Is it possible to overcome principium individuationis? a critical reading of Nietzsche's views in the birth of tragedy

The purpose of this thesis is to critically examine the concept of principium individuationis in the context of Nietzsche's first published work, i.e., The Birth of Tragedy, and discuss whether it is possible to overcome this principle as Nietzsche asserted. At first look, it is seen that, according to Nietzsche, principium individuationis pertains to image-making, the forms of cognizing appearances, the individuality of objects of experience and the self-identity of the subject. The current study argues that even though he did not explicitly discuss the problem of individuation, Kant's views on the synthetic unity of apperception can be interpreted as his understanding of principium individuationis and can be seen as the proper predecessor of Nietzsche's thoughts in his first published work. Accordingly, it is argued that, although on some special instances there can be disruptions regarding some aspects of the principle, it is nevertheless impossible to overcome the principium individuationis completely, since the synthetic unity of apperception, as the principium individuationis, grounds the possibility of all experience.