Mit der Behauptung, dass seine eigene Philosophie als »umgedrehter Platonismus« verstanden werden soll, stellt Nietzsche seine Beziehung zum platonischen System dar. Dieses Forschungsprojekt sucht nach einer neuen Variation dieser Darstellung, um die philosophischen Analogien beider Autoren aufzuspüren. Das erste Kapitel beschäftigt sich mit einer Erläuterung des Begriffes „umgedrehter Platonismus“, womit die Differenz zwischen diesen beiden Systemen definiert wird. Diese Diskrepanz ist spürbar in vier verschiedene Bereichen: metaphysisch, axiologisch, gnoseologisch und ästhetisch. Das zweite Kapitel behandelt die Rolle des Apollinischen und des Dionysischen in der nietzscheschen Theorie. Die beiden Konzepte werden mit dem des platonischen Eros verglichen, da diese es dem Menschen ermöglichen, die sinnliche Welt zu verlassen und eine Ur-Realität kennenzulernen. Das dritte Kapitel analysiert die Verurteilung der Kunst in Platon’s „Staat“. Der griechische Philosoph strebt die wahre Kenntnis an und verbindet seine ästhetischen Überlegungen mit der Idee der Wahrheit. Nietzsche bearbeitet diese Verbindung zwischen Ästhetik und Erkenntnistheorie unter dem Begriff »amor fati«. Das vierte Kapitel ist der Physiologie der Liebe gewidmet. Nietzsche verwandelt der Erkenntnisprozess in eine leidenschaftliche Liebe. Die Erkenntnis nimmt die Form einer Passion an und kristallisiert sich allmählich und nach einem langen Prozess mit Höhen und Tiefen in »amor fati«. »Amor fati« schafft eine Ästhetisierung der Erkenntnis und Epistemologiesierung der Ästhetik. Somit liegt Nietzsches Erkenntnistheorie parallel zu jener Platons. / By claiming that his philosophy should be understood as “inverted Platonism” Nietzsche defined his relationship to the Platonic system. This research project aims to articulate a new understanding of this relationship by analyzing philosophical similarities between the two authors'' respective philosophies. The first chapter is dedicated to the explanation of the term “inverted Platonism” and articulates the differences between Plato''s and Nietzsche''s systems. These discrepancies are manifested in four main areas: the metaphysical, the axiological, the gnosiological and the aesthetic. The second chapter deals with the roles of the Apollonian and the Dionysian in Nietzschean theory. Both concepts are compared with the Platonic Eros, as they invite man to abandon the sensual world and instead to commune with the very origin of reality. The third chapter analyzes Plato´s denunciation of art in “The Republic”. The Greek philosopher seeks true knowledge and connects his aesthetic concerns with the idea of Truth. Nietzsche refers to the cynosure between aesthetics and cognitive theory as “amor fati”. The fourth chapter is dedicated to the physiology of love. Nietzsche transforms the cognitive process into a passionate love. Cognition assumes the shape of passion, slowly crystallizing over time, with many twists and turns, into “amor fati”. “Amor fati” aestheticizes cognition and epistemologizes aesthetics. Therefore Nietzsche''s cognitive theory is actually equivalent to that of Plato.

This thesis examines key concepts from philosophers Nishida Kitaro, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Fredriche Nietzsche and applies them to elements of Michael Chekhov’s practice of acting. The three philosophers, in different ways, suggest an ‘optimal’ state, beyond a dualistic separation of the fictive from the real and the visible from the invisible, that challenges seemingly unbridgeable dualisms between inner and outer, subject and object, being and becoming and experiencer and experienced. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and understand these selected ‘optimal’ modes of consciousness in performance and, therefore, open up new ways of thinking about Michael Chekhov’s acting processes; in particular the ‘Psychological Gesture’. The thesis asks the following questions: 1. How can the application of selected philosophical paradigms to the Psychological Gesture through theory and practice further our understanding of Michael Chekhov’s work? 2. How do selected aspects of the fields of phenomenology, post-phenomenology, cognitive sciences, consciousness studies and philosophy of mind, aid in developing an articulation and understanding of an ‘optimal’ state of consciousness as a necessary aspect of the actor’s performance in Michael Chekhov’s work and theatre practice? 3. How can this project develop the way we are able to talk about Michael Chekhov’s work and wider acting processes?

