THEORY
CRITIQUES OF MORALITY: NIETZSCHE AND WILLIAMS
Mondays & Wednesdays 11am-12:20pm in Harris L06
Additional Session for Grad Students: Wednesdays 12:30-1:50pm (in Kresge 3-438)
Class Description: This course examines two of the most important critiques of
morality in the Western philosophic tradition: Friedrich Nietzsche’s Beyond Good &
Evil and Bernard Williams’s Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. It is centrally
concerned with determining exactly what it means to offer a critique of morality.
Topics covered will include moral psychology, the objectivity of value, political
realism, and questions of philosophical style.
Required Texts:
1) Friedrich Nietzsche
Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future
Trans. Judith Norman
Cambridge University Press, 2002
ISBN 0521779138
2) Bernard Williams
Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
Harvard University Press, 1985
ISBN 067426858
iii.) Papers (30% each): You will be required to write two papers, one on
Nietzsche and one on Williams. Both papers should be 1500-2000. Some
topics will be provided but students are also encouraged to propose topics of
their own. The due date for the first paper is midnight on Sunday, October
22. The due date for the second paper is Monday December 4th at 3pm.
I. Reading Schedule
Week 1
Wed: BGE, Preface
Week 2
Mon: BGE, Part 1
Wed: BGE, Part 2
OPTIONAL: Anderson, “Nietzsche’s Will to Power as a Doctrine of the Unity of
Science”
Week 3
Mon: BGE, Part 3 (optional: Part 4)
Wed: BGE, Part 5
Week 4
Mon: BGE, Part 6
Wed: BGE, Part 7
Week 5
Mon: BGE, Part 9 (optional: Part 8)
Wed: Twilight of the Idols, Selections (Canvas)
Week 6
Mon: ELP, Chapters 1 & 2
Wed: ELP, Chapter 3
Week 7
Mon: ELP, Chapter 4
Wed: ELP, Chapter 5
Week 8
Mon: ELP, Chapter 6
Wed: ELP, Chapter 8
Week 9
Mon: ELP, Chapter 9
Wed: ELP, Chapter 10 & Postscript
Week 10
Mon: “Realism and Moralism in Political Theory” (canvas)
Second paper (undergrads) and final paper (grads) due Monday December 4th
at 3pm. No final examinations will be held.
Week 5
Week 7
Week 8 (focus on 3)
Week 9