Nietzsche on Art and Affirmation of Life: a study of the relationship between art and life- affirmation through Nietzsche’s writings

Abstract

The relationship between life-affirmation and art in Nietzsche’s writing is much discussed in the secondary literature on Nietzsche. One of the positions is that of Bernard Reginster, which is as follows: in Nietzsche’s early work The Birth of Tragedy, falsification is a central characteristic of art. The affirmation of life based on such art, in The Birth of Tragedy, is predicated on falsification. Nietzsche subsequently moves away from life-affirmation based on falsification, to the idea that there must be affirmation of life as it is. This thesis seeks to show, contra Reginster, that falsification is involved in the relationship between life-affirmation and art throughout Nietzsche’s writings.

This thesis counters Reginster’s narrative by moving through Nietzsche’s writings to show that falsification, in one form or another, has an ongoing presence in his writing on life-affirmation and art. The thesis begins with the illusory art upon which life-affirmation is based in The Birth of Tragedy. It then moves to The Gay Science, and the forms of falsification woven into the relationship between life-affirmation and art therein. The thesis subsequently turns to Nietzsche’s writings after The Gay Science. It looks at both Nietzsche’s published and unpublished writing on the relationship between life-affirmation and art. In so doing, the thesis seeks to show that the relationship involves falsification even at the very last in Nietzsche’s writing. There is then exploration of the various statuses Nietzsche assigns to truth: this casts doubt on the safe and steady status Reginster claims for truth in Nietzsche’s late work.

The conclusion of this thesis is that falsification is involved in the relationship between life-affirmation and art throughout Nietzsche’s writing. This is not to deny that there are, as Reginster suggests, instances of the relationship devoid of falsification in Nietzsche’s late writings. In showing examples of falsification in the relationship throughout Nietzsche’s productive life, however, the thesis offers a corrective to the understanding of a significant aspect of Nietzsche’s thought.

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ORCID for Christopher Janaway: orcid.org/0000-0002-9600-8837

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