PHILOSOPHY 390: Kierkegaard and Indirect Communication

Mondays & Wednesdays 11am-12:20pm

Locy Hall 301
Winter 2017

Professor: Mark Alznauer

m-alznauer@northwestern.edu
Office: Kresge 3-417
Office Hours: Thursdays, 2-4pm

Class Description: This class will involve a close reading of Kierkegaard’s Concluding Unscientific
Postscript with particular attention to the theme of indirect communication and the various
philosophical reasons one might think it necessary to engage in such indirection. We will also
be considering several other figures in the history of thought who insisted upon the importance
indirect communication in theological, political, or philosophical writing (including Lessing,
Friedrich Schlegel, Leo Strauss, and Paul de Man).

Class Requirements: Although the class presupposes no previous acquaintance with Kierkegaard
or any other figure we read, enrollment is restricted to students who have completed two prior
courses in philosophy. Significant amounts of careful reading will be required. There will also
be weekly assignments and a final paper.

Teaching Method: Seminar, twice a week.

Required Texts (available in the bookstore):

1. G. E. Lessing, Philosophical and Theological Writings [PTW], ed. H. B. Nisbet (Cambridge,

2005) ISBN: 978-0521538473

2. S. Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript [CUP], trans. A. Hannay (Cambridge,

2009) ISBN: 978-0521434225

Recommended Texts:

1. Henry Allison, Lessing and the Enlightenment: His Philosophy of Religion and Its Relation
to Eighteenth-Century Thought (Michigan, 1966).

2. Rick Anthony Furtak, ed., Kierkegaard’s Concluding Unscientific Postscript: A Critical

Guide (Cambridge, 2010).

Evaluation Method:

i.) Participation & Attendance (20%): You are allowed up to 2 excused absences without
penalty. For an absence to be excused, you must contact the TA in advance of the class
missed. If you miss a class without an excuse, this will justify the loss of a full
 percentage point from your final grade. Frequent lateness, lack of participation, etc.,
are also grounds for a grade reduction under this category. Note: you are always
expected to bring the book or article being discussed to class.

ii.) Weekly Assignment (30%): From Weeks 2 through 9, you are expected to write a
short comment on canvas prior to the end of the day on Tuesday. The comment needs
to engage one of the readings from that week or another student’s comment. On
average, comments should be around 250 words excluding quotations (or 1 page double
spaced). These will be graded according to the following scheme: check plus (for a very
good comment); check (for a perfectly adequate comment); and check minus (for a sub-
par comment). Think of these, roughly, as A, B, and C grades. Keep in mind that a check
is the default for a satisfactory comment (neither a sign that you are not doing a good
job nor a sign that you have no room to improve).

iii.) Final Paper (50%): The greatest part of your grade for this course will be based on
your final paper. A one-page summary of your topic and strategy for treating it will be
due on February 20th (e-mail it to me). The final paper is due on the last day of class
(March 6th). Final papers will also need to be submitted to canvas on the same day.
More detailed information about what is expected will be provided in class.

Reading Schedule:
1. Tue (1/3) Introduction
2. Wed (1/4) Lessing, “On the proof of the spirit and of power”; “The Testament of St
John”; “A rejoinder” [PTW, pp. 83-109]
3. Mon (1/9) Lessing, “Ernst and Falk: dialogues for freemasons” [PTW, pp. 184-216];
optional: Reinhart Kosellek, “The Political Functions of the Lodges and the Plans of the
Illuminati” (canvas)
4. Wed (1/11): class canceled
5. Mon (1/16) Martin Luther King Jr. Day—No class
6. Wed (1/18) L. Strauss, “Exoteric Teaching” (canvas); “Persecution and the Art of
Writing” (http://thenewschoolhistory.org/wp-
content/uploads/2014/06/strauss_persecutionartwriting.pdf); optional: “On a Forgotten
Kind of Writing”
(http://www.jstor.org/stable/25293010?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents).
7. Mon (1/23) Kierkegaard, CUP, pp. 1-50.
8. Wed (1/25) Kierkegaard, CUP, pp. 1-50.
9. Mon (1/30) Kierkegaard, CUP, pp. 53-107. Class ends early (at noon).
10. Wed (2/1) Kierkegaard, CUP, pp. 53-107.
11. Mon (2/6) Kierkegaard, CUP, pp. 107-58.
12. Wed (2/8) Kierkegaard, CUP, pp. 107-58.
13. Mon (2/13) Kierkegaard, CUP, pp. 159-82; 284-86.
14. Wed (2/15) Kierkegaard, CUP, pp. 419-439.
15. Mon (2/20) Kierkegaard, CUP, pp. 470-493. Final Paper Topic is due
16. Wed (2/22) Kierkegaard, CUP, pp. 511-531.
17. Mon (2/27) Paul de Man, “The Concept of Irony”
(http://users.clas.ufl.edu/burt/unintelgbledethbyflm/concepofirony.pdf); optional: F.
Schlegel, “On Incomprehensibility” (canvas).
18. Wed (3/1) J. Conant, “Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein, and Nonsense”
(http://philosophy.uchicago.edu/faculty/files/conant/k%20w%20and%20nonsense.pdf);
G. Schonbaumsfeld, “No New Kierkegaard”
(http://philosophy.uchicago.edu/faculty/files/conant/No%20New%20Kierkegaard.pdf)
19. Mon (3/6) “Irony and Humanity: A Dialogue Between Jonathan Lear and Alasdair
MacIntyre”
(http://www.hup.harvard.edu/features/irony-and-humanity/); optional: J. Lear, “To
Become Human Does Not Come That Easy” (canvas). Final Papers due
(No Final Exams)