VCE Philosophy Unit 4
Friedrich Nietzsche 1844—1900
Richard Strauss
Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30
(Opening)
Without music, life would be an error.
Twilight of the Idols (1895), MAXIMS AND ARROWS 33
All music? Seriously?
What’s so great about music?
Nietzsche’s key virtue: HONESTY
Nietzsche’s key method: SUSPICION
Nietzsche’s key problem: WHAT HE FINDS
Nietzsche’s first book
The Birth of Tragedy (out of the Spirit of Music)
introduces:
Dionysus and the ‘Tragic Sensibility’
Music … frees me from myself, it sobers me
up from myself, as though I survey the scene
from a great distance … It is very strange. It is
as though I had bathed in some natural
element. Life without music is simply an error,
exhausting, an exile.
—from a letter written in 1888
So,
MUSIC is necessary for THE GOOD LIFE because,
MUSIC is a necessary part of an honest and vital CULTURE
and
an honest and vital CULTURE is necessary for a GOOD LIFE.
Nietzsche’s key assumptions:
• OUR CULTURE MAKES US WHO WE ARE.
• the most important human achievement of all is a
vital culture —
a culture that is honest, wary and yet AFFIRMATIVE;
• such a culture requires constant renewal;
• morality, politics and science are all strictly
secondary phenomena; they can grow out of a vital
culture and support it but they should never take
precedence.
Nietzsche’s underlying thoughts on The Good Life (TGL):
TGL involves being an active participant and contributor
to an honest and vital culture.
So, in other words
TGL involves creative
achievement born
of striving to overcome resistances and setbacks.
Which of these most closely resembles your notion of the good life?
Nietzsche’s most interesting explorations are
aimed at rooting out the modern DANGERS that
might prevent us from achieving an honest and
vital (a living, growing, adapting) culture…
Note 225: an argument against moralities based on an
unconditional concern to prevent or diminish SUFFERING.
(CONTRA MODERN MORAL VALUES)
The very best life is one spent participating in and
contributing to a vital culture.
A vital culture needs constant production of GREAT ART.
Making GREAT ART involves the acceptance, indeed
the AFFIRMATION of SUFFERING.
Note 225 conclusion:
DON’T TRUST MORALITIES BASED ON AVOIDING
SUFFERING!
Note 199: an argument AGAINST
modern EGALARIANISM AND DEMOCRATIC VALUES
The very best life is one spent participating in and
contributing to a vital culture.
A vital culture requires great cultural contributors
(great artists and philosophers — ‘unconditional
commanders’) who can put themselves to hard tasks
and, for a time, ignore the needs of others.
The modern egalitarian or democratic notion of
UNIVERSAL EQUALITY promotes homogeneity and so
tends to stifle eccentricity (it tends to make the
exceptional feel ashamed of themselves).
Note 199 conclusion:
DON’T TRUST MODERN DEMOCRATIC/EGALARIAN VALUES!
Notes 260 & 201:
Why are the values of equality and avoiding suffering so
popular?
The Genealogy of Morals — Masters and slaves
Masters: those who can set themselves challenges and
put themselves to great tasks (suffer for their art).
Slaves: those who need someone else to push them!
Nietzsche’s question:
which are you?
Notes 203, 228, and 284
Nietzsche’s positive agenda:
The PHILOSOPHERS OF THE FUTURE
And the REVALUATION OF ALL VALUES
But we can’t all be great artists can we?
(And anyhow, it wouldn’t work if we all were!)
Nietzsche’s answer:
Artists gather, critically select and creatively respond.
In whatever we do we are gathering, critically selecting
and creatively responding.
So, in a sense, just by being alive we are all behaving
‘Artistically.’
We are all the artists , of our own lives!
So what, in the end, is Nietzsche telling us?
Don’t be:
plodding, tedious, pedantic, humourless, commonplace,
spiritless, non-geniuses (end of note 228).
Strive to become:
light footed, engaging, reckless, laughing, extraordinary,
spirited GENIUSES!
Make YOUR OWN LIFE an ARTWORK!
— even if it means being selfish and causing pain!
VCE Philosophy Unit 4