Continental philosophy Nietzsche's idea has been interpreted as an expression of
fragmented consciousness or
existential instability by a variety of modern and
post-modern writers, especially
Martin Heidegger,
Michel Foucault, and
Gilles Deleuze. According to
Peter Sloterdijk, the Dionysian and the Apollonian form a
dialectic; they are contrasting, but Nietzsche does not mean one to be valued more than the other. Truth being
primordial pain, our existential being is determined by the Dionysian/Apollonian dialectic. Extending the use of the Apollonian and Dionysian onto an argument on interaction between the mind and physical environment, Abraham Akkerman has pointed to masculine and feminine features of city form.
Ruth Benedict Anthropologist
Ruth Benedict used the terms to characterize cultures that value restraint and modesty (Apollonian) and ostentatiousness and excess (Dionysian). An example of an Apollonian culture in Benedict's analysis was the
Zuñi people as opposed to the Dionysian
Kwakiutl people. The theme was developed by Benedict in her main work
Patterns of Culture.
Albert Szent-Györgyi Albert Szent-Györgyi, who wrote that "a discovery must be, by definition, at variance with existing knowledge", divided scientists into two categories: the Apollonians and the Dionysians. He called scientific dissenters, who explored "the fringes of knowledge", Dionysians. He wrote, "In science the Apollonian tends to develop established lines to perfection, while the Dionysian rather relies on intuition and is more likely to open new, unexpected alleys for research...The future of mankind depends on the progress of science, and the progress of science depends on the support it can find. Support mostly takes the form of grants, and the present methods of distributing grants unduly favor the Apollonian". The broad outline of her concept has roots in Nietzschean discourse, an admitted influence, although Paglia's ideas diverge significantly. The Apollonian and Dionysian concepts comprise a dichotomy that serves as the basis of Paglia's theory of art and culture. For Paglia, the Apollonian is light and structured while the Dionysian is dark and
chthonic (she prefers
Chthonic to Dionysian throughout the book, arguing that the latter concept has become all but synonymous with
hedonism and is inadequate for her purposes, declaring that "the Dionysian is no picnic"). The Chthonic is associated with females, wild/chaotic nature, and unconstrained sex/procreation. In contrast, the Apollonian is associated with males, clarity, celibacy and/or homosexuality, rationality/reason, and solidity, along with the goal of oriented progress: "Everything great in western civilization comes from struggle against our origins". She argues that there is a biological basis to the Apollonian/Dionysian dichotomy, writing: "The quarrel between Apollo and Dionysus is the quarrel between the higher
cortex and the older
limbic and
reptilian brains". Moreover, Paglia attributes all the progress of human civilization to masculinity revolting against the Chthonic forces of nature, and turning instead to the Apollonian trait of ordered creation. The Dionysian is a force of chaos and destruction, which is the overpowering and alluring chaotic state of wild nature. Rejection of—or combat with—Chthonianism by socially constructed Apollonian virtues accounts for the historical dominance of men (including
asexual and
homosexual men; and childless and/or lesbian-leaning women) in science, literature, arts, technology, and politics. As an example, Paglia states: "The male orientation of
classical Athens was inseparable from its genius. Athens became great not despite but because of its misogyny". == See also ==