In the first chapter of my doctoral thesis, entitled The Political Implications of Nietzsche's Perspectivism, I argue that due to conflicting passages present throughout his oeuvre, Nietzsche is best understood as a twofold metaphysical sceptic. That is, a sceptic about the existence of the external world, and consequently, as a sceptic about such a world's correspondence to our perspectives. Nietzsche presents a threefold conceptualization of 'nihilism' and a twofold one of the 'will to power.' Neutral nihilism is humanity's inescapable condition of having no non-humanly created meanings and values. This state can be interpreted positively as an opportunity to create one's own meanings and values, or negatively as a terrifying incentive to return to dogmatism. The will to power is life before and as it becomes life, the unqualified will to power, and all the realities in it, the qualifiable will to power. The combination of these ontological concepts brings me to my second chapter and to the determination of Nietzsche's general epistemology: perspectivism. Perspectivism is an admittedly created, ontologically derived interpretation of knowledge, which both entails and goes beyond relativism. Nietzsche's perspectivism is constructed to support any norm that allows for univocal evaluations, not just Nietzsche's. Moreover, it can be derived from any ontology that conceptualizes life as a unit of growth and decay and human beings as creators of all their perspectives. These two elastic concepts allow me to propose, in my third chapter, that, although his texts disavow an all-inclusive democracy in favour of a new spiritual aristocracy, on the one hand, the proper political implications of perspectivism allow for democracy, while on the other hand, Nietzsche can be read as disapproving of an all inclusive or representative democracy, yet as approving of the direct democracy that arises naturally among elite peers.

Assim como Sócrates representa a filosofia de Platão em seus diálogos e Zaratustra encarna os conceitos da filosofia nietzschiana, também o Meursault de Albert Camus é um avatar para sua filosofia. No eterno presente de Meursault, na terna indiferença de seu amor e abertura ao mundo e ao destino, estão encarnados os principais conceitos da filosofia camusiana. Na obra de Camus, a tragédia do protagonista de O Estrangeiro e sua postura diante do tempo, do mundo e do destino têm sua raiz na tragédia do Mersault de A Morte Feliz e, em última análise, na tragédia do inválido Zagreus: na morte do inválido Zagreus de A Morte Feliz está a tragédia original do Mersault de A Morte Feliz e do Meursault de O Estrangeiro. E Camus não deu o nome de Zagreus a esta personagem por acaso. Na tragédia do inválido Zagreus de A Morte Feliz e na tragédia dos protagonistas de A Morte Feliz e O Estrangeiro, Camus fez referência ao mito de Dioniso Zagreus. Nesta dissertação, mostraremos que a origem da filosofia de Camus em O Estrangeiro e A Morte Feliz está no mito de Dioniso Zagreus e, mais precisamente, no mito de Dioniso Zagreus segundo o interpretou Nietzsche. No conceito de dionisíaco em O Nascimento da Tragédia e nos correlatos conceitos nietzschianos de amor fati e eterno retorno, encontramos o lugar de gênese dos conceitos camusianos de eterno presente, terna indiferença, amor ao destino, amor ao mundo e abertura ao mundo na Tradição Filosófica, encarnados na figura dos protagonistas de O Estrangeiro e A Morte Feliz. Na filosofia de Nietzsche, encontramos a principal influência de Camus para a criação de sua filosofia em O Estrangeiro e A Morte Feliz. / Just as Socrates represents the philosophy of Plato in his dialogues and Zarathustra embodies the concepts of the nietzschian philosophy, the Meursault of Albert Camus is an avatar for his philosophy. In the eternal present of Meursault, in the tendre indifférence of his love and opening towards the world and towards his destiny, the main concepts of the camusian philosophy are depicted. In the works of Camus, the tragedy of Meursault in LÉtranger is originally in the tragedy of the Mersault in La Mort Heureuse, and moreover, in the tragedy of the crippled Zagreus: in the death of the crippled Zagreus in La Mort Heureuse and in the final tragedies of La Mort Heureuse and LÉtranger, Camus referred to the myth of Dionysos Zagreus. In this dissertation, we shall indicate the origin of the philosophy of Camus in LÉtranger and La Mort Heureuse; we shall indicate its origin in the myth of Dionysos Zagreus and, more precisely, in Nietzsches interpretation of that myth. In the nietzschian concept of dionysian and in the related nietzschian concepts of amor fati and eternal recurrence, we have found the main influence in the genesis of the camusian concepts of eternal present, tendre indifférence, love of destiny, love of the world and opening towards the world, all embodied in the Meursault of LÉtranger and in the Mersault of La Mort Heureuse. In the philosophy of Nietzsche, we have found Camus main influence for the creation of his philosophy in LÉtranger and La Mort Heureuse.

