Abstract
The present paper discusses the statute of Socrates’ image in The birth of tragedy. From the hypothesis that it is unsatisfactory to treat Socrates only as Nietzsche’s antipode, as supported by a large number of interpreters, I develop the thesis according to which Socrates is a kind of magnifying glass, by means of which the philosopher analyses the beginning and the modern unfolding of western culture. Besides, and mainly, I demonstrate that the richness of antagonisms deliberately used by Nietzsche to analyze Socrates’ images indicates the one of his first conceptions of the philosophical creation itself.
Keywords
Socrates; Socratism; Enlightenment; Daimon; Self-suppression