The Ascetic Ideal

Abstract

The paper takes for its starting point Nietzsche’s analysis and criticism of the “ascetic ideal”. It first shows that the phenomenon that Nietzsche resumes with the expression “ascetic ideal” in not simply the phenomenon of self-discipline or temperance that compels us to avoid passion and enjoyment, but is, on the contrary, a phenomenon of passion that becomes imperative, imposed by the law itself. It is precisely in the contemporary, “postmodern” society that the ascetic ideal has reached its climax. The paper than delineates the Nietzschean theory of possible break through from the vicious circle of the ascetic ideal. This break through is only possible via the creation of some “minimal difference” at the very place where all seems to be the same. This is, according to the authoress, where we must look for the significance of the Nietzschean theme of the “great midday”, defined as the moment when One just splits in two.