SYLLABUS PHIL 670 – Issues in Metaphysics University of Oregon – Spring 2012 Philosophy and Tragedy Professor Peter Warnek Department of Philosophy Email: [email protected] Course meets in 240B MCK, Mondays and Wednesdays 6-8pm. Office hours: 332 PLC. Fridays 1:15-3:50, and by appointment. Description: Philosophy and tragedy, not philosophy of tragedy. The course is built around a number of interconnected themes. The most important one concerns how philosophy might not only carry out a critique of the tragic but might be itself a powerful enactment of the tragic. How might we consider the practice of Socrates in the conteXt of this question? Does he overturn or confirm the Greek eXperience that precedes him? Is this “philosophical” figure a repetition of what is established in the tragic figures of Oedipus and Antigone? Can the speculative moment of German Idealism also be interpreted through the problems of self-knowledge or hubris that replay tragic questions? Might we take the modern demand for a philosophy of nature or a philosophy of art in the conteXt of this question? How is such a demand altered if we do so? Can philosophy, as a discursive mode, distinguish itself effectively from other discursive modes more readily associated with the tragic, such as the mythic, poetic, rhetorical and literary? This course is also concerned with modern philosophical interpretations of the tragic, as it seems to eXpress paradigmatically the self- understanding of modernity through its conflicted relation to the Greeks. Thus, we also will ask about the alleged (im)possibility of a distinctly “modern” tragedy. Shakespeare and Goethe, but also Hölderlin, will be our pivotal figures here. This will in turn open up other questions that concern the excessive character of nature, the sense of the proper, the movement and the necessity of history, interpretation, repetition and appropriation. The readings are eXtensive and will range from classical sources, including Plato and Aristotle, to more contemporary thinkers, such as Nietzsche, Heidegger. Requirements: Attendance and participation in seminar. A 15 page research paper, double spaced, due at the end of the course. Course readings: Given the number of teXts we are working with in this course, I did not order any texts. I can make pdf’s available for any texts that students do not have or cannot find. In addition to Powell’s and Amazon, Advanced Book EXchange (abebooks.com) is a good resource for finding books online, especially those that are out of print or rare. I recommend that you read Sophocles (Theban Plays) and the Bacchae by Euripides. I also highly recommend Roberto Calasso’s The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony. Another excellent discussion of the Greek mythic horizon is The Experience of Tiresius by Nicole Loraux. 1 Course Plan M 4/2 Three Basic Texts “Oldest System Program of German Idealism” (Krell 2005, 16-44) Schelling’s “Tenth Letter” (Schmidt, 86-88; Schelling 1980, 192-6) Hölderlin’s Letter to Böhlendorff (1801) (Schmidt, 165-167) See also, Krell 2005, 183-210 W 4/4 Schelling System of Transcendental Idealism, 203-212, 219-236 Philosophy of Art, 251-267 See also Wirth, 131-153; Schmidt, 73-85; Szondi, 43-55 M 4/9 Nietzsche Birth of Tragedy W 4/11 Sallis on Nietzsche Crossings M 4/16 Plato Apology and Phaedo Sallis, Being and Logos, 25-63; Warnek, Descent of Socrates, 49-115 W 4/18 Plato Republic III & X Gadamer, “Plato and the Poets” M 4/23 Aristotle Poetics Benardete 2000, 99-145 W 4/25 Aristotle Poetics Schmidt, 46-72 M 4/30 Hegel Hegel on Tragedy, 1-236 W 5/2 Hegel Hegel on Tragedy, 237-366 Schmidt, 89-121 M 5/7 Hegel W 5/9 Hölderlin The Death of Empedocles: A Mourning Play M 5/14 Hölderlin EXcerpts from Essays and Letters W 5/16 Hölderlin M 5/21 Heidegger Hölderlin’s Hymn ‘The Ister’ W 5/23 Heidegger Hölderlin’s Hymn ‘The Ister’ M 5/28 HOLIDAY W 5/30 Heidegger M 6/4 Conclusions W 6/6 Conclusions 6/13 Final Paper Due 2 Outline of Authors with Related Materials 1. Greek Tragedies 1.1. Sophocles: The Theban Plays, Focus Library 1.1.1. Oedipus King 1.1.1.1. GouX, Oedipus Philosopher. 1.1.1.2. Benardete, The Argument of the Action, 71-83 1.1.2. Antigone 1.1.2.1. Benardete, Sacred Transgressions 1.2. Euripides 1.2.1. Bacchae, Focus Library 1.3. General 1.3.1. Benardete, The Argument of the Action, 99-145 2. Plato 2.1. Apology 2.1.1. Sallis, Being and Logos, 25-63. 2.2. Phaedo, Focus Library 2.3. Symposium, Focus Libary 2.4. Republic III & X. 2.5. Schmidt, On Germans and Other Greeks, 21-45 2.6. Gadamer, “Plato and the Poets” in Dialogue and Dialectic 2.7. Heidegger, Nietzsche Volume One, 151-210 3. Aristotle 3.1. Aristotle Poetics, Sachs 3.2. On Poetics, Benardete 3.3. Krell, Tragic Absolute, 280-292 3.4. Schmidt, 46-72 4. Hegel 4.1. Hegel on Tragedy 4.2. Phenomenology of Spirit 4.3. Lectures on the History of Philosophy 4.4. Lectures on the Philosophy of World History 4.5. Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art 4.6. Schmidt, On Germans and Other Greeks, 89-121 5. Schelling 5.1. Letters on Dogmatism and Criticism, esp. the Tenth Letter 5.2. System of Transcendental Idealism, 203-212, 219-236 5.3. Philosophy of Art, 251-267 5.4. Wirth, “Art” in The Conspiracy of Life 5.5. Schmidt, On Germans and Other Greeks, 73-85 5.6. Szondi, On TeXtual Understanding, 43-55 6. Hölderlin 6.1. Essays and Letters, ed. Pfau, 33-40, 45-48, 50-61, 89, 101-116, 149-151, 154-156 6.2. Courtine, “Of Tragic Metaphor” in Philosophy and Tragedy 6.3. Dastur, “Tragedy and Speculation” in Philosophy and Tragedy 6.4. Lacoue-Labarthe “Hölderlin’s Theatre” in Philosophy and Tragedy 6.5. Lacoue-Labarthe, Typography, 208-247 6.6. Krell, Lunar Voices, 3-54 6.7. Krell, Tragic Absolute 6.8. Schmidt, On Germans and Other Greeks, 122-171 6.9. Fioretos, The Solid Letter, 175-287 7. Nietzsche 7.1. Birth of Tragedy 7.2. Sallis, Crossings 8. Heidegger 3 8.1. An Introduction to Metaphysics 8.2. Poetry, Language and Thought 8.3. On the Way to Language 8.4. Elucidations of Hölderlin’s Poetry 8.5. Hölderlin’s Hymn ‘The Ister’ 8.6. Passages from “AnaXimander Fragment,” “Letter on Humanism” and elsewhere. Bibliography Aristotle. Aristotle On Poetics. Translated by Seth Benardete and Michael Davis. South Bend Ind.: St. Augustine’s Press, 2001. ———. Poetics. Translated by Joe Sachs. Newburyport MA: Focus Pub./R. Pullins Co., 2006. Beistegui, Miguel, and Simon Sparks, eds. Philosophy and Tragedy. London ;;New York: Routledge, 2000. Benardete, Seth. Sacred Transgressions : a Reading of Sophocles’ Antigone. South Bend Ind.: St. Augustine’s Press, 1999. ———. The Argument of the Action : Essays on Greek Poetry and Philosophy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. Black BoX Sound and Image (Firm);First Run/Icarus Films., and David Barison. The Ister. New York :: First Run/Icarus Films,, 2004. Calasso, Roberto. The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony. 1st American ed. New York: Knopf, 1993. Euripides. The Bacchae of Euripides. Edited by Stephen Esposito. Newburyport Ma.: Focus Pub./R Pullins Co., 1998. Fioretos, Aris, ed. The Solid Letter: Readings of Friedrich Holderlin. 1st ed. Stanford University Press, 2000. Foti, Veronique M. Epochal Discordance: Holderlin’s Philosophy of Tragedy. State Univ of New York Pr, 2006. Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Dialogue and Dialectic : Eight Hermeneutical Studies on Plato. Translated by P. Christopher Smith. New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 1980. GouX, Jean-Joseph. Oedipus, Philosopher. Translated by Catherine Porter. 1st ed. Stanford University Press, 1994. Hegel, Georg. Aesthetics : Lectures on Fine Art. Translated by T. M. KnoX. 2 vols. OXford: Clarendon Press, 1975. ———. Hegel on Tragedy. Edited by Anne Paolucci and Henry Paolucci. Smyrna DE: Griffon House Pub., 2001. ———. Lectures on the History of Philosophy 1825-6. Volume II: Greek Philosophy. Translated by R. F. Brown and J. M. Stewart. OXford [u.a.]: Clarendon Press, 2006. ———. Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion. Edited by Peter Hodgson. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. ———. Lectures on the Philosophy of World History : Introduction, Reason in History. Translated by Johannes Hoffmeister. Cambridge [Eng.] ;;New York: Cambridge University Press, 1975. ———. Phenomenology of Spirit. Translated by A. V. Miller. OXford: Clarendon Press, 1977. Heidegger, Martin. Elucidations of Hölderlin’s Poetry. Amherst N.Y.: Humanity Books, 2000. ———. Hölderlin’s Hymn “The Ister.” Translated by William McNeill and Julia Davis. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. ———. Introduction to Metaphysics. Translated by Richard Polt and Gregory Fried. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. ———. Nietzsche. Translated by David Krell. 1st ed. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1979. ———. Off the Beaten Track. Translated by Julian Young and Kenneth Haynes. Cambridge ;;New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. ———. On the Way to Language. Translated by Peter Hertz. 1st Harper & Row pbk. ed. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1982. ———. Pathmarks. Edited by William McNeill. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. ———. Poetry, Language, Thought. 1st Harper Colophon ed. New York: Perennial Library, 1975. 4 Hölderlin, Friedrich. Friedrich Hölderlin : Essays and Letters on Theory. Edited by Thomas Pfau. Albany N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1988. ———. Poems and Fragments: Fourth Edition (Poetica). Translated by Michael Hamburger. 4th ed. Anvil Press Poetry, 2004. ———. The Death of Empedocles: A Mourning-play. Translated by David Farrell Krell. State University of New York Press, 2009. Krell, David Farrell. Lunar Voices: Of Tragedy, Poetry, Fiction, and Thought. 1st ed. University Of Chicago Press, 1995. ———. The Tragic Absolute : German Idealism and the Languishing of God.