Philosophie

Undergraduate / Graduate

This course develops advanced German skills through the study of philosophical texts of various authors from different periods. Marx, Nietzsche, Freud It would be hard to overestimate the influence which Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud have exercised over intellectual modernity. Perhaps no other three figures have cast such a long shadow. For better or worse, they've left significant traces which persist in concepts like class struggle or ideology, nihilism or value-judgments, and subconscious complexes or repression, as well as infamously critical views of religion. Paul Ricœur once grouped them under the label of "masters of suspicion", referring to a method of interpretation which searches for deeper, hidden meanings and regards the rest as mere illusions. But why should they be grouped together as such a trio or unholy alliance, as they so often are? What, if anything, do they really have in common? Why are their ideas so controversial and contested? And why might they continue to have such lasting power? In Spring 2025, students will gain an insight into the works of these three giants of intellectual modernity by focusing on accessible excerpts from their most influential texts: Das Kapital, Zur Genealogie der Moral, and Vorlesungen.