Nietzsche, Dionysus, and the Ontology of Music

In Keith Ansell Pearson (ed.), A Companion to Nietzsche. Blackwell. pp. 495–513 (2006-01-01)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This essay examines Nietzsche’s musical ontology and situates it within the naturalist and anti-metaphysical framework evident throughout his corpus. Nietzsche often associated this position with the figure of Dionysus, which plays a leading role in The Birth of Tragedy, his most sustained consideration of music and musical ontology. The essay returns to The Birth of Tragedy in an effort to recover Nietzsche’s musical ontology and its relationship with ontology more generally. Heeding Nietzsche’s own remarks, I read this text in light of his mature philosophy. My analysis draws on the work of the late twentieth-century Nietzschean, Gilles Deleuze, whose distinction between “the virtual” and “the actual” enables us to see what is really at issue in The Birth of Tragedy.

Author's Profile

Analytics

Added to PP
2023-06-15

Downloads
297 (#71,421)

6 months
286 (#6,037)

Historical graph of downloads since first upload
This graph includes both downloads from PhilArchive and clicks on external links on PhilPapers.
How can I increase my downloads?