The latest episode of my podcast Sound Philosophy is now live. It is entitled “Nietzsche, Birth of Tragedy: An Introduction.” This is the first in a series of episodes examining the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche and their possible applications to the understanding of popular music. In this episode, I prepare us for a discussion of Nietzsche’s first book The Birth of Tragedy by examining three of Nietzsche’s predecessors: Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Arthur Schopenhauer. We investigate some selected aspects of their aesthetic and metaphysical thought–aspects that I will try to demonstrate either influenced Nietzsche or stand in marked contrast to what he tries to accomplish in his writings.
The image here is of Winslow Homer’s Right and Left (1909). I use this image throughout my discussion as a way of thinking through what makes an experience aesthetic.