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Articles

Vol. 1 (2025): Philogram Journal for Advanced Philosophical Research

Subjectivity and Freedom in Nietzsche's Aesthetics

Submitted
3 August 2025
Published
01-12-2025

Abstract

This paper explores Friedrich Nietzsche’s radical redefinition of subjectivity and freedom through an aesthetic lens, challenging traditional metaphysical and rationalist frameworks. Rejecting the notion of a static, pre-existing self, Nietzsche conceives subjectivity as a dynamic multiplicity of instincts, drives, and affects, a “work in progress” to be actively created rather than discovered. This view dismantles Kantian universalism, positing freedom not as an inherent rational capacity but as a rare achievement forged through self-mastery, the reinterpretation of values, and the artistic shaping of one’s instincts.

The paper argues that Nietzsche’s aesthetic perspective intertwines subjectivity and freedom as co-constitutive processes. True freedom emerges not from conformity to moral laws but from the creative synthesis of Apollonian (rational) and Dionysian (passionate) forces, transforming life into an artistic phenomenon. By examining Nietzsche’s critiques of reason, morality, and tradition, the paper demonstrates how his vision of the “creative subject” redefines autonomy as an existential project, a continuous, often agonistic act of self-creation within the constraints of culture, biology, and history. Ultimately, Nietzsche’s aesthetics offers a paradigm where freedom is neither given nor universal but earned through the aesthetic justification of existence itself.

References

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