Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) is much celebrated but generally poorly understood. Nietzsche saw the human mind not as an instrument directed towards seeking truth but as a weapon in our struggle for an authentic existence and for power. Nietzsche initially studied classics and philology at Leipzig. His first published work The Birth of Tragedy analyses the development of the Greek tragic theatre from Aeschylus to Euripides. He draws more profound conclusions than the average weekend theatre critic. Nietzsche argues that Greek tragedy portrays humans as having a dual nature, which he identifies with the Greek gods Apollo, the god of truth and reason, and Dionysus, the god of wine and rampant pleasure. On the one hand we are rational Apollonian beings, able to use our reason to manipulate the world and achieve goals. But on the other hand these goals themselves are driven by Dionysian desires and emotions, and we are beings capable of wild ecstasy and folly. One is reminded of Hume's belief that our 'reason is the slave of the passions'.
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