Nietzsche's "Ciceros Academica" Notes. A Philosphical Reading

Abstract

F. Nietzsche gave seminars on Cicero's Academica at the University of Basel in the summer semesters of 1870 and winter of 1870/71. Their character was originally philological, as they were a Konjekturalkritik exercise, an important sub-discipline of nineteenth-century classical philology. However, in the notes we have received under the title "Ciceros Academica" one can find philosophical annotations that transcend this technical dimension. Thus, the article attempts a philosophical reading of the text, with special attention to the philosopher's distancing from academic orthodoxy and his tense methodological renewal of classical philology.