Contest (Athletics), Education, and the Perspective of the Ascension of the Human Spirit up to the Level of a Genius. A Philosophical Study Based on the Views of Friedrich Nietzsche

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the views of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, as much for the contest-(and athletics as genuine competitive manifestation)-as for education-(as a vivid realization platform of αγωνίζεσθαι). In addition, it was studied in the context of Nietzschean thought, the functional relationship between contest, athletics and education, combined with the prospect of creating high intellectual standards, the geniuses. Athletics and education, act as active fields to allow the letting out of human extremely aggressive urge for destruction, formgiving within in the delimited frame work of the contest - passion for destruction (καταστρέφειν). The above process leads to the spiritual advancement of man, and comprises both the essence, and the final aim of the contest-by extending athletics and education. According to Nietzsche this competitive route of the human being, may ultimately acquire substance - in a natural way-, in the face of highly spiritual persons: the geniuses.