PHIL 362/PHIL 410-22: STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF ETHICAL & POLITICAL

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)

Professor: Mark Alznauer Teaching Assistant: Joshua Kissel

m-alznauer@northwestern.edu Joshuakissel2014@northwestern.edu
Office: Kresge 3-417 Office: Kresge 3-430
Office Hours: Mon. 12:30pm-2:30pm Office Hours: Mon 3-5pm

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.

Class Requirements: Some previous acquaintance with philosophical ethics is highly

recommended. Students will be required to keep up with the readings, bring books
to class, and participate in classroom discussion. For undergraduates, there will be
weekly assignments and two papers. For graduates, there will be presentations and
a final paper.

Teaching Method: Seminar, twice a week. Undergraduates are required to attend

the Monday and Wednesday seminars, and may sit in on the additional graduate
session, if they wish. Graduate students are required to attend both sessions on
Wednesday, but the Monday session is optional.

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

Evaluation Method (undergraduates):

 i.) Participation & Attendance (20%): You are allowed up to 2 excused
absences without penalty. For an absence to be excused, you must contact
the TA in advance of the class missed. If you miss a class without an excuse,
this will justify the loss of a full percentage point from your final grade.
Frequent lateness, lack of participation, etc., are also grounds for a grade
reduction under this category.

ii.) Weekly Assignment (20%): During Weeks 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 9 you are

expected to write a short comment on one of the readings from that week.
This can be a criticism, a question, or an attempt to offer a definition of a key
term. On average, comments should be around 250 words excluding
quotations (or 1 page double spaced). For full credit, your comment needs to
be emailed to the TA by 11am on Wednesday. Any late submissions will be
accepted for half credit. No submissions will be accepted after Monday,
November 20th.

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.

Evaluation Method (graduates): Grades based on classroom presentations,

participation, and (most importantly) the final paper. The final paper should be
3000-4000 words, it is due Monday December 4th at 3pm. Please email all papers to
me at my university email address (m-alznauer@northwestern.edu) with “Final
Paper” as the subject heading.

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)

First paper due by midnight on Sunday, October 22nd.

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.

II. Readings for the Additional Graduate Sessions

Week 2 (focus on 1 & 3)

1) Williams [1993], “Nietzsche’s Minimalist Moral Psychology”

2) Anderson [2013] “What is a Nietzschean Self?” (canvas)
3) Katsafanas [2016] “Naturalism, Minimalism, and the Scope of Nietzsche’s
Philosophical Psychology”
[4) Richardson [2011], “Nietzsche’s Psychology”]

Week 3 (focus on 2 & 4)

1) Foot [1991], “Nietzsche’s Immoralism”

2) Leiter [1997], “Nietzsche and the Morality Critics”
3) Geuss [1997], “Nietzsche and Morality”
 4) Robertson [2011], “A Nietzschean Critique of Obligation-Centred Moral
Philosophy”
5) Owen and Robertson [2013] “Influence on Analytic Philosophy”

Week 4 (focus on 2 & 3)

1) Anderson [1998], “Truth and Objectivity in Perspectivism”

2) Hussain [2004], “Nietzsche’s Positivism”
3) Clark and Dudrick [2004], “Nietzsche’s Post-Positivism”
4) Gemes [2013], “Life’s Perspectives”

Week 5

1) Conant [2005], “The Dialectic of Perspectivism I”

2) Conant [2006], “The Dialectic of Perspectivism II”

Week 6 (focus on 1 & 2)

1) McDowell [1986], “Critical Notice”

2) Blackburn & Williams [1986] “Making Ends Meet” & “Reply to Simon
Blackburn”
3) Nagel [1986], “Review”
4) Scheffler [1987], “Morality Through Thick and Thin”
5) Gewirth [1988], “Review”
6) Wong [1989], “Review Essay”

Week 7

1) Geuss [2012], “Did Williams Do Ethics?”

2) Pippin [2012], “Response to Raymond Geuss on Williams”

Week 8 (focus on 3)

1) Gibbard & Blackburn [1992], “Morality and Thick Concepts”

2) Dancy [1995] “In Defense of Thick Concepts”
3) Moore [2003] “Williams on Ethics, Knowledge, and Reflection”

Week 9

1) Darwall [1987], “Abolishing Morality”

2) Taylor & Williams [1995] “A Most Peculiar Institution” and “Response”
(canvas)
3) Scanlon [2003], “Thickness and Theory”
4) Clark [2015],“On the Rejection of Morality: Bernard Williams’s Debt to
Nietzsche” (canvas)