126-462 Introduction to Reading Nietzsche

Formerly available as 126-024. Students who have completed 126-024 are not eligible to enrol in this subject. This subject will only be run if there is a minimum of six participants.

37.5 points of second/third-year subjects in German. European studies students wishing to enrol in this subject would normally have completed 37.5 points of European studies at second/third year and satisfied the language prerequisite for this subject. see Prerequisites.

The subject presents a general introduction to reading Nietzsche in the original German with an emphasis on those aspects of his thought which have most intellectual currency today. Attention will be paid to fragments unpublished in Nietzsche's own lifetime, especially those relating to his analysis of language and his critiques of philosophical discourse and human identity. Works from which extracts will be read and discussed include Über Wahrheit und Lüge im außermoralischen Sinn, Die Philosophie im tragischen Zeitalter der Griechen, Die Geburt der Tragödie, Menschliches, Allzumenschliches, Jenseits von Gut und Böse and Zur Genealogie der Moral. Students who complete this subject should have a familiarity with Nietzsche's major writings; have a critical appreciation of the contradictions within Nietzsche's thinking; and have an understanding of the relation of philosophical and literary discourses within Nietzsche's work.