Zapffe: Philosophical Pessimism

Catalog description

By pairing the tools of biology and dramatic theory, the Norwegian philosopher Peter Wessel Zapffe produced the most rigorously argued case for philosophical pessimism in the twentieth century. With his comic observations of animal behavior and sympathy for the human condition, Zapffe continues to influence biologists like Dag Hessen and dramatic writers like Nic Pizzolatto. We will work through portions of his major work, On the Tragic, as well as some of his essays, to learn what it means to be human--that is, what it means to be tragic.