Post-Kantian European Philosophy Seminar (Tuesday - Week 8, TT26)

Abstract: Steeped in Schopenhauerian metaphysics and committed to Wagner as the herald of a cultural rebirth, The Birth of Tragedy (BT) is in many respects discontinuous with Nietzsche's later writings. As a result, the work is often cleaved off from the rest of the Nietzschean corpus by scholars interested in Nietzsche's mature philosophy. In the "Attempt at Self-Criticism", written over a decade after BT's publication, Nietzsche himself tells a more complex story: despite his exasperation with what he characterizes as "an impossible book", Nietzsche clearly aims to interpret BT as importantly continuous with his later work. In this talk, I argue that taking seriously Nietzsche's analysis in the "Attempt" not only clarifies the role of BT within the development of Nietzsche's thought but also offers distinctive illumination of key themes in Nietzsche's mature philosophy. In particular, careful reading of the "Attempt" brings into view the significance, for the mature Nietzsche, of the concept of history — at both the individual and societal level — and the relation between this concept and concepts of (self-)interpretation and (self-)creation.

Registration: If you do not hold a university card, please contact the seminar convenor or admin@philosophy.ox.ac.uk at least two working days before a seminar to register your attendance.

Post-Kantian European Philosophy Seminar Convenors: Jack Wearing, Joseph Schear, Kate Kirkpatrick and Mark Wrathall.