In the first class session of our course, we will be doing three main things. We will hold a discussion of Nietzsche's philosophy and works in general, looking at some broad themes of his work and his approach(es) in philosophy, including what a "genealogical" approach amounts to. We will also be outlining the structure and main ideas of the Genealogy. And we will work through the first portion of the text, the Preface.

On Saturday, we will hold our first online class session using Zoom. We will be recording the class session, and it will be uploaded for all of you students as an unlisted YouTube video embedded here in our class site (these won't be shared with non-students). After that, I will open the Week 1 Discussion Forum to student comments and questions, so that we can continue the discussion throughout the week

The specific topics we will be working through during this week's class session are:

• Understanding Nietzsche as a philosopher
• The Genealogy in context of Nietzsche’s works
• Outline of the Genealogy in structure and main themes
• Genealogy’s meaning in terms of philosophical method
• Overview of key terms within the work
• Nietzsche’s framing of the problem motivating the work
• The problem of the ethics of pity
  

You will doubtless find it useful to read through at the very least the Preface to the work before our class session, perhaps more than once. You will also likely discover that rereading that portion of the text after participating in or watching the class session will help you develop a deeper understanding of Nietzsche' ideas.