J.D. Greening
Nietzche Seminar
Prof. Hawley
1/21/2015
Philosophy Exegesis Essay “Thus the man who is responsive to artistic stimuli reacts to the reality of dreams as does the philosopher to the reality of existence; he observes closely, and enjoys his observation; for it is out of those images that he interprets life, out of these processes that he trains himself for life” (The Birth of Tragedy, 15) ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>F. Nietzsche</Author><Year>2008</Year><DisplayText>(Nietzsche)</DisplayText><record><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>F. Nietzsche</author></authors></contributors><titles/><title>The Birth of Tragedy</title><periodical/><dates><year>2008</year><pub-dates/></dates></record></Cite></EndNote>(Nietzsche). This passage was extracted from one of Friedrich Nietzsche’s works, particularly the one entitled, the Birth of Tragedy. In order to have a clearer understanding of the Nietzsche meant when he mentioned these exact words in his work, it would be important to be familiarized with the context in which he said it. Part of that includes knowing what the work in which the phrase was a part of was all about. The Birth of Tragedy is a highly philosophical work that is divided into a total of twenty six chapters which includes the last one that was dedicated for the foreword.
The first half of the work focused on the nature of Greek art and tragedy. The remaining half of the work focused on explaining the model by which traditional and modern culture was made ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>W. Kaufmann</Author><Year>2000</Year><DisplayText>(Kaufmann)</DisplayText><record><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>W. Kaufmann</author></authors></contributors><titles/><title>Basic Writings of Nietzsche Summary</title><periodical/><dates><year>2000</year><pub-dates/></dates></record></Cite></EndNote>(Kaufmann). It would also be important to take note of Nietzsche’s style of writing. Throughout the chapters of his text, it can easily be distinguished that he often speaks directly to his readers. In the chapter where the passage that we are discussing was extracted, he was primarily talking about the state or his perception of Greek art and culture ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>J. Porter</Author><Year>2000</Year><DisplayText>(Porter)</DisplayText><record><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>J. Porter</author></authors></contributors><titles/><title>The Invention of Dionysus: An Essay on the Birth of Tragedy Summary</title><periodical/><dates><year>2000</year><pub-dates/></dates></record></Cite></EndNote>(Porter).

The passage can be interpreted as an explanation of the similarities between the way how an artist appreciates the works of art or anything that has something to do with it and the way how a philosopher enjoys learning more about different theories about the reality of existence. It may be perceived as his way of pointing out that each and every people, regardless of his point of origin (i.e. the philosopher from the field of philosophy and the artist from the field of arts and culture) has the right to practice his own way of interpreting works of culture.
And according to him, he, in his life, enjoyed observing how people enjoyed being stimulated by the stimuli be it an artistic or a philosophical one, because we think he knows and understands that there is no single and or uniform way how to interpret the things that exist in this world and that one can only do so much when it comes to understanding the things that surround him.
This may also be seen as an indirect statement that suggest that the act of understanding this world, living in it, and appreciating all the works of art, culture, and other realities that coexist with these ones. Interpreting life is almost the same as interpreting works of art or philosophical works and or theories. Nonetheless, we can only imagine that the act of interpreting life can be only be more complex.
The entire passage may also be interpreted as Nietzsche’s way of saying that knowing how to interpret works of art or philosophical theories, and also to appreciate them, can serve as a good indicator of an individual’s ability to live, as if it is some sort of training for life. But then again, the main subject he was pertaining to was not life itself, but the way how different works and forms of art managed to shape an entire culture. A man of art surely knows how to determine whether a particular work is of good artistic quality or not because knowing how to appreciate works of art can already be considered as a large part of an artist’s life, perhaps up to a point where he can consider his life to be meaningful in an event that he considers his skill in appreciating and distinguishing lavishing works of art as below mediocre. In the first chapter, Nietzsche explained how Apollonian art forms evolved. He mentioned that the evolution of the field of art has been solidly bound with the duality of Dionysian and Apollonian art, or the works of art that originated since the ancient times. In one part of his text, he mentioned that “the joyous necessity of the dream experience has been embodied by the Greeks in their Apollo: Apollo, the god of all plastic energies, is at the same time the soothsaying god, He, who is the shining one” ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>F. Nietzsche</Author><Year>2008</Year><DisplayText>(Nietzsche)</DisplayText><record><ref-type name="Journal Article">17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>F. Nietzsche</author></authors></contributors><titles/><title>The Birth of Tragedy</title><periodical/><dates><year>2008</year><pub-dates/></dates></record></Cite></EndNote>(Nietzsche). He also talked about Dionysian culture at different points in his work, at one point he said “even under the influence of the narcotic draught, of which songs of all primitive men and people speak, or with the potent coming of spring that penetrates all nature with joy, these Dionysian emotions awake, and as they grow in intensity, everything subjective vanishes into complete self-forgetfulness.”

It is of utmost importance to note that Apollo and Dionysus were considered to be one of the most important figures (i.e. gods or deities) in Greek art and culture. Nietzsche understands that every person has its own way of interpreting art and that the process of interpreting and appreciating a work of art can be highly correlated to one’s tastes for aesthetics. Unfortunately though, no two person’s taste for aesthetics are alike and so it only makes senses to encounter a high level of variability when it comes to these things. Judging the way how he used the words in the passage, it can be said that he is pertaining to his own way of interpreting works of art; this method of interpretation may also be carried over to the way how appreciates that little things that he encounter in his life, how he adapts to it, and how he assimilates such experiences into his life. The interpretations that we made can be directly connected to Nietzsche’s main purpose when he wrote his first philosophical work that is The Birth of Tragedy. To sum it up, his intention was to point inform the readers about the realities behind the different transitions in Greek art and culture’s history. It may be safe to assume that along with that goal, he also managed to infuse his personal beliefs about why the field of art and culture reached the points that it did in the past and why it is in its current state today (or during the time he wrote his piece). This may mean that the paper may be considered to be filled with Nietzsche’s personal and thus aesthetic tastes and opinions about the field of art. There can be many ways how Nietzsche’s work can be interpreted. In this case, we interpreted it based on the direct context Nietzsche used in the specific chapter of his work (The Birth of Tragedy); and on other possibly pertinent meanings (i.e. appreciating of art, realities, and even life), among others.

Works Cited

ADDIN EN.REFLIST
Kaufmann, W. „Basic Writings of Nietzsche Summary.” New York Modern Library (2000).
Nietzsche, F. „The Birth of Tragedy.” Oxford University Press (2008).
Porter, J. „The Invention of Dionysus: An Essay on the Birth of Tragedy Summary.” Stanford University Press (2000).