of his contemporaries) to prove this point. Wagner, a composer and in essence an artist, began using ascetic ideals late in his life. His decision to exercise chastity and the composition of Parsifal lead Nietzsche to ask why. After understanding that Wagner could not of made his decisions without the influence of Schopenhauer's ideas. Nietzsche then questioned the ideas of Schopenhauer, who he discovered was influenced by Kant. Finally, Nietzsche suggests that when ascetic ideals are followed by artists and/or philosophers they result in nothing of use except to the artist. Nietzsche goes on to say that the origin of philosophy is in isolation and therefore ascetic ideals are good for it. For the philosopher, this denial of social life allows th
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