Philosophy 330 - SEM:HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

Topics Course. This seminar reconstructs and examines a slice of one of the most influential trajectories in the history of 19th- and 20th-century European philosophy. The focus is the work of the German philosopher Nietzsche. On what basis did he criticize the role played by reason, understanding, truth and morality in the work of respected philosophers such as Plato, Descartes and Kant in the history of philosophy? Who were his historical role models? The seminar explores Nietzsche's "revaluations" of the concepts he criticized; his creative analysis of various forms of suffering and their implicit role in philosophical thinking; his critique of nations and nationalism; and his own re-conception of the splendid individual, expressed in aesthetic terms. How did Nietzsche's critique influence the thinking of philosophers who came after him, both in the West and in the East (like Foucault and Nishitani)? How did his ideas and methods inflect discussions in philosophical areas such as existentialism, postmodernism and feminism? Enrollment limited to 16 students.

Topic: Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). Instructor permission. Not open to first-years, sophomores