Nietzsche’s Aesthetics
4-WEEK COURSE
Raphael, The Transfiguration, 1516–20.
October 8 - 29
Sundays, 1-3 pm PDT / 3-5 pm CDT / 4-7 pm EDT
Held remotely via Zoom
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Art was emphatically the cornerstone of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. Moreover, Nietzsche's theories of art heavily influenced — directly or indirectly — the ways we think about art and culture today. In this short course we will read Nietzsche's central writings on aesthetic experience, and learn why art is so central in our modern society.
Textbooks:
The Birth of Tragedy, 1872
The Gay Science, 1882
Beyond Good & Evil, 1886
The Case of Wagner, Nietzsche Contra Wagner, 1888
About the Instructor:
Bret Schneider is a co-founder of Caesura Magazine, and a prolific composer and writer. His book The Irreveries — a selection of poems and philosophical aphorisms — is forthcoming in 2024. Schneider has published essays for numerous publications on many different topics relating to aesthetic experience in the 21st century.
REGISTER HERE
SYLLABUS
1:Sunday, October 8
1-3 pm PDT / 3-5 pm CDT / 4-7 pm EDT
Introductions, brief history & historical context
Reading: “The Homeric Contest”, The Birth of Tragedy
2:Sunday, October 15
1-3 pm PDT / 3-5 pm CDT / 4-7 pm EDT
Reading: The Birth of Tragedy continued
3:Sunday, October 22
1-3 pm PDT / 3-5 pm CDT / 4-7 pm EDT
Reading: Selections from The Gay Science, Beyond Good & Evil
4:Sunday, October 29
1-3 pm PDT / 3-5 pm CDT / 4-7 pm EDT
Reading: The Case of Wagner, Nietzsche Contra Wagner