Deals with Nietzsche's answer to the question: how does high culture emerge?
Nietzsche thought that aesthetics was basically applied physiology. Health (in the literal sense of word) was at the centre of his worldview and aesthetic philosophy. He thought that decadent art stemmed from sickness and high art stemmed from health. In his mind, the body was the source of creative impulse. If the body is unhealthy, it will give rise to unhealthy instincts, and vice versa.
Anyway, this video touches on some of the topics that interest me most: Greek sculpture, physical fitness and cultural decline. Perhaps some of the conclusions are a bit goofy, but I do think it is interesting that the two chief epochs of European culture - Greek antiquity & the Italian Renaissance - revolved around the athletic body.
~ Russell Walter
