Rhetoric of Philosophical Discourse

T/TH 5:00 – 6:30 PM, VLSB 2011 ///  

An introduction to the writings of Nietzsche over the full length of his career. Themes to be covered will include cultural history (temporality, historical consciousness, genealogy, and the interrelations between antiquity, modernity, and the present); cultural critique; science; religion; ethics; art; the art of writing; and the art of “voicing” (posing, posturing, theatricalizing). Works to be read, many of these in selections, will include early notes, essays, and fragments, The Birth of Tragedy, On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life, Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morality, Twilight of the Idols and Ecce Homo, with a accompanying secondary materials from Diderot. Foucault, Nehamas, Reginster, and others.

Prerequisites: None.

Format: Discussion based on close readings of individual selections or passages.

Course Requirements: Short in-class presentations, an in-class midterm, and a final paper (8-10 pp.)