NIETZSCHE AND THE GREEKS

This paper presents the Nietzschian explanation of the origin of Attic tragedy based on the Heraclitean notion of contraries. The opposition between Apollinian and Dionysian artistic impulses is directly related to what is found in the fragments of the philosopher of Ephesus in his search for the harmony hidden in the conflict of opposites. Furthermore, the aesthetic-metaphysical pleasure of tragic myth finds elucidation in the opposition between creation and destruction pointed out by Heraclitus. Thus, this paper aims to show that the basis for Greek tragedy in Nietzschian thought has a Greek source and not a German one.