Nietzsche and Heidegger on Art: Two Modes of Overcoming Metaphysics

Aletheia: Heidegger Unveils Nietzsche. AI art Introduction For two millennia Western thought yoked beauty to a transcendent order that consoles mortal turbulence. Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger revolt against that heritage, yet they do not abandon art; they enlist it to surpass metaphysics on new terms. Nietzsche turns artistic creation into a festival of vital power, whereas Heidegger recasts the artwork as the site where truth happens. Their divergent projects illuminate two non‑religious ways in which art can break free from the old ceiling of philosophy. Nietzsche: Transfiguration through Dionysian Force In The Birth of Tragedy Nietzsche famously claims, “Only as an aesthetic phenomenon is existence eternally justified” (Nietzsche, 2000/1872, §5). The sentence rejects transcendental comfort while refusing nihilism: art redeems life by absorbing agony into rhythm, image, and song. That alchemy hinges on the interplay of Apollonian shape and Dionysian ...