Nietzsche Reading Response (Arthur Schweitzer)

In Nietzsche’s discussion of the Dionysian World View, I found the most interesting aspect of his writing was his description of the Dionysian state as an abandonment of both the limits of existence and of the memories of personal experience. Essentially, he defines intoxication to be a state, which allows a person to momentarily supersede the bounds of reality, and thus come closer to experiencing the limitless freedom of the dreamscape, while conscious. Though Nietzsche’s description of this seems a bit optimistic, I agree that intoxication is in a sense a tool for losing inhibition, which more often than not makes reality a bit bland. Nietzsche reiterates this by mentioning that the individualist mindset also disappears in the Dionysian state, meaning people come together when mutually intoxicated and work collectively.

            One thing that confused me was his comparison of the two types of attitudes that demonstrate what Greek life…