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Outline

PHIL 409, Kant and the twentieth century, Fall 2026

Unit 1: Kant

Assignments1
Unit commentary 1Opportunity
DueSeptember 11

Week 1.1: Introduction to the third Critique

Course note
Reading Read Original
Kant, Critique of Judgment, First Introduction 431–434 PDF

Week 1.2: Introduction (cont’d)

Reading Read Original
Kant, Critique of Judgment, Introduction 18–20, 26–32 PDF

Week 2.1: The beautiful

Reading Read Original
Kant, Critique of Judgment, “Analytic of the Beautiful” 45–46, 51–68, 76–78, 85–90 PDF

Week 2.2: The sublime

Reading Read Original
Kant, Critique of Judgment, “Analytic of the Sublime” 97–100, 103–117, 124–126 PDF

Week 3.1: The deduction

Reading Read Original
Kant, Critique of Judgment, “Deduction,” pt. 1 141–144, 150–163 PDF
Kant, Critique of Judgment, “Deduction,” pt. 2 170–176, 179–189 PDF

Week 3.2: The dialectic

Reading Read Original
Kant, Critique of Judgment, “Dialectic” 209–214 PDF

Unit 2: Commentary

Assignments1
Unit commentary 2Opportunity
DueOctober 2

Week 4.1: Commentary, pt. 1

Reading Read Original
Heidegger, Nietzsche all PDF
Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals all PDF

Week 4.2: Commentary, pt. 2

Reading Read Original
Gadamer, Truth and Method, pt. 1 37–49 PDF

Week 5.1: Commentary, pt. 3

Reading Read Original
Gadamer, Truth and Method, pt. 2 102–125 (102–119) PDF
Gadamer, “The Relevance of the Beautiful” 17–22, 29–47 (17–22, 39–47) PDF

Week 5.2: Commentary, pt. 4

Reading Read Original
Lyotard, Lessons on the Analytic of the Sublime 147–158 PDF

Week 6.1: Commentary, pt. 5

Reading Read Original
Derrida, The Truth in Painting (excerpt) all PDF

Week 6.2: Commentary, pt. 6

Reading Read Original
Derrida, “Economimesis” all PDF

Unit 3: Appropriation

Assignments1
Unit commentary 3Opportunity
DueOctober 30

Week 7.1: Appropriation, pt. 1

Reading Read Original
Adorno, Aesthetic Theory Lectures 17–21 all PDF
Adorno, Aesthetic Theory Lectures 1–5 all PDF

Week 7.2: Appropriation, pt. 2

Reading Read Original
Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, pt. 1 all PDF

Week 8.1: Appropriation, pt. 3

Reading Read Original
Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, pt. 2 all PDF

Week 8.2: Appropriation, pt. 4

Reading Read Original
Arendt, Lectures on Kant’s Political Philosophy all PDF
Zerilli, ‘We Feel Our Freedom’ all PDF

Week 9.1: Appropriation, pt. 5

Reading Read Original
Lyotard, “The Sublime And The Avant Garde” all PDF
Lyotard, “What Is Postmodernism?” all PDF

Week 9.2: Appropriation, pt. 6

Reading Read Original
Nancy, “The Sublime Offering” all PDF

Week 10.1: Appropriation, pt. 7

Reading Read Original
De Man, “Kant And Schiller” all PDF
De Man, “Phenomenality And Materiality” all PDF

Week 10.2: Appropriation, pt. 8

Reading Read Original
Ranciere, “The Aesthetic Revolution and Its Outcomes” all PDF
Ranciere, “The Distribution of the Sensible” all PDF

Unit 4: Teleology

Assignments1
Unit commentary 4Opportunity
DueNovember 6

Week 11.1: Teleology, pt. 1

Reading Read Original
Kant, Critique of Judgment, “Teleology” all PDF
Jonas, Phenomenon Of Life all PDF

Week 11.2: Teleology, pt. 2

Reading Read Original
Canguilhem, Knowledge of Life all PDF
Weber and Varela, “Life after Kant” all PDF

Unit 5: Rejection

Assignments1
Unit Commentary 5Opportunity
DueNovember 20

Week 12.1: Rejection, pt. 1

Reading Read Original
Levinas, “Reality and Its Shadow” all PDF

Week 12.2: Rejection, pt. 2

Reading Read Original
Deleuze, Essays Critical and Clinical (excerpt) all PDF
Deleuze, Kant’s Critical Philosophy (excerpt) all PDF

Week 13.1: Rejection, pt. 3

Reading Read Original
Bourdieu, Distinction all PDF

Week 13.2: Rejection, pt. 4

Reading Read Original
Armstrong, Effects of Blackness all PDF
Lloyd, “Under Representation” all PDF

Unit 6: Unconscious reception

Assignments1
Unit commentary 6Opportunity
DueNovember 24

Week 14.1: Unconscious reception, pt. 1

Reading Read Original
Gadamer, Truth and Method, pt. 3 all PDF

Week 15.1: Unconscious reception, pt. 2

Reading Read Original
Greenberg, “Modernist Painting” all PDF
Husserl, Letter to Hofmannsthal all PDF
Marquard, “Kant and the Turn to Aesthetics” all PDF

Unit 7: The historiography of the reception

Assignments1
Unit commentary 7Opportunity
DueDecember 1

Week 15.2: Historiography, pt. 1

Reading Read Original
Schaeffer, Art of the Modern Age, pt. 1 all PDF
Schaeffer, Art of the Modern Age, pt. 2 all PDF

Week 16.1: Historiography, pt. 2

Reading Read Original
Bernstein, The Fate Of Art all PDF
Cascardi, Consequences of Enlightenment all PDF