The Birth of Tragedy

Nietzsche argues that the defining conflict of the day is that between “insatiable optimistic knowledge” and “the tragic need for art” (76). Only the future will decide which principle will win out, but there are signs on the horizon of a revival of the tragic spirit among people who have realized the limitations of the scientific worldview.

Nietzsche consolidates some of the ideas he has explored up to now. In addition to the Apolline/Dionysiac divide, he posits one between the “plastic” arts (e.g., sculpture and painting) and music, which is superior because it is “the immediate language of the will” (79). The plastic arts, by contrast, thrive on the healing power of illusion because they depict natural phenomena, and thus they are inherently Apolline in nature. Music alone can convey tragedy and the Dionysiac because it points to an eternal, collective life beyond this life; it is thus the ideal means for depicting the destruction of the noble individual, which is the essence of tragedy.

The problem with music in contemporary times is that it is too often degraded to the level of depicting emotions and natural phenomena, a role shared by the plastic arts.