The Birth of Tragedy

In Greek tragedies, the chorus is present as a group of actors who offer songs and commentary on the play’s action, often interacting with the main actors directly. By emphasizing the collective as opposed to the individual, Nietzsche considers the Greek chorus to have played a pivotal role in conveying the essential, Dionysian element in Greek tragedy.

In Greek myth, a satyr was a creature that was part-human and part-horse or goat, noted for riotous and lascivious behavior. In Chapter 8, Nietzsche links the satyr character with the Greeks’ desire to hold on to their Dionysian past.

Principium Individuationis is Latin for “principle of individuation.” Nietzsche uses this term (derived from Schopenhauer) to mean our awareness of ourselves as individuals; for Nietzsche, this sense is an illusion since all things are ultimately one. One of the effects of the Dionysian force is to make us lose ourselves in the greater whole, ecstatic in the awareness of the oneness of reality, just as the Apollonian steps in to restore a sense of separateness.

The “thing in itself” is the eternal core or truth of reality, as contrasted with “phenomena” or individual things in nature, which Nietzsche equates with “the world of appearances” (41) and which are influenced largely by culture and the values of civilization. According to Nietzsche, the Dionysian element makes us aware of this ultimate reality beyond surface appearances.