Nineteenth-Century Philosophy

Catalog description

This course will treat 19th century German philosophy. We will examine the development leading from German Idealism to Nietzsche. Starting and focal point of all debates in 19th century German philosophy is the work of Immanuel Kant. Therefore basic ideas of Kant's philosophy will be discussed first. The German idealists criticized Kant for what they called his "dualism" which they thought splits up life's unity into unrelated aspects. A special concern brought up was Kant's alleged negligence of both what is different from reason and what is beyond its scope. In this context we will be reading Jacobi's famous letter to Fichte in which he raised the issue of impending nihilism, parts of Hegel's Faith and Knowledge , and Schelling's Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom . Arthur Schopenhauer passionately opposed the systems of German Idealism (though his own philosophy has quite a bit in common with them). He emphasized the limitations of reason's power. We will be studying selected pieces from his main work The World as Will and Representation . Thus prepared, we will move on to Nietzsche who reflects and criticizes all the tendencies of 19th century philosophy, casting doubt on traditional conceptions of reason, morality, truth, and religion. The threat of nihilism reappears, even stronger and even more provocative. We will be studying Nietzsche's analyses as well as his answers.