Chapter 29 The Birth of Tragedy Chapter Fifteen

birth of tragedy Chapter fifteen With regard to these last difficult questions, we must now show how the influence of Socrates, like a dark twilight, has gradually deepened over the generations and continues to the present day.Even to the future; how this influence promotes the innovation of art, the most abstract, the most extensive and the most profound artistic creation; - the permanence of this influence is also the guarantee of the permanence of art. Before we can understand this, before we can really prove that all art is essentially dependent on those ancient Greeks from Homer to Socrates, we must examine an ancient Greek, just as the Athenians examined Socrates.Almost every age and stage of civilization has also at one time indignantly tried to shake off the yoke of the ancient Greeks.For all the works of later ages, which were original, evidently unique, and sincerely admired, seemed suddenly to lose color and vitality in comparison with the Greek works, and dwindle to the point of failed imitations or even distorted imitations.And so the heartfelt resentment of the people is vented from time to time against that arrogant little nation that has always dared to call everything that is not native to it "barbaric."We have to ask: Who were the Greeks? —they have nothing to boast about though.Only fleeting historical glories, only poor and wretched political institutions, only dubious virtues of customs, and even the stigma of immorality;It's a pity that we were so unfortunate that we couldn't find a cup of dove wine, so we resolutely got rid of the hearts of such villains: because all the poisons brewed in our hearts by jealousy, slander, and hatred are not enough to destroy the prestige they can be proud of: Therefore, we in ancient Greece In front of people, it is inevitable that they will gradually become filthy and respectful.Unless we value one truth above all else, and dare to admit it to ourselves: namely, that the ancient Greeks held the reins of our and other cultures in their hands like a charioteer, Inferior, and unworthy of the glory of the charioteer;—unless we admit it, who dares drive a wreck into the abyss, and take pleasure in it?It should be noted that the Greeks were good at jumping like Achilles, so they could jump over this abyss with one leap.

In order to honor Socrates with such leadership, it is only necessary to recognize that he is the type of an unprecedented kind of personality—the theoretician type.Our second task is to gain insight into the meaning and purpose of such theorists.Like the artist, the theoretician feels infinite comfort in the existing; like the artist, this comfort protects him from a pessimistic practical morality, from gleaming like a cat's eye in the dark.Whenever a truth is revealed, the artist gazes with rapturous eyes on what is hidden behind the revelation; but the theoretician, once the truth is revealed, is complacent, and his greatest joy lies in exploring and discovering in his own strength alone. The process of continuous successful disclosure.If science worshiped only that naked goddess and ignored other gods, there would be no science in the world.For, then, the adherents of science would feel as if they were alone trying to dig through the earth.Everyone knows that even with the best efforts of his life, he can only dig into the cortex of the unfathomable earth, and the excavation of the latecomer fills up the hole he dug before his eyes without difficulty; It seemed wise to choose a new location to explore.Now if someone proves that the opposite point cannot be reached by this direct method, then who will still dig in this old hole unless he finds a treasure or discovers a law of nature and is not satisfied.Thus the most honest theoretician, Leysen, boldly confessed that he was more concerned with the search for truth than with truth itself: a statement which revealed the fundamental secret of science and shocked, and even outraged, the scientific community.Of course, his unique insights would be too frank if he didn't look down on others.Not only that, but it has a thought-provoking vision.This idea was first expressed in Socrates, an unshakable belief that thinking can reach the unfathomable source of being by virtue of the lead of the law of causality, and thinking can not only know being, but also Can change exists.This sublime metaphysical assumption imbues science with intuition and leads it time and time again to its limits, at which point it must mutate into art: indeed, this is what can only be achieved by this means.

