What did Nietzsche mean by "decadence"?

Question

As in:
'After this, need I say that I am experienced in questions of decadence? I know them inside and out.'

Answer 1

Civilisation. The main point Nietzsche tried to make is that Civilisation corrupts mankind. The more we civilise ourselves, the more and more mankind goes astray from the animal we once were. With it's good and also it's bad sides. Nietzsche's claim was that man would evolve into a "super man" or Ubermensch as he describes it (something the Nazi's helpfully abused) a person with no feelings, no morale and no ethics. A man that lives only to do for his own best interest and gain. I think if you check what some major multinationals are doing. you'll happily agree that the supermen have arrived.

Answer 2

Umm. I dont know anything about 'decadence', but I know a record label called 'Decaydance Records' with bands such as Panic! At the Disco, Gym Class Heroes, Cobra Starship, Fall Out Boy, and Lifetime that are signed to it.

Answer 3

Take a look at the work that he did when writing his book, The Birth of Tragedy. It looked at the contrast between 2 Greek Gods.

Dionysus (Dionysian): intoxication, celebration of nature, cruelty, music, dance, pain, individuality dissolved and hence destroyed, wholeness of existence, orgiastic passion, dissolution of all boundaries, excess, human being(s) as the work and glorification of art, destruction.

Apollo (Apollinian or Apollonian): the dream state, principium individuationis (principle of individuation), plastic (visual) arts, beauty, stint to formed boundaries, individuality, reason, celebration of appearance/illusion, human beings as artists (or media of art's manifestation), self-control, perfection, exhaustion of possibilities, creation.

Then look at his life. You might want to read the book by Irvin Yalom, a psychoanalyst, who conjectured through fiction, with historical reference, a pondering what a psychoanalysis of Nietzsche may have been like -- "When Nietzsche Wept."

Answer 4

"after this" - well, after what? The answer might give you some sort of clue.