PHIL 320 - Seminar in the History of Philosophy

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2021/22a: Nietzsche and Morality. In this seminar we will study the major works from the last decade of Nietzsche’s productive life, when he wages his notorious “campaign against morality” (Ecce Homo, “Daybreak,” 1). These are some of the questions that will guide our reading: What is the precise target of Nietzsche’s critique of morality? What are the various strategies he employs to attack morality? To what extent does Nietzsche succeed in undermining morality? What, even, are the criteria for a successful campaign? Finally, does Nietzsche offer a new set of values to replace the old, “moral” values that he hopes some of his readers will leave behind? Christopher Raymond.

Topic for 2021/22b: The Baroque Philosophy of Sor Juana & Friends: Enlightenment and the Early Modern Period in Latin America. (Same as LALS 320) Some historians have remarked that Latin America skipped the Enlightenment. The works of polymath, polyglot, and “Tenth Muse” Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) and her contemporaries during the Spanish Colonial period tell a different story. We examine a broad selection of Sor Juana’s writing in prose, poetry, and dramatic dialogue, including her masterpiece, First Dream, in light of their influences in contemporary and historical European and pre-Columbian Mesoamerican thought. Was Sor Juana a traditionalist Aristotelian or a hip empiricist – or was she neither? Is she indebted to pre-Columbian thought, or is all her writing neo-European? We also discuss her defense of women’s rights to education, her thoughts about the rights of Indigenous peoples and her Creole identity, her rumored relationships with women and views on love, the issue of her ‘conversion’ near the end of her life and her thoughts about God and the Church, her theories on artistic depiction and artistic creation, and also the views she may have had on the major scientific issues of her day from optics to the stars. Students with Spanish language expertise are provided with Spanish language resources. Students are encouraged to do independent research into primary and secondary sources and produce original writing in conversation with these sources. Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa.

Prerequisite(s): One 200-level course in Philosophy or permission of the instructor.

One 3-hour period.

Course Format: CLS