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PH924 30 2021
PH924 30 2021
21/22
Department
Philosophy
Level
Taught Postgraduate Level
Module leader
Andrew Huddleston
Credit value
30
Module duration
10 weeks
Assessment
100% coursework
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry
Description
Introductory description
This module provides an advanced introduction to Nietzsche, one of the most seminal thinkers in
the tradition of continental philosophy.
Module aims
In this module, we undertake an in-depth study of one of Nietzsche’s most important and difficult
books Beyond Good and Evil (1886). In it, Nietzsche treats a wide variety of themes, including the
nature of philosophical enquiry, the search for truth, the motivations of metaphysics, the
constitution of the human psyche, the sociology and psychology of Judeo-Christian morality, the
structure of society, the ideal of nobility of soul, and many other themes. We will proceed
methodically through the main sections of the text, paying particular attention to the relevance of
the structure and style of Nietzsche’s presentation for understanding the philosophical content.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be
covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
Background Reading:
Keith Ansell-Pearson and Christa Davis Acampora (eds.), Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil: A
Reader’s Guide (Continuum, 2011).
Maudemarie Clark and David Dudrick, The Soul of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil (Cambridge
University Press, 2012).
Rolf-Peter Horstmann, “Introduction” to Beyond Good and Evil [in Judith Norman trans. of BGE,
Cambridge University Press, 2002)].
Michael Tanner, “Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil” Royal Institute of Philosophy Lectures
20:197-216 (1986).
Main Text:
I recommend the translation of Beyond Good and Evil by Walter Kaufmann (Vintage Books,1966).
The translation by Judith Norman (Cambridge University Press, 2002) is also good.
Each week I give the main reading from BGE, followed by a couple readings from the secondary
literature to discuss in the seminar. I give further readings as well for those wishing to go into more
depth. (Some of the secondary readings are of course relevant to multiple weeks, but I’ve included
them where they seem most apposite, given the passages discussed.)
Week 1: Preface
Beyond Good and Evil, “Preface.”
Maudemarie Clark and David Dudrick, The Soul of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil (Cambridge
University Press, 2012), p. 1-29.
Ken Gemes, “Life’s Perspectives,” in the Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche, ed. Ken Gemes and
John Richardson (Oxford University Press, 2013).
Further Reading:
R. Lanier Anderson, “Truth and Objectivity in Perspectivism,” Synthese 115:1 (1998), 1-32.
Laurence Lampert, Nietzsche’s Task: An Interpretation of Beyond Good and Evil (Yale University
Press, 2001), p. 1-17.
Robert Pippin, “Figurative Philosophy in Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil,” The New Cambridge
Companion to Nietzsche (Cambridge University Press, 2019).
Maudemarie Clark and David Dudrick, The Soul of Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil (Cambridge
University Press, 2012), p. 30-112; 137-243.
Peter Poellner, Nietzsche and Metaphysics (Oxford University Press, 1995), esp. p. 1-57.
Beyond Good and Evil, “The Free Spirit” and “What is Religious.”
Maudemarie Clark, Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 1990), Ch. 7,
esp. p. 217-227.
Robert Pippin, “Nietzsche’s Masks: Philosophy and Religion in Beyond Good and Evil,” in
Nietzsche’s Metaphilosophy: The Nature, Method, and Aims of Philosophy, ed. Matthew Meyer
and Paul Loeb (Cambridge University Press, 2019).
Further Reading:
Keith Ansell-Pearson and Christa Davis Acampora, Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil: A
Reader’s Guide, p. 53-97.
Rebecca Bamford, “The Relationship between Science and Philosophy as a Key Feature of
Nietzsche’s Metaphilosophy,” in Nietzsche’s Metaphilosophy: The Nature, Method, and Aims of
Philosophy, ed. Matthew Meyer and Paul Loeb (Cambridge University Press, 2019).
Laurence Lampert, Nietzsche’s Task: An Interpretation of Beyond Good and Evil (Yale University
Press, 2001), p. 61-99.
Bernard Reginster, “What is a Free Spirit? Nietzsche on Fanaticism,” Archiv für Geschichte der
Philosophie 85 (1):51-85 (2003).
Jill Marsden, “Nietzsche and the Art of the Aphorism,” in A Companion to Nietzsche, ed. Keith
Ansell-Pearson (Blackwell, 2006).
Alexander Nehamas, Nietzsche: Life as Literature (Harvard University Press, 1985), Ch. 1.
Further Reading:
Keith Ansell-Pearson and Christa Davis Acampora, Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil: A
Reader’s Guide, p. 98-109.
