Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy (Week 3)

Friedrich Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music is an early work blending classical philology with an interpretation of the tragic form of life.

Born of a tension between contrary impulses—one toward form and order, another toward chaos, ecstasy—tragedy, once transformed into sublime art, enabled the Ancient Greeks to face existence: its fragility and lack of ultimate justification. But for Nietzsche, the subsequent decline of tragedy through Euripides to Socratic rationalism signals a victory of reason over depth, giving rise to an enduring temptation to make it seem as though everything in life were explained.

Whether you're new to discussing philosophical texts or can synthesize disparate passages across Nietzsche's corpus, we'd be happy to have you!

Join us every Thursday at 6!

**Reading schedule:

1. Attempt at a Self-Criticism, Preface to Richard Wager, §§1–6
2. §§7–15
3. §§16–25

Walter Kaufman's translation is standard, but in the new year, the complete works will become available.