The most famous philosopher of Ancient Greece and a symbol of reason. According to Nietzsche, Socrates was the first misguided philosopher who, by destroying instincts and the Dionysian nature of tragedy, made reason the measure of all things. That immense and magnificent power of creation in Greek culture was disrupted by his search for dialectic and rational morality; in Nietzsche's eyes, Socrates became the father of the rationalist decline that dragged the West toward nihilism.
Against the Dionysian enthusiasm of Ancient Greece, he created a major transformation by drawing people into rational questioning in marketplaces, choosing reason over instinct, and bringing an end to tragedy.
He exists in the book as a philosophical shadow; he is the archetype of theoretical man.
Platon
His ideal successor who transformed the ideas (conceptualism) that condemned the Western world to illusions into concrete systems.
Friedrich Nietzsche
A great antagonist whom he sees as the chief culprit of rationalist corruption, while occasionally respecting his genius.