rs the proper role of art in his study of the Greeks, who also knew that life was tragic and terrible but who never gave in to the pessimism that this might entail. Instead, they transmuted life through art. They did this through two different aesthetics, one Dionysian and the other Apollonian. Modern culture did not affirm life and had given in to the pessimism that Nietzsche wished to avoid. Part of the sterility of modern culture was its dedication to historical learning as a substitute for a living culture.
This shows the tendency on Nietzsche's part to consider various forms of expression, including the desire to know and to control, as a manifestation of the fundamental nature of the living being. Artistic expression is one form of the Will to Power, and as noted, Nietzsche places this first in the needs of the individual. His counter to certain psychologists brings to mind such psycho
...