General Information

Contact Information

Professor:: Abe Stone (abestone@ucsc.edu)
Push notiﬁcation:: Notify Abe
Website:: https://people.ucsc.edu/~abestone/courses
Zoom office hours:: Mon. 2:00–3:00pm; Tues. 12:00–1:00pm (or by appointment)
Zoom feed of lectures:: here

The nineteenth century was a hundred years long, and during that time a lot of things happened in philosophy. In this course we will trace a particular strand that runs through Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Despite great differences in style and philosophical views, we will see certain themes that run throughout, including, among others: freedom of will as involving a self that can stand outside and above itself; nature as a symbol of spirit; poetry as a mediator between the self and nature; and questions about the value of morality in relation to something higher than morality. These themes are characteristically nineteenth-century (for example, versions of them can also be found in Hegel and Kierkegaard), although certainly not all nineteenth century philosophers thought along these lines.

Modality: The current plan is that I will lecture in person in our assigned classroom (with the exception of one make up lecture that will be delivered via Zoom only, see below). But I intend also to live-stream every lecture over Zoom and to make a recording of every lecture available on YouTube. Office hours will be via Zoom only.

Course Requirements

Two short essays, 2–3 pages each, due Monday, October 18, and Monday, November 22 (each worth 20% of the grade). (For the ﬁrst essay, there will be a choice of essay questions about Schelling; for the second essay, a choice of essay questions about Coleridge, Emerson and/or Fuller.) One ﬁnal paper, 4–6 pages, due Wednesday, December 8 (worth 60% of the grade).

Papers are due as an attachment via the “Assignments” tool on Canvas. The assignments will be available online and there will be links to them from the online version of this syllabus as well as from my main course page.

Note that all assignments are due by 11:55pm on the due date.

You can ﬁnd answers to some commonly asked questions about my assignments and grading in my FAQ.

Attendance at lecture is strongly encouraged, but it is not a course requirement and I will not be taking attendance.

Texts

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra: , tr. R.J. Hollingdale (Penguin Classics, 1961) (ISBN: 0140441182).
Friedrich Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations: , ed. Daniel Breazdale (Cambridge University Press; 2nd ed., 1997) (ISBN: 978-0521585842).
F.W.J. Schelling, System of Transcendental Idealism (1800): , tr. Peter Heath (University of Virginia Press, 1978) (ISBN: 978-0813914589).

The above texts have been ordered at the Bay Tree Bookstore, and are also, along with some other relevant books, on reserve at McHenry. Readings from Coleridge, Emerson, and Fuller will be available online.