Nietzsche as Anti-Socrates?

Stanisław GROMADZKI

Abstract

In the present article I address the problem of Nietzsche’s self-identification with the figures he created in his writings, which determined both the shape of his philosophy and his spiritual development. I argue that, in the whole array of these self-identifications, the image of Socrates was of special importance to Nietzsche. The philosopher himself does not appear a mere imitator of Socrates though, neither may he be considered as his staunch opponent. While the Socrates Nietzsche created may be occasionally appraised negatively, as representing the type of the ‘theoretical man’ or the ‘decadent,’ he may simultaneously aspire to the role of a ‘tragic,’ ‘music-making’ man. However, it is owing to the figure of Socrates that Nietzsche may analyze the condition of science, or such phenomena as morality and decadence. All this simultaneously shows that the complexity of Nietzsche’s attitude to the protagonist he created determines the ambiguity of his own image as a philosopher, a theoretical man as much as an ironist and a philosopher of life.

The article is a modified and augmented version of the lecture I delivered at the 7th Polish Philosophical Congress in Szczecin in September 2004.