Admission requirements
Admission to (one of) the programme(s) listed under Part of in the information bar on the right.
Description
Nietzsche’s understanding of law is a foundational part of his philosophy, and yet he employs the concept in a characteristically ambivalent manner. On the one hand, Nietzsche uses the language of law to highlight forms of normative constraint that stifle human flourishing. On the other, he uses this vocabulary to theorize forms of authority that can foster human enhancement, for instance by ensuring stability and establishing conventions that promote wellbeing. This course aims to clarify these ambiguities and to give students an understanding of what, for Nietzsche, distinguishes better from worse forms of law.
We will explore how Nietzsche conceptualizes law across a wide variety of domains. For example, we will critically analyze his accounts of metaphysical law, positive law, scientific law, and moral law. Far from considering these types of law in isolation from one another, this course examines how they interweave in Nietzsche’s thought. As such, we will ask how, for Nietzsche, the laws of nature interact with moral laws.
This inquiry will take us through Nietzsche’s early writings on the agon and Heraclitian metaphysics; his middle-period writings on self-legislation and autonomy; and finally, his later considerations of naturalism in law. As we move through these topics, we will also discuss controversial figures from the cast of Nietzsche’s writings – for example, his infamous “blond beasts,” the figure of the “sovereign individual,” and his elusive “legislators of the future.”
Course objectives
The goal of this course is to clarify Nietzsche's conception of law. It will give students a solid overview of Nietzsche's philosophical development across his early, middle, and late periods. The course will also provide students with a strong understanding of the key critical debates surrounding Nietzsche's discussion of law-for instance, the difference between "softer" democratic readings and "harder" aristocratic readings, as well as between literal and symbolic or ironic interpretations of his writings.
Students who successfully complete the course will have a strong understanding of:
Nietzsche's diverse conceptions of law and how they interrelate (e.g., metaphysical law, positive law, scientific law, and moral law).
The key debates in the critical literature, addressing both the theoretical and practical dimensions of Nietzsche's philosophy.
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
Reconstruct and explain Nietzsche's arguments concerning law.
Critically engage with the relevant secondary literature.
Defend their views orally and in writing in a rigorous manner.
Write an independent research paper.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Combined lectures and seminars.
Class attendance is required.
Assessment method
Assessment
Assignments (reading preparations) and presentations;
Final exam (5,000-word paper + texts commentaries).
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determination of the weighted average of:
Assignments and presentations (50%);
Final exam (paper + commentaries) (50%).
Resit
Students can resit the exam if their overall grade for the entire course is 5 or less (i.e., the calculated result of weighted components is lower than 5.5). The resit will consist of the final exam (5,000-word paper + texts commentaries) and counts for 50% of the overall grade. Papers and commentaries that fail will need to be rewritten in line with instructor’s comments. The grades for the assignments and presentations remain in place.
Class attendance and participation is a mandatory requirement for taking the resit.
Students who have obtained a satisfactory grade for the first examination cannot take the resit.
Inspection and feedback
Discussion of the paper is by appointment after publication of the final grade.
Reading list
Nietzsche
- Various texts from the ‘Kritische Studienausgabe’ (DTV/de Gruyter, 1980 ff.) of Nietzsche’s writings, available online (Nietzsche Online) via the library.
Nietzsche’s writings are all translated into Dutch and available from the library. The published texts and small parts of the Nachlass are translated into English. Students will have to read the German together with their chosen translation.
Secondary literature
Various articles / chapters from the seconday literature, to be assigned on a weekly basis, incuding some from: Nietzsche and Law, eds. Francis Mootz III and Peter Goodrich (Series: Philosophers and the Law, Ashgate, Aldershot).
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga.
Remarks
A passive knowledge of German is a great advantage.