CSLC 280 Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger: Tragic Philosophy
In this course, we shall attempt to come to terms with three of the most important - and provocative - philosophers of the last two hundred years, philosophers without whom the great majority of contemporary literary and cultural theory (and much art and literature, as well) would, essentially, be unthinkable. Significantly, all three of these philosophers habitually turned to ancient Greek tragedy in the formulation, articulation, and further elaboration of their thought. In this class, we shall therefore attempt to use the experience of Greek tragedy, in all its ecstatic strangeness, as a powerful point of entry into the difficult yet crucial works these philosophers have bequeathed to us. Major texts to be covered include: the plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles, The Phenomenology of Spirit, The Birth of Tragedy, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Being and Time, and Introduction to Metaphysics.