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Note on this edition: this is an electronic version of the 1999 book ...

Note on this edition: this is an electronic version of the 1999 book ...

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78Dem<strong>on</strong>ic Texts <strong>an</strong>d Textual Dem<strong>on</strong>s“The Tr<strong>an</strong>sfigurati<strong>on</strong>” by Raphael (Vatic<strong>an</strong> Museums).signs help <strong>the</strong> m<strong>an</strong> to interpret h<strong>is</strong> life <strong>an</strong>d struggles.” 108 There c<strong>an</strong> be nosuch separati<strong>on</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> rati<strong>on</strong>al self from <strong>the</strong> “errors” <strong>of</strong> myths <strong>an</strong>d instinctsas <strong>the</strong> Socratic sceptic<strong>is</strong>m <strong>an</strong>d Plat<strong>on</strong>ic ideal<strong>is</strong>m seem to suggest: Nietzscheadopts <strong>the</strong> figure <strong>of</strong> satyr to point out <strong>the</strong> borderline character <strong>of</strong> selfhood.Half-divine, having also <strong>the</strong> <strong>an</strong>imal half, <strong>th<strong>is</strong></strong> “daim<strong>on</strong>” <strong>of</strong> Nietzsche powerfullyillustrates those ambiguous aspects <strong>of</strong> subjectivity that are not in c<strong>on</strong>sciousness.Nietzsche’s aim was to c<strong>on</strong>sider aes<strong>the</strong>tics seriously – as <strong>the</strong> “trulymetaphysical activity,” he claimed in h<strong>is</strong> original preface. 109 He critic<strong>is</strong>esSchopenhauer, whose metaphysics he o<strong>the</strong>rw<strong>is</strong>e endorses, as sticking with<strong>the</strong> d<strong>is</strong>tincti<strong>on</strong> between subjective <strong>an</strong>d objective in <strong>the</strong> area <strong>of</strong> aes<strong>the</strong>tics;108 Nietzsche 1872/1967, 135 [§ XXIII]. (Tr<strong>an</strong>s. Kaufm<strong>an</strong>n.)109Ibid., 31.

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