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Introduction to the art of interpretation (hermeneutics) on the basis of influential interpretations of the pre-Socratics

Philosophy as a science is always torn between interpretation and transformation of its material. This is most obvious in the interpretation of the pre-Socratics. Since thinkers keep returning to the pre-Socratics in order to rediscover the very essence of philosophy. Each of these returns is an interpretation and a transformation of the pre-Socratic fragments.

In this course, we will deal not only with the texts of some pre-Socratic philosophers, but also try to get to know the philosophical tool of interpretation. We will look at the influential interpretations of the pre-Socratics by GWF Hegel (History of Philosophy), Friedrich Nietzsche (Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks), Karl Jaspers (the great philosophers) and Martin Heidegger. Our aim is to see how each interpretation transforms the fragments according to the presuppositions of the interpreter.

Textual basis: Die Vorsokratiker griechisch/deutsch, Reclam Verlag (18971)

Continuous assessment (based on regular written and/or oral contribution by participants).

Presentation/paper

Additional literature:

G.S. Kirk, J.E. Raven, M. Schofield, Die vorsokratischen Philosophen, Studienausgabe, Metzler Verlag, 2001, Stuttgart

 G.W.F. Hegel, Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie 1, Werke Bd. 18; Suhrkamp Verlag, 1986, Frankfurt a/Main

Friedrich Nietzsche, Die Philosophie im tragischen Zeitalter der Griechen (1873). In: Kritische Studienausgabe (KSA) Bd. 1 (Nachgelassene Fragmente 1869-1874), hrsg. G. Colli und M. Montinari, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 3. Auflage, 2009

Karl Jaspers, Die großen Philosophen, Piper, 2012, München

Jean Grodin, Hermeneutik, UTB, 2009, Göttingen