Laurence Lampert, Nietzsche’s Task: An Interpretation of Beyond Good and Evil (Yale University
Press, 2001), p. 137-145.
Week 5: Natural History of Morals
Beyond Good and Evil, “Natural History of Morals.”
Further Reading:
Raymond Geuss, “Nietzsche and Morality” and “Nietzsche and Genealogy” in his Morality, Culture
and History (Cambridge University Press, 1999).
Brian Leiter, “Nietzsche and the Morality Critics,” Ethics 107 (1997), 250-85.
Alexander Nehamas, “Who Are the ‘Philosophers of the Future’?” In Reading Nietzsche, ed.
Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins (Oxford University Press, 1988).
Paul Loeb, “Genuine Philosophers, Value Creation, and the Will to Power: An Exegesis of
Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, §211,” in Nietzsche’s Metaphilosophy: The Nature, Method,
and Aims of Philosophy, ed. Matthew Meyer and Paul Loeb (Cambridge University Press, 2019).
Further Reading:
Ken Gemes, “Nietzsche’s Critique of Truth,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research LII: 1
(1992), 47-65.
Harold Langsam, “Nietzsche and Value Creation: Subjectivism, Self-Expression, Strength,” Inquiry
61:1 (2018), 100-113.
Melissa Lane, “Honesty as the Best Policy: Nietzsche on Redlichkeit and the Contrast Between
Stoic and Epicurean Strategies of the Self,” in ed. Mark Bevir, Jill Hargis & Sara Rushing, Histories
of Postmodernism, (Routledge, 2007).
Gudrun von Tevenar, “Nietzsche’s Objections to Pity and Compassion,” in Nietzsche and Ethics,
ed. Gudrun von Tevenar (Peter Lang, 2007).
Further Reading:
Mark Alfano, “The Most Agreeable of All Vices: Nietzsche as Virtue Epistemologist,” British
Journal for the History of Philosophy 21:4 (2013).
Edward Harcourt, “Nietzsche and Eudaimonism,” in Nietzsche and Ethics, ed. Gudrun von
Tevenar (Peter Lang, 2007).
Alan White, “The Youngest Virtue,” in Nietzsche’s Postmoralism: Essays on a Prelude to
Philosophy’s Future, ed. Richard Schacht (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Nicholas Martin, “‘We Good Europeans’: Nietzsche's New Europe in Beyond Good and Evil,”
History of European Ideas 20 1:3, 141-44 (1995).
Diane Morgan, “Nietzsche and National Identity,” in A Companion to Nietzsche, ed. Keith Ansell-
Pearson (Blackwell, 2006).
Further Reading:
Ken Gemes, “The Biology of Evil: Nietzsche on Degeneration (Entartung) and Jewification
(Verjüdung), Journal of Nietzsche Studies 51:1 (2021), 1-25.
Peter Poellner, “Aestheticist Ethics,” in Nietzsche, Naturalism, and Normativity, ed. Christopher
Janaway and Simon Robertson (Oxford University Press, 2012), esp. p. 57-60.
Further Reading:
Maudemarie Clark, “Nietzsche’s Antidemocratic Rhetoric” and “Nietzsche’s Misogyny” in her
Nietzsche on Ethics and Politics (Oxford University Press, 2015).
Robert Guay, “Orders of Rank,” in the Oxford Handbook of Nietzsche, ed. Ken Gemes and John
Richardson (Oxford University Press, 2013).
Andrew Huddleston, Nietzsche on the Decadence and Flourishing of Culture (Oxford University
Press, 2019), Ch. 6.
Gudrun von Tevenar, “Nietzsche on Nausea,” Journal of Nietzsche Studies 50:1 (2019), 58-78.
Learning outcomes
• By the end of the module students should have a sound and scholarly understanding of
Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil and important themes from his philosophy as they appear
there. They should also be able to discuss incisively and critically key concepts and ideas
both in seminar discussions and written work.
Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, trans. Walter Kaufmann (Vintage Books, 1966).
Close textual reading skills. Hermeneutic skills. Advanced reasoning skills. Fluency in essay
writing.
Transferable skills
Strong presentation skills, verbally and in writing. Skills in logical and analytical reasoning. Skills in
creative thinking.
Study
Study time
Type Required
Seminars 9 sessions of 2 hours (6%)
Private study 282 hours (94%)
Total 300 hours
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
Assessment
You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Students can register for this module without taking any assessment.
Assessment group A2
Weighting Study time
7500 word essay 100%
Feedback on assessment
Feedback on essays will be provided on the coversheet for the essay, addressing standard areas
of evaluation and individual content.
Availability
Courses
This module is Option list A for: