Nietzsche on the dionysian and the human-nature connection

Abstract

This article explores the interrelation between the Dionysian artistic impulse, human nature, and Greek culture in the early works of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). With a focus on the significance of the human-nature connection, it highlights the anthropological conception of ancient tragic thought and the recognition of the role of instincts in the production of tragic art. The Dionysian artistic impulse, linked by Nietzsche to the vital drive of creation and destruction, presents, in its celebration of the reconciliation between humans and nature, existential aspects fundamental to humanity that have been neglected by Western tradition. In its artistic dimension, the Dionysian is also expressed as an instinct, fostering a bodily and spiritual connection through which the tragic artist becomes a work of art. In its vital dimension, the Dionysian promotes the dissolution of individual subjectivity, returning one to their primordial nature and reconnection with animality. The denial of these artistic elements by the Socratic spirit led to the forgetting of human nature itself, resulting in the distortion of artistic creation and consequently, the decline of tragedy. In this context, Socrates' proposition of renouncing instinctual nature in favor of intellectual life is contrasted by Nietzsche, who, through the tragic perspective, argues that humans do not transcend their animal nature but remain subject to it, connected to animality. Thus, Nietzsche positions himself in the anthropological debate in opposition to the philosophical tradition initiated by Socrates.