If we now look at Socrates in the light of this thought, we feel that he was the first man not only to live guided by this scientific intuition, but, what is more, to die for it; The image of the dead Socrates, a figure who transcends the horrors of death through knowledge and theory, is a sign in front of science, which reminds everyone of the mission of science, that is to say, science makes existence meaningful and therefore justified .So, of course, if theory fails, myth must be used after all.I even pointed out just now: this is the inevitable result and the ultimate goal of science. Once you see it clearly: After the scientific mystic Socrates, the schools of philosophy have followed one after another, and an unexpected and widespread thirst for knowledge has spread to the entire intellectual world, as if the pursuit of knowledge is unique to all. Man's special task, which led science into the vast ocean, from which it never returned.For the first time a common web of thought envelops the whole world by the universality of the thirst for knowledge, and there is a great prospect of finding out the laws of the whole solar system;--if you see clearly all this, and the astonishingly high pyramid of modern science , you can't help but imagine seeing the so-called turning point and whirlpool of world history in Socrates.For imagine the sum of the innumerable forces employed by that general tendency not in the service of knowledge, but in practice, that is, in the service of the self-interested ends of individuals and nations.Probably, in the midst of numerous soldiers and continuous immigration, the instinct to be happy has been greatly weakened, so that suicide is common, and individuals may still have a sense of responsibility after the catastrophe, just as the barbarians in the Fiji Islands believe that sons kill their fathers, and friends Killing one's friend is a duty.A practical pessimism may thus produce a cruel morality, which regards the Holocaust as an act of mercy;—and this is the case everywhere in the world, both before and today, wherever in any form of art , especially where religious and scientific art has not yet appeared to cure or prevent this immorality.

Against this practical pessimism, Socrates is the archetype of the theoretical optimist; he professes to believe that the nature of all things can be seen, that knowledge and understanding are panaceas, and that error itself is an evil.For the Socratics, penetrating into the mysteries of all things, and distinguishing true knowledge from illusion, is the noblest, even the only truly human vocation.Therefore, since the time of Socrates, the establishment of concepts, judgments, conclusions, etc., has been valued as the noblest career and the most admirable talent above all talents.Even the most sublime moral acts, compassion, self-sacrifice, heroism, and even the extremely difficult "mind like water", which is what the Oneiroi Greeks called "restraint";--approved by Socrates and to this day According to the followers of his insight, it all stems from the dialectic of knowledge and is thus teachable.Anyone who has experienced the pleasure of Socrates' epistemology, and feels that the scope of this pleasure of seeking knowledge is constantly expanding, and it is bound to encompass everything, will always feel it from then on; slip through the net" possessiveness.For those who have such ambitions, Plato's Socrates seems to be the teacher of a new "Greek optimism" and the happiness of existence, which strives to be expressed in behavior, especially in the aristocratic youth. In terms of Shi's "thought midwifery"① and personality cultivation, its purpose is to promote the birth of genius.

① Socrates used the metaphor of midwifery to use dialectical questions and answers to make people clearly understand the thoughts and concepts that exist indifferently in their hearts, which is called thought midwifery. However, science, inspired by strong illusions, pushes forward to its limits, and there the optimism inherent in its theoretical nature is shattered.Because there are countless points on the circumference of the scientific field, and it is still impossible to imagine whether this field can be measured thoroughly; therefore, people with both talents and virtues touch the edge of this circle before they reach the middle of life, and from this they can see the vagueness. where.Once Li Ran sees that the theory has reached the limit of science, it twists and turns, and finally bites its own tail. Then, a new understanding, a tragic understanding, emerges in his heart, which needs the protection and relief of art to endure. live.

The ancient Greeks kept our eyes open and fresh, now let us see the world around us at its highest level.We witness the insatiable and optimistic thirst for knowledge represented by Socrates mutated into tragic resignation and artistic narcissism; Dionysian tragic art is bound to be abhorred, and the confrontation between Socraticism and Aeschylus tragedy can be an example. Now, let us open the door of the present and the future with excitement: Will this "mutation" lead to the continuous birth of geniuses, especially the success of Socrates who studied music?Whether it is called religion or science, will this net of art covering everything become more and more dense, or is it destined to be torn to pieces by the savage winds and waves that call themselves "modern"?We are worried, but not desperate, to wait a moment and watch this thrilling struggle and change, but the charm of this struggle is so great that even the bystanders will come forward.