The Gay Science

In “Book First,” Nietzsche traces the evolution of identity from its roots in self-preservation to the emergence of egoism. Taken to an extreme, egoism breeds a fight for sovereignty, which can lead to tyranny. Nietzsche analyzes how the motives of love and unselfishness have selfish roots, probing this paradox of life, where the instinct to find new ways of—and reasons for—living leads to a comedy and errors. Nietzschesays, “that which could have injured the race has perhaps died out many millenniums ago” (17). Since then, humankind transferred its survival instincts from preservation of the race to preservation of the individual. It’s at this point the first plank between people surfaces. Passions replace survival instincts, and these passions give rise to the great noble people of history. Such nobility of characters presents major impacts on history, affecting each individual from that time to the present moment.

“Book First” goes on toargue that while this nobility of ego produces new insights and philosophies, egoism leads to corruption and societal decay:

the old national energy and national passion, which acquired a magical splendour in war and in the tourney, has now transferred itself into innumerable private passions […] periods of ‘corruption’ the quantity and quality of the expended energy of a people is probably greater than ever (35).

Nietzsche cites Caesar, and the fall of Rome. In Caesar’s time “the men of highest culture love to flatter their Caesar by pretending that they are his creation” (35). Nietzsche argues that survival led to egoism that in turn led to nationalism, and, eventually, consumerism: a good hunter became a good statesman and in turn became a good businessman. Nietzsche laments the loss of intellectual investment and calls the industrial complex the meanest existence in history. The final pages explore the idea that consciousness is collective, and also contend that individuals fear what people will think of them less than they fear committing taboo acts. So, such a concern is at once selfish and the foundation of conscience. Here, Nietzsche puts forth the idea that an individual’s need to make themselves into a certain type of person is a major part of how individuals interpret the world. People who challenge their own selfishness become seen as noble. 

Nietzsche explores how despite its illusion, art enables individuals “to not lose the free dominion over things” (80), or the independence of the soul that art provides. He proposes that one’s individual perception of themselves stems from self-made plans with roots that reach back to ancient Greek theater and beyond, as new cultures replace ancient ideas. The Romans appropriated Greek drama and mythology, and, later, Shakespeare anglicized Romanic legends. Germans like Schopenhauer and Wagner do the same. This self-understanding provides a sense of controlling forces around us, which Nietzsche proposes ancient Greeks achieved through the use of rhythm and verse, and through the art of unnatural talking on the stage.

Exploring love, language, the origins of poetry, German philosophy, language, and music, Nietzsche expands his theme of egoism and the falsehood of truth in light of human craving for knowledgefrom “Book First.” Nietzsche proposes each individual creates their own story out of boredom for the old, making old stories new and often pushing conventional boundaries, and that their actions are initially considered vulgar.

“Book Second” begins with Nietzsche drawing artifice to the idea of reality. Nietzsche declares this “love of ‘reality’ [...] an old primitive ‘love’” (51). He laments that more depends on “what things are called, than what they are” (51). Nietzsche then explores the psychology of love, proposing that women’s gentler nature inspires men’s kindnesses. He writes that mental noise and male’s “plots and plans” of love and seducing women launches epic stories, affecting people’s perceptions of identity. Nietzsche also proposes artistic creations as feminine. As these perceptions pass between different cultures and eras, the artifice of reality is also expanded on. As a collective, human beings come to agree on things, but “it is continually the most select spirits themselves who strive against universal obligatoriness–the investigators of truth above all!” (58).He continues, saying that “The accepted belief continually engenders a disgust and a new longing in the more ingenious minds [and] makes the artists and poets runaways” (58). The contradiction between the noble spirit of the runaways, who push convention, and the way society perceives these runaways as vulgar provides elements of tragicomedy Nietzsche believes essential in shaping human consciousness, as the artist “knows a chord for those secret and weird midnights of the soul” (66).

In the second half of “Book Second,” Nietzsche applies his ideas to Italian opera, proposing it’s more the tones than words which raise to beauty. He explores German romanticism, analyzing how the language of the courts produced a more sophisticated way of talking, raising German art to a higher level. “Then even the German becomes beautiful (78)”.He lists a run of Schopenhauer quotes, investigates Wagner, “the most celebrated of the living Schopenhauerians” who “made a mistake in the interpretation of the characters” (73). Nietzsche proposes Wager was misled by Hegel, alluding to the falsehood of truth, to the benefit of the beauty of the human soul and intelligence. Nietzsche proposes art is less about truth, though deep thinking and insight are the goal of art, and more about the beauty one creates. It’s the germ of an idea to which human knowledge owes gratitude.