Contra o gênio: a ciência da arte no Humano, demasiado humano de Nietzsche

This paper aims to analyze Nietzsche’s critique of the notion of genius in Human, All Too Human. This notion marks a break from the phase commonly referred to as the “metaphysics of art,” whose greatest influence are the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer and the musical project of Richard Wagner. The starting point of our analysis is an explanation on the contrast established by Nietzsche between science and metaphysics. We then examine how the aesthetic task becomes a science of art and is understood as a historical, physiological, and psychological analysis of the artist’s activity. This paper intends to demonstrate how the central motto of the Nietzschean criticism addresses the romantic idea of genius (where talent and natural dispositions come together), which counterpoises the idea of an art worker.