Instructor: Douglas Thomas

317 ASC

740-3937

douglast@rcf.usc.edu

Office Hours: T, TH 11:00-12:30

This course explores the intersections of philosophy, rhetoric, and literature through an examination of the concept of time in the text of philosophical discourse. Taking Nietzsche's notion of the eternal return as a central moment in the history of Western metaphysics, we will examine the role of time in the claim that philosophy has been reconfigured within the thematic of literature. Reading Nietzsche's theory of the eternal return as a theory of the (de)construction of time in the text of philosophy, we will explore how the eternal return continually reasserts itself in the texts of three central contemporary thinkers: Heidegger, Derrida, and Deleuze. Accordingly, this refiguration of temporality prompts a reconsideration of the foundational elements of temporality in Western thought. As a secondary goal, then, we will re-examine fundamental thesis of time, its relationship to philosophy and textuality, and the notion of philosophy as literature in the texts of Plato, Descartes, and Kant.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Martin Heidegger, Being and Time

Martin Heidegger, Nietzsche: Vol. 2: The Eternal Return

Jacques Derrida, Given Time: I. Counterfeit Money

Jacques Derrida, Margins of Philosophy

Gilles Deleuze, Nietzsche and Philosophy

Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition

In addition, we will read selections from Plato's dialogs, Descartes' Discourse on Method and Meditations, and Kant's critiques.

Students will write a final paper for the course employing course readings, discussions, and concepts. The final paper will represent 75% of the course grade. Class attendance, discussion, and participation will account for 25% of the grade.

While the course will contain some lecture material, students are expected to come to class ready to discuss the week's readings. The majority of class time will be spent in a reading-group environment, where students' questions and interpretations will guide discussion. Accordingly, you should prepare questions for discussion each week on issues related to issues that you think will contribute to the direction of the class.

1/15 No Class, MLK, Jr. Holiday

1/22 Course Introduction. Time in Nietzsche

Read: Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (prologue)

1/29 Time in Nietzsche.

Read: Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

2/5 Nietzsche and Time

Read: Klossowski, "Nietzsche's Experience of the Eternal Return"; Deleuze, "The Simulacrum and Ancient Philosophy"; Plato, "Sophist"

2/12 Heidegger and the Question of Being

Read: Being and Time, I, Ernst Behler, "Heidegger"

2/15 Presidents' Day: University Holiday

2/26 Heidegger, Time and Being

Read: Being and Time, II

3/ 4 Heidegger's Nietzsche

Read: Nietzsche, Vol. II

3/11 Spring Break: No Class

3/18 Derrida and the Text of Philosophy

Read: "Differance," "Ouisa and Gramme: Note on a Note from Being and Time" and "White

Mythology" (in Margins)

3/25 Zarathustra in Derrida: Time and Gift

Read: Derrida, Given Time

4/1 Nietzsche, Trace and Style

Read: Derrida, Spurs

4/8 Deleuze's Nietzsche

Read: Nietzsche and Philosophy

4/15 Deleuze, Difference and Repetition

Read: Difference and Repetition, Intro., Chs., 1 & 2 (p. 1-129)

4/22 Deleuze, Thought, Ideas, and Sense

Read: Difference and Repetition, Chs. 3-5 (pp. 129-262)

4/29 Deleuze, The Form of Time and the Return to Nietzsche

Read: Difference and Repetition, Conclusion (pp. 262-305)