# Chapter 155 explained — Beyond Good and Evil

> Chapter companion for Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche.

## What happens

A brief aphorism linking the intensity of the tragic sense directly to the vitality of sensuous life.

## Themes in this chapter

### Psychology as the Fundamental Science

The statement performs a psychological analysis, connecting an aesthetic and existential concept (the tragic) to a fundamental life force (sensuousness).

### Critique of Modernity

Implies a critique of modern decline, suggesting a weakening of the tragic sense parallels a decline in robust, affirmative sensuousness.

## Key lines

> The sense of the tragic increases and declines with sensuousness.

The feeling for tragedy grows stronger or weaker in direct proportion to the strength or weakness of our physical, instinctual life.

_Posits a foundational link between aesthetic capacity and biological vitality, grounding a cultural phenomenon in a physiological basis._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/155
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters