Overview

This course revolves around an examination of the philosophies of six seminal figures in nineteenth century philosophy: G. W. F. Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, John Stuart Mill, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche – six of the most important and influential philosophers in the nineteenth century. A way of broadly characterizing philosophy of this period is as an ongoing battle between late Enlightenment thinking and Romantic thinking: in other words, as a battle between science and the poetry. An amazing amount of stage-setting for contemporary philosophy took place in the nineteenth century and, as you will see, a close examination and understanding of the philosophical themes of this period is very helpful in understanding recent philosophy and modern European culture. It is also very interesting in its own right.

Over the course of the semester we will read, analyze, and critique key selections from the works of each of the thinkers listed above. As you shall discover, this is a diverse bunch. This short list includes idealists and realists, rationalists and empiricists, and naturalists and romantics. The concerns of these writers range from science to politics to economics to ethics to metaphysics. Needless to say, it will be quite a ride.

Texts

G. W. F. Hegel, Introduction to the Philosophy of History (Hackett Publishing Company, 1988).

G. W. F. Hegel, Hegel: Texts and Commentary (University of Notre Dame Press, 1977).

Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea (Abridged, Everyman Paperback Classics, 1995).

John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (Hackett Publishing Co., 1978).

Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species (Abridged, W.W. Norton and Co., 1975).

Karl Marx, Selected Writings (Hackett Publishing Co., 1994).

Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols and the Anti Christ (Penguin, 1990) and The Genealogy of Morality (Cambridge).

1. Introduction to G. W. F. Hegel, and Nineteenth Century Philosophy.
2. The Philosophy of History
3. Preface to the Phenomenology
4. Preface to the Phenomenology
5. Introduction to Arthur Schopenhauer
6. The World as Will and Idea, Book One, First Aspect (pp. 3-11)
7. The World as Will and Idea, Book One, Supplement (pp. 12-24)
8. The World as Will and Idea, Book Two, First Aspect (pp. 27-57 (aprox.))
9. The World as Will and Idea, Book Two, First Aspect (pp. 57 (aprox.)-86)
10. The World as Will and Idea, Book Two, Supplement
11. Introduction to John Stuart Mill (On Liberty, Chapter I)
12. On Liberty, Chapter II
13. On Liberty, Chapter III
14. On Liberty, Chapter IV, and Isaiah Berlin, “John Stuart Mill and the Ends of Life”
15. Introduction to Charles Darwin
16. The Origin of Species (I, II, III) and Huxley, “Evolution the Modern Synthesis”
17. The Origin of Species (IV and VI) and Andrew Carnegie, “The Gospel of Wealth”
18. The Origin of Species (X and XV)
19. Introduction to Karl Marx
20. Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, pp. 56-79.
21. Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, pp. 79-97.
22. The German Ideology, pp. 103-132.
23. The German Ideology, pp. 132-156.
24. The Communist Manifesto, pp. 157-186.
25. Introduction to Friedrich Nietzsche
26. Twilight of the Idols
27. The Anti Christ
28. Genealogy of Morals, Part I
29. Genealogy of Morals, Part II

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