Philosophies of Greek Tragedy from Schiller to Nietzsche: the Sublime in 19th Century German Philosophy

This work examines Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy by looking at both the progression of ideas on tragedy up to Nietzsche and ideas with which Nietzsche was familiar. Beginning with the understanding of Greek life in Germany at the time of Winckelmann, this book discusses Schiller, Hegel and other German philosophers' views of the Greeks and their explanation for why tragedy was so popular in ancient Greece. It then explains a radical shift in the views of the Greeks with Schopenhauer and Burckhardt, two thinkers who deeply influenced Nietzsche's early ideas. Finally, having shown the groundwork laid by Nietzsche's predecessors, it offers a new reading of Nietzsche's monumental work on tragedy.