Art's Role in the Battle between Nature and Civilization Page 4

While the nature of civilization indeed adds suffering to life, it also can be credited to developing man's higher mental activities. These higher mental activities include the cultivation of intellect and artistic appreciation. The fact that there is this higher state of consciousness that could not be achieved without culture might indeed be the salvation of civilization. Civilization provides us with the enjoyment of beauty that "offers little protection against the threat of suffering, but it can compensate for a great deal" (33). It is an enjoyment that is hard to explain yet is still universally felt. As Freud chooses to explain beauty, it "has no obvious uses; nor is there any clear cultural necessity for it. Yet civilization could not do without it" (33). Thus without civilization and our cultivated intellect and aesthetic appreciation, we would lack these special feelings and this higher state of consciousness that makes us human. This artistic appreciation of beauty bridges the gap between nature and civilization and allows them to coexist despite their apparent tensions; this is because civilization requires art and art requires nature.

Freud's questioning of civilization in Civilization and Its Discontents is very similar to that of Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy. While Freud's path might seem a little more clear cut, Nietzsche's line of thought can be broken down into a theme that is very similar to that of Freud.

Nietzsche's argument is built around a historical examination of the dialectic. In this case, the two opposing forces are nature and civilization, or the dionysian and the apollinian. These words, dionysian and apollinian, stem from Greek culture, which is heavily examined during Nietzsche's argument. At the beginning, the dionysian is said to be the art of music, and the apollinian is said to be the art of sculpture. While Nietzche's intent was certainly not to mislead these words should be looked at as placeholders, dionysian for nature and apollinian for civilization. Nietzsche claims that "art is bound up with the two" and thus sets off to find the true relationship (33).

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