Dylan Gygax

Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Flakne, April

Keywords

Nietzsche, Friedrich, Apollonian, Dionysian

Area of Concentration

Philosophy

Abstract

This thesis applies the conception of the Apollonian and the Dionysian, developed by Friedrich Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy, to the ways in which an individual interacts with her surrounding environment. Working off the notion that for Nietzsche “life is art,” I use the Apollonian and Dionysian to approach the question of the ideal human life. In Chapter One, I argue that the manifestation of the Apollonian in the individual in her interaction with the universe is best understood as the individual individuating and constructing the universe around her through knowledge. In Chapter Two, I consider the Apollonian will to describe more and more objects and the Apollonian will to integrate such objects into a cohesive unity, and a set of issues which arise therefrom. In Chapter Three, I argue that the Dionysian in the individual is best understood as an experience of terror or ecstasy, and can be understood through considering the breakdown of the subject-object dichotomy. In Chapter Four, I discuss how the Apollonian and Dionysian can work together to create a life approximating the Nietzschean ideal. I conclude by comparing my results to various ideals for human life from throughout Nietzsche's work.

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