Interpreting Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy as a Proto-Phenomenology
Date
2022-04-26
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
I argue that in The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche formulates a proto-phenomenological account of Attic tragedy. My work in this project is structured into several sections. To ground my overall investigation, I first survey the basic themes of The Birth of Tragedy. I then outline the fundamental tenets of Schopenhauer’s system of thought. I do so because Nietzsche utilizes key elements of Schopenhauer’s ontology to ground his study. Subsequently, I move to reconstruct the key elements of Nietzsche’s case as found in The Birth of Tragedy. Following these introductory steps, I develop a set of criteria according to which a philosophical account ought to be recognized as constituting a phenomenology in the classical, Husserlian sense. I then measure Nietzsche’s account against my set of criteria in order to prove my case. In the final section of this project, I analyze The Birth of Tragedy against the background of Renaud Barbaras’ Phenomenology of Life, a work which branches out beyond a classical conception of phenomenology. In this section, I endeavour to use Barbaras’ work as a hermeneutic device for the reader of Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy. Thus, I intend to demonstrate that both according to the standards of ‘classical’ phenomenology and in light of later developments in phenomenology, Nietzsche’s work in The Birth of Tragedy can be interpreted as proto-phenomenological and further, that adopting this format of reading The Birth of Tragedy proves to possess great utility insofar as it clarifies numerous aspects of the work which are otherwise opaque.
Description
Keywords
Nietzsche, Phenomenology, Schopenhauer, Barbaras, Attic Tragedy, The Birth of Tragedy
Citation
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Philosophy
Program
Philosophy