THE TRAGIC IN THE YOUNG NIETZSCHE: FROM THE AESTHETICS OF TRAGEDY TO THE SELF-SUPPRESSION OF PHILOSOPHICAL ENLIGHTENMENT

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the status of ”˜tragic' within young Friedrich Nietzsche's thinking. From a thorough analysis of the various aspects that the term entails in this period of his production, espe­cially in his treatment of the theme of Socrates and Socratism in The birth of tragedy, I develop the hypothesis that there is an important difference between the aesthetics of the tragic in ancient Greek tragedy and the tragic character of philosophy itself, as the author understands them. In this way, I intend to demonstrate that the concept worked, long before his belated notion of ”˜tragic philosophy', as a fundamental theoretical device not only in his critique of the Western philosophical tradition, but also, and above all, in the elaboration of his own conception of philosophy.