HUMA 1780 Lecture Notes - Heliocentrism, Intelligentsia, Friedrich Nietzsche
Document Summary
Stories in diverse media (ap huma 1780b) wednesday. High value placed on classical culture (rome and athens); Modern disenchantment: galileo: heliocentric theory, darwin: evolution, the enlightenment: secular rationalism. Disappearance of all foundational myths: no transcendent(example: divine) reference point in ethics, science, or metaphysics; Afterlife vanishes from human concerns -> exclusive focus on finitude (earthly life); Nihilistic potential of modernity (decadence or self-destruction). 2 ways of suffering: 1) eschatological-didactic (christianity)(after-life); 2) dionysian (tragic and ecstatic); Infinite worth of worldly existence -> suffering as indispensible part of earthly life; Endless celebration of finite existence: doctrine of external recurrence. If you want to excel in anything, you have to sweat a lot, only after realizing this way, and then only then we understand that suffering must be joyfully embraced. Dionysian artist: abandonment of christian ethics and spirituality; Artistic/aesthetic self-creation through an autonomous will to power (self-confidence, courage, nobility); Glorification of bodily health: innocence of senses and instincts;
