Skip to main content

The Philosophy of Nietzsche (Level 6)

Overview

  • Credit value: 30 credits at Level 6
  • Convenor: to be confirmed
  • Assessment: a 1500-word essay (40%) and 2000-word essay (60%)

Module description

In this module we focus on the philosophical work of Friedrich Nietzsche and some of his most important influences. Topics may include: Schopenhauer’s pessimistic doctrine that life is suffering, and the extent to which Nietzsche should be read as sharing and responding to his concerns; how art and aesthetic experience might offer meaningful redemption from suffering; Nietzsche’s genealogical method and critique of Christian morality; the value and disvalue of truth and knowledge; and the Romantics’ critique of the Enlightenment, the death of God, and the spectre of nihilism.

Indicative syllabus

  • Death of God
  • Pessimism and denial of the will to live
  • Idealism
  • Redemption through art
  • Nihilism and affirmation
  • What is genealogy?
  • Noble morality/slave morality
  • Free will and the sovereign individual
  • Ascetic ideals
  • The value of truth
  • Critique of Christianity
  • Perspectivism and will to power
  • Self-creation