imageless, is nothing but original pain and reverberation…Out of this mystical process of un-selving, the poet’s spirit feels a whole world of images and similitudes arise,…quite different… from the images of the sculptor or narrative poet.” (39)

"The Dionysian musician is, without any images, himself primordial pain and its primordial re-echoing... the lyric genius is conscious of a world of images and symbols --growing out of his state of mystical self-abnegation and oneness. This world has a coloring, a causality, and a velocity quite different from those of the world of the plastic artist and the epic poet" (50).

“While the transport of the Dionysiac state, with its suspension of all the ordinary barriers of existence, lasts, it carries with it a Lethean element in which everything that  has been experienced by the individual is drowned.” (51)

"For the rapture of the Dionysian state with its annihilation of the ordinary bounds and limits of existence contains, while it lasts, a letheic element in which all personal experiences of the past become immersed" (59).

“…we can’t help feeling that the dawn of a new tragic age is for the German spirit only a return to itself, a blessed recovery of its true identity.” (121)

"...we have the feeling that the birth of a tragic age simply means a return to itself of the German spirit, a blessed self-rediscovery..." (121).

“No one shall wither our faith in the imminent rebirth of Greek antiquity, for here along do we see a hope for the rejuvenation and purification of the German spirit through the fire-magic of music.” (123)

"Let no one try to blight our faith in a yet-impending rebirth of Hellenic antiquity; for this alone gives us hope for a renovation and purification of the German spirit through the fire-magic of music" (123).

“Let no one believe that the German spirit has irrevocably lost its Dionysiac home so long as those bird voices can clearly be heard telling of that home. One day the knight will awaken in all the morning freshness of his long sleep. He will slay dragons, destroy the cunning dwarfs, rouse Brünnhilde, and not even Wotan’s spear will be able to bar his way. (144)

"Let no one believe that the German spirit has forever lost its mythical home when it can still understand so plainly the voices of the birds that tell of that home. Some day it will find itself awake in all the morning freshness following a tremendous sleep: they its shall slay dragons, destroy vicious dwarfs, wake Brünnhilde, and even Wotan's spear will not be able to stop its course!" (142)

On tragedy

“Enchantment is the precondition of all dramatic art. In this enchantment the Dionysiac reveler sees himself as a satyr, and as satyr, in turn, he sees the god…” (56)

"Such magic transformation is the presupposition of all dramatic art. ....the Dionysian reveler sees himself as a satyr, and as satyr, in turn, he sees the god…” (64).

“Thus we have come to interpret Greek tragedy as a Dionysiac chors which again and again discharges itself in Apollonian images…” (56)

"...we understand Greek tragedy as the Dionysian chorus which ever anew discharges itself in an Apollinian world of images" (64-65).

“…the chorus of Greek tragedy, symbol of an entire multitude agitated by Dionysos…” (57)

"the chorus of the Greek tragedy, the symbol of the whole exited Dionysian throng..."(65)

“Original tragedy is only chorus and not drama at all.” (58)

"...originally tragedy was only "chorus" and not yet "drama" (66).

“It is an unimpeachable tradition that in its earliest form Greek tragedy records only the suffering of Dionysos, and that he was the only actor.” (65)

"...Greek tragedy in its earliest form had for its sole theme the sufferings of Dionysus and that for a long time the only stage hero was Dionysus himself" (73).

On music

“tragedy, being a product of the spirit of music, must surely perish by the destruction of that spirit.” (96)

"tragedy perishes with the evanescence of the spirit of music, it is only from this spirit that it can be reborn" (99).

“We might …as well call the world embodied music as embodied will..” (99)

"We might, therefore, call the world embodied music as embodied world" (102).

“Music alone allows us to understand the delight felt at the annihilation of the individual.” (101)

"...it is only through the spirit of music that we can understand the joy involved in the annihilation of the individual" (104).

                                                            Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy

 

 

The assignment

Given the above passages from the text, I would like you to reflect on the nature (addressing general spirit and as well as detail) of Nietzsche’s return to the Greeks, as well as on the apparent purpose of the return. You may choose to discuss a range of terms and themes from the book, but prepare the ground for a concluding reflection on the fate of the self or subject in Nietzsche’s project.

With respect to the “return” to the Greeks, select detail and passages from the text to make your point. For example, you could refer to the return to myth generally, and to the specific figures treated by Nietzsche: Dionysos and Apollo. Also consider the status of the chorus, music and the will.

With respect to the apparent purpose of the “return” note Nietzsche’s references (some provided above) to the rejuvenation of the German spirit. Note as well the opposition between the culture of tragedy and myth that Nietzsche privileges, on the one hand,  and the figures of Euripides and Socrates (“that theoretical man” and “archetype of the theoretical optimist”  (76-97), and Alexandrian culture and  the culture of opera, on the other hand.

You need to make reference to the text throughout your paper, including extracts and page numbers. Your paper should be approximately four pages, typed and double-spaced (minimum of four pages, maximum of six pages).