Abstract

This article tries to unearth and evaluate the hermeneutic potential of Nietzsche’s understanding of Socrates, which is highly ambivalent. While Socrates is sometimes depicted as an optimistic rationalist, Nietzsche finally portrays him as a kind of universal pessimist who ultimately denounces life, especially in his last words on his deathbed. This nihilistic interpretation is subsequently criticized in this article (with special emphasis on a closer look at the evidence in Plato’s Phaidon and Symposion) and superseded by a picture which is still indebted to some of Nietzsche’s basic categories: Socrates appears as a carefully balanced mixture of Apollonian and Dionysian elements, thereby reflecting Plato’s major achievement in combining philosophy and poetry in his Socratic dialogues.