Search

Skip to main content Accessibility help

Home
Search

Only show content I have access to (0)

Chapters (1)

Over 3 years (1)

From year:

To year:

Apply

Philosophy (1)

birth of tragedy

Cambridge University Press (1)

View selected items
Save to my bookmarks
Export citations
Download PDF (zip)
Save to Kindle
Save to Dropbox
Save to Google Drive
Save content to
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to .

To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Please be advised that item(s) you selected are not available.
You are about to save
Your Kindle email address

Please provide your Kindle email.

@free.kindle.com @kindle.com (service fees apply)

By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services

1 results

Chapter 6 - Nietzsche: The Gay Science
- By Bernard Williams
Edited by Robert Pippin, University of Chicago
Book:

Introductions to Nietzsche

Published online:

05 June 2012

Print publication:

09 February 2012, pp 137-151
- Chapter
- - Get access
    
    Check if you have access via personal or institutional login
    
    Log in Register
- Export citation
Summary

The Gay Science is a prime example of what is often called Friedrich Nietzsche's 'aphoristic' style. In his earlier works, Nietzsche had moved gradually towards this style. The Gay Science marks a decisive step beyond the books that came before it because it introduces two of what were to become Nietzsche's best-known themes, the Death of God and the Eternal Recurrence. Nietzsche has been thought by some people to have had a brutal and ruthless attitude to the world; sometimes, perhaps, he wished that he had. Nietzsche recognizes that his own Birth of Tragedy had been full of the Schopenhauerian spirit. The truths of Nietzsche's own philosophy, which discredit the metaphysical world, can destructively lead to nihilism if they come to be accepted. In The Gay Science he stresses the importance of a law of agreement, which regulates people's thoughts and provides intellectual security.