80-257 Nietzsche

9 units, Carnegie Mellon University

During his life in the late 19thcentury, Friedrich Nietzsche was a relatively obscure German philosopher. Since his death, however, he has become deeply influential and wellknown, and was a source of inspiration for many important 20thcentury thinkers. Despite this popularity, Nietzsches philosophy remains relatively mysterious, and often misunderstood. Much of his writing consisted of aphorisms, rather than more traditional prose and arguments, and many of his positions seem to contradict one another. This course will cover a broad range of Nietzsches writings, focusing on such central concepts as the will to power, eternal recurrence, and the oftmisunderstood Ubermensch overman. Throughout, we will focus on developing a consistent interpretation of an enigmatic philosopher whose views have been mischaracterized and misappropriated throughout the past century.

Prerequisites: none listed

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