Rhetoric of Philosophical Discourse

Can you live ethically without following moral norms—norms that are given institutionally and reinforced by culture and convention? The question is at least as old as the Cynics, and it remains a vital problem today. This course will examine the issues through a close study of Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals and Adorno’s Minima Moralia. Supplementary readings will include selections from Bernard Williams, Carl Schmitt, additional readings from Nietzsche and Adorno, and more recent theory. This is not a course in philosophy (though philosophy majors are welcome). It is a course in radical thought and radical writing. No prerequisites. In-class presentations, take-home midterm, and a final paper (10-12 pp.).