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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences : Philosophy

Postgraduate Course: The Early Continentals: Hegel and Nietzsche MSc (PHIL11122)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course introduces students to the work of Hegel and Nietzsche, also touching on some important prior and intervening figures in 18th and 19th Century German philosophy, such as Kant, Schelling and Schopenhauer.

Shared with the undergraduate course The Early Continentals: Hegel and Nietzsche (PHIL10047).

For courses co-taught with undergraduate students and with no remaining undergraduate spaces left, a maximum of 8 MSc students can join the course. Priority will be given to MSc students who wish to take the course for credit on a first come first served basis after matriculation.
Course description This course will introduce students to the ideas of Hegel and Nietzsche. The course will focus on reading and understanding key passages from Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit and Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals. An important background figure on the course will be Kant, and we will begin by reading some important sections from his Critique of Pure Reason. We
will compare and contrast the ways in which Hegel and
Nietzsche both sought to articulate and overcome philosophical problems inherited from Kant. Where helpful, we will also take brief detours into the works of other thinkers who influenced or reacted to Kant, Hegel and Nietzsche, such as Fichte, Schelling and Schopenhauer. By the end of the
course we will be in a position to appreciate and assess the historic trajectory of philosophical thought that runs from Kant through Hegel and Nietzsche, and look ahead to the divergent paths this trajectory has taken in contemporary philosophy.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. understand The nature of Kant's 'Copernican Revolution' in metaphysics, and the problems it was intended to solve
  2. understand the role of the following concepts in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason: concept; intuition; category; synthesis; apperception; phenomena; noumena
  3. understand the role of the following concepts in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit: dialectic; the Absolute; sense-certainty; lordship and bondage
  4. understand the relationship of Hegel's absolute idealism to Kant's transcendental idealism
  5. understand the role of the following concepts in Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality: genealogy; master/slave moralities; resentment; bad conscience; ascetic ideals
Reading List
Core texts include:
Hegel, G.W.F. (1807) Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A. V. Miller,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977
Nietzsche (1873) On Truth and Lie in an Extra Moral Sense (available on Learn)
Nietzsche, F. (1887) On the Genealogy of Morals (trans. D. Smith), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996

Additional readings include:
Gardner, S. (1999) Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason, ch.2: The possibility of Objects
Allison, H. (2006) 'Kant's Transcendental Idealism', in The
Blackwell Companion to Kant
Hegel: Introduction to the Philosophy of History, excerpts
Craig, E. (1987) The Mind of God and the Works of Man, ch.4:
One way to read Hegel
Kelly, G.A. (1966) 'Notes on Hegel's 'Lordship and Bondage'
The Review of Metaphysics, 19(4), pp.780-802
Nietzsche (1886) On the prejudices of philosophers (part 1 of
Beyond Good and Evil)
Pippin, R. (2005) 'Agent and Deed in Nietzsche's Genealogy of
Morals', in The Blackwell Companion to Nietzsche
Foucalt, M. (1971) 'Nietzsche, Genealogy, History', in Rabinow
(ed.) (1984) The Foucalt Reader

Additional Information
Course URL Please see Learn page
Graduate Attributes and Skills Thinking and writing clearly. Understanding the relationship between work from different disciplines and traditions.
KeywordsKant; Hegel; Nietzsche
Contacts
Course organiserDr Dave Ward
Tel: (0131 6)50 3652
Email: dave.ward@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Becky Verdon
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: Rebecca.Verdon@ed.ac.uk
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