Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Life

This dissertation is an exploration of Nietzsche’s perspectives on life and aims to demonstrate how his thinking forms the basis for an affirmative understanding of human flourishing. This exploration will also show how and why Nietzsche’s philosophy effectively responds to nihilism. To achieve this objective, three distinct dimensions of Nietzsche’s idea of life — morality, art, and play — have been selected, which correspond to the figures of the “camel,” the “lion,” and the “child,” as presented in Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra. It is argued that these three figures, and consequently the associated concepts, constitute a comprehensive and cohesive framework for interpreting Nietzsche’s philosophy of life. Although these three states do not coexist or operate in parallel within Nietzsche’s philosophy, a discernible continuity between them and throughout Nietzsche’s writings can be identified. In this sense, the overarching aim of this thesis is articulated through the following interrogations: In what manner does Nietzsche’s philosophy seek to overcome and surmount nihilism? How does Nietzsche’s philosophy “define” and engage with the “will to power”?