Nietzsche And Sophocles

In the history of western society, Nietzsche, who was a highly controversial philosopher, opened up a new era of western philosophy. And, his philosophy produced a decisive impact on the contemporary western philosophy. Nietzsche was a self-styled "the first tragic philosopher", named his philosophy "tragic philosophy" and "tragic world outlook". The Birth of Tragedy, his early masterpiece, could embody Nietzsche's tragedic theory deeply. He treated nihilism as the starting point, and explained the loss of maximum value with a famous proposition "god is dead". All the valuable things attached to the maximum value lost value, and the existence also lost basis, purpose and significance. This proposition marked western into nihilism crisis thoroughly. Nietzsche thought Platonism to be the root of the consequences. In The Birth of Tragedy, he once pointed out that Socrates'rational spirit destroyed the tragic spirit, whose representative was Sophocles, or further, philosophy destroyed poem. However, Socrates didn't write books, his glorious image was set up by Plato. Thus, we should make it more precisely that Plato (socialist) philosophy destroyed poetry, which led the western to nihilism.Nietzsche stood in his era and focused on ancient Greek, Looking for the medicine to overcome nihilism crisis. Overcoming nihilism meant the recovery of tragic spirit in ancient Greek. Nietzsche thought that the real spirit of tragic spirit in ancient Greek was the combination and reconciliation that Apollo impulse and Dionysian impulse played a role in tragedy. In his view, tragedy was the peak of all art because of the perfect combination of binary impulse, which made Apollo art and Dionysian art developed to the acme. Through the reading of Sophocles's representative works, who was the representative of Greek tragic spirit, we realize that the real spirit of Greek tragic spirit is just the recognition of the relationship between man's nature and fate, and the learn of temperament plays an important role in city-states under the Greek democracy. The city-state includes the individuals. A good citizen can make a strong city-state. Therefore, through the improvement of citizen's temperament, it can make a more harmonious and noble city-state.This paper treats nihilism as the breakthrough point, which is the starting point of Nietzsche's philosophy. Through the meticulous reading of The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche's most representative works in early time, we put emphasis on the analysis of Nietzsche's tragedy and clarify the nature of Nietzsche's Greek tragic spirit. Then, based on the analysis of Sophocles's tragedy in The Birth of Tragedy, through the analysis of Sophocles's representative works. Oedipus Tyrannous and Antigone, it points out the true essence of Greek tragic spirit. At last, combined with Aristotle's discussion to tragedy in poetics, it points out that the tragedy is exactly the way by weaving story to reveal the nature of man's universality. The tragedy plays a very important role in the health of a city-state, a state government and system, and the construction of the citizens' temperament. Thus. we can understand the reason of Nietzsche's back to ancient Greece, and the intention that Nietzsche wants to restart the tragedy of ancient Greece to overcome nihilism's abuse.