| |
This module provides an introduction to modern philosophy by reading three canonical texts: Kant’s Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, Hegel’s Introduction to the Philosophy of History, and Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy. The texts are quite different from each other, with apparently quite different concerns, and will be studied as discreet units, but we must ask finally how and whether Nietzsche’s book is heir to the work of his two famous predecessors.
A major part of the benefit from such a course is the effort of reading and teasing out for oneself the issues and ramifications of important texts. None of the three texts is very long, so that students will be expected to read the texts in full.
The class will be in lecture format, but students must come prepared to discuss the material: there will be assigned excerpts for each class session, and students will be expected to electronically submit before each class short responses to the reading, and to be able to discuss in class problems and points in the text.
Some additional reading will also be discussed: excerpts from other works by the core authors, excerpts from works by others which influenced the core texts, and secondary studies.
|
MODERN PHILOSOPHY