Assim como Sócrates representa a filosofia de Platão em seus diálogos e Zaratustra encarna os conceitos da filosofia nietzschiana, também o Meursault de Albert Camus é um avatar para sua filosofia. No eterno presente de Meursault, na terna indiferença de seu amor e abertura ao mundo e ao destino, estão encarnados os principais conceitos da filosofia camusiana. Na obra de Camus, a tragédia do protagonista de O Estrangeiro e sua postura diante do tempo, do mundo e do destino têm sua raiz na tragédia do Mersault de A Morte Feliz e, em última análise, na tragédia do inválido Zagreus: na morte do inválido Zagreus de A Morte Feliz está a tragédia original do Mersault de A Morte Feliz e do Meursault de O Estrangeiro. E Camus não deu o nome de Zagreus a esta personagem por acaso. Na tragédia do inválido Zagreus de A Morte Feliz e na tragédia dos protagonistas de A Morte Feliz e O Estrangeiro, Camus fez referência ao mito de Dioniso Zagreus. Nesta dissertação, mostraremos que a origem da filosofia de Camus em O Estrangeiro e A Morte Feliz está no mito de Dioniso Zagreus e, mais precisamente, no mito de Dioniso Zagreus segundo o interpretou Nietzsche. No conceito de dionisíaco em O Nascimento da Tragédia e nos correlatos conceitos nietzschianos de amor fati e eterno retorno, encontramos o lugar de gênese dos conceitos camusianos de eterno presente, terna indiferença, amor ao destino, amor ao mundo e abertura ao mundo na Tradição Filosófica, encarnados na figura dos protagonistas de O Estrangeiro e A Morte Feliz. Na filosofia de Nietzsche, encontramos a principal influência de Camus para a criação de sua filosofia em O Estrangeiro e A Morte Feliz. / Just as Socrates represents the philosophy of Plato in his dialogues and Zarathustra embodies the concepts of the nietzschian philosophy, the Meursault of Albert Camus is an avatar for his philosophy. In the eternal present of Meursault, in the tendre indifférence of his love and opening towards the world and towards his destiny, the main concepts of the camusian philosophy are depicted. In the works of Camus, the tragedy of Meursault in LÉtranger is originally in the tragedy of the Mersault in La Mort Heureuse, and moreover, in the tragedy of the crippled Zagreus: in the death of the crippled Zagreus in La Mort Heureuse and in the final tragedies of La Mort Heureuse and LÉtranger, Camus referred to the myth of Dionysos Zagreus. In this dissertation, we shall indicate the origin of the philosophy of Camus in LÉtranger and La Mort Heureuse; we shall indicate its origin in the myth of Dionysos Zagreus and, more precisely, in Nietzsches interpretation of that myth. In the nietzschian concept of dionysian and in the related nietzschian concepts of amor fati and eternal recurrence, we have found the main influence in the genesis of the camusian concepts of eternal present, tendre indifférence, love of destiny, love of the world and opening towards the world, all embodied in the Meursault of LÉtranger and in the Mersault of La Mort Heureuse. In the philosophy of Nietzsche, we have found Camus main influence for the creation of his philosophy in LÉtranger and La Mort Heureuse.