Rational Conscious vs Irrational Unconscious
University of California, Davis
Rational Conscious VS Irrational Unconscious
Rational Conscious VS Irrational Unconscious
The intellectual concerns of late nineteenth century Europe was built around the notions such as rational and irrational or as Nietzsche states, Apollonian and Dionysian. Europe was entering a new intellectual phase of questioning logic and imagination. Controversial topics such as religion and science were now being targeted in the Apollonian and Dionysian theories. Sigmund Freud constructs his own myths on the topic of logic and imagination when referring to dreams. Philologist Friedrich Nietzsche and psychologist Sigmund Freud both analyzed the theory of the conscious rational and the unconscious irrational theory. While Nietzsche revels in the Dionysian theory, Freud approaches the topic strategically. Freud and Nietzsche both agree that rational cannot exist without irrational, and human nature fundamentally balances them. Dreams are rational and irrational just as human nature but both reach their arguments through different tactics, Nietzsche through mythology while Freud through psychological means.
Nietzsche uses the mythology of Apollo and Dionysus to redefine art in “The Birth of Tragedy”. Apollo and Dionysus are sons of Zeus. Apollo is the God of the Sun, which represents rationality and reason. Dionysus is the God of wine which represents drunkenness and ecstasy. Both are the oppositions of each other. Nietzsche definition of aesthetics is conducted on new terms, and tries to structure the art and its process through imposing views of Apollo and Dionysus. This dichotomy of Apollonian and Dionysian is what surrounds his argument about the two realms of art. He engulfs himself in the theory and “continuous evolution” to the “Apollonian-Dionysian duality” or the rational and irrational duality (Nietzsche, 19). He saw both concepts, Apollonian and Dionysian, as art realms and compares them to the “two physiological
Rational Conscious VS Irrational Unconscious
Rational Conscious VS Irrational Unconscious
The intellectual concerns of late nineteenth century Europe was built around the notions such as rational and irrational or as Nietzsche states, Apollonian and Dionysian. Europe was entering a new intellectual phase of questioning logic and imagination. Controversial topics such as religion and science were now being targeted in the Apollonian and Dionysian theories. Sigmund Freud constructs his own myths on the topic of logic and imagination when referring to dreams. Philologist Friedrich Nietzsche and psychologist Sigmund Freud both analyzed the theory of the conscious rational and the unconscious irrational theory. While Nietzsche revels in the Dionysian theory, Freud approaches the topic strategically. Freud and Nietzsche both agree that rational cannot exist without irrational, and human nature fundamentally balances them. Dreams are rational and irrational just as human nature but both reach their arguments through different tactics, Nietzsche through mythology while Freud through psychological means.
Nietzsche uses the mythology of Apollo and Dionysus to redefine art in “The Birth of Tragedy”. Apollo and Dionysus are sons of Zeus. Apollo is the God of the Sun, which represents rationality and reason. Dionysus is the God of wine which represents drunkenness and ecstasy. Both are the oppositions of each other. Nietzsche definition of aesthetics is conducted on new terms, and tries to structure the art and its process through imposing views of Apollo and Dionysus. This dichotomy of Apollonian and Dionysian is what surrounds his argument about the two realms of art. He engulfs himself in the theory and “continuous evolution” to the “Apollonian-Dionysian duality” or the rational and irrational duality (Nietzsche, 19). He saw both concepts, Apollonian and Dionysian, as art realms and compares them to the “two physiological
Bibliography: Freud, Sigmund. On Dreams. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1989. Print. Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy. New York: Doubleday, 1956. Print.