This module offers students an opportunity to study major works by Nietzsche and Heidegger. In particular it considers the relationship between Nietzsche's critique of metaphysics as the manifestation of an ascetic 'will to truth' and Heidegger's project of 'dismantling' and 'overcoming' metaphysics in light of a renewal of the question of being.
The aims of this module are to:
Upon successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
The module falls into two roughly equal parts, and includes:
This module will be taught by means of a mix of lectures and seminars, supplemented by individual tutorials and private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
| Definitive UNISTATS Category | Indicative Description | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | Seminars/lectures: 10 taught sessions (2.5 hours each) | 25 |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | Group and individual tutorials (one scheduled hour plus office hours). | 1 |
| Guided independent study | Directed and Independent Learning | 274 |
| Total (number of credits x 10) | 300 | |
The assessment strategy is designed to test a student's ability to meet the module's learning outcomes. Summative assessment involves two pieces of written work:
The skills required to prepare these assessed elements will be developed in a variety of formative activities throughout the module, notably through class discussion, feedback on in-class presentations, and individual tutorials. Preparation of the final essay normally includes a scheduled tutorial with the module tutor.
| Learning Outcome | Assessment Strategy |
|---|---|
| Understand several distinctive and fundamental features of Nietzsche and Heidegger's philosophies, informed by critical awareness of current debates in the field. | Assessed formatively through class discussion, presentations and tutorials, and summatively through the two pieces of individual written work. |
| Demonstrate a critical awareness of major issues in the history of the reception of Nietzsche's work, primarily in a European context. | Assessed formatively through class discussion, presentations and tutorials, and summatively through the two pieces of individual written work. |
| Reflect on and discuss problems relating to Nietzsche and Heidegger's philosophical legacies. | Assessed formatively through class discussion, presentations and tutorials, and summatively through the two pieces of individual written work. |
| Undertake the work of close textual analysis of demanding philosophical texts. | Assessed formatively through class discussion, presentations and tutorials, and summatively through the two pieces of individual written work. |
| Comprehend, reconstruct and interpret philosophical arguments, and situate these arguments in the context of the history of philosophy. | Assessed formatively through class discussion, presentations and tutorials, and summatively through the two pieces of individual written work. |
| Description of Assessment | Definitive UNISTATS Categories | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Exercises 1500 words | 20 |
| Coursework | Essay 3500 to 4000 words | 80 |
| Total (to equal 100%) | 100% | |
It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, Ed. Walter Kaufmann, Vintage, 1967.
______, Twilight of the Idols, Tr. R. J. Hollingdale, Penguin, 1990
______, On the Genealogy of Morality and Other Writings, Ed. and Trans. K. A. Pearson, C. Diethe, R. Geuss, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, Tr. E. Macquarrie and J. Robinson, Blackwell, 1962.
______, 'The Word of Nietzsche: God is Dead' in The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. Trans. William Lovitt, New York, Harper & Row, 1977
______, Nietzsche. Vol. II: The Eternal Recurrence of the Same; Vol. IV: Nihilism, Ed. D. F. Krell, Harper San Francisco, 1991.
Keith Ansell-Pearson and Howard Caygill (Eds.), The Fate of the New Nietzsche, Avebury, 1993
Fink, Eugen, Nietzsche's Philosophy [1960], trans. G. Richter. London. Continuum, 2003.
Gilles Deleuze, Nietzsche and Philosophy, Trans. H. Tomlinson, Continuum, 2005.
Dreyfus, Hubert. Being-in-the-World. Cambridge: MIT, 1991.
Kaufmann, Walter. Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 4th edition, 1974.
Kisiel, Theodore. The Genesis of Heidegger's Being and Time. Berkeley: University of California, 1995.
Klossowski, Pierre. Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle [1969], trans. D.W. Smith. London: Athlone, 1997.
Löwith, Karl. Nietzsche's Philosophy of the Eternal Recurrence of the Same [1935/1956], trans. H. Lomax. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.
Mulhall, Stephen. Heidegger on Being and Time. London: Routledge, 1996.
Schacht, Richard, Nietzsche. London: Routledge, 1983.