Rhetorical Theory and Criticism

T 3:00-6:00pm, 308C Doe Library

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 seminar will examine the issues through a close study (a slow reading) of two works: Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals and Adorno’s Minima Moralia. Supplementary materials will include selections from Kant, Freud, Foucault, Deleuze, and Bernard Williams, additional selections from both Nietzsche and Adorno, and more recent theory (Rose, Butler, Balibar). This is not a course in philosophy (although philosophy majors are welcome). It is a course in radical thought and radical writing.

No prerequisites.

Seminar format. Weekly blog posts; in-class presentations; final research paper.