In this course we have looked at several competing --though in some cases overlapping-- ideas of the best sort of life for human beings. These include:

(a) The classical conception, set forth by Plato in the Phaedo: The best life is the philosophical life aimed (i) at the attainment of wisdom through philosophical inquiry and (ii), in an ideal community, at morally upright political leadership;

(b) The Christian conception, proposed by St. Thomas in the Treatise on Happiness: The best life is that of the saint who lives a life of sacrificial love of God and neighbor culminating in an eternal and ineffable participation in the very life, knowledge, and happiness of God--a "beatific vision" of God which is, St. Thomas argues, the fulfillment of the classical quest for wisdom through philosophical inquiry;

(c) The enlightenment/democratic conception in its optimistic version, exemplified in different ways by Descartes, Mill, and the character Cleanthes in Hume's Dialogues: The best life is that of the intellectually automomous individual who employs pure or unaffected reason to inquire after truth and in so doing sets aside trust in the epistemic authority of non-inquirers; and

(d) The enlightenment/democratic conception in its pessimistic version, personified by the character of Philo in Hume's Dialogues: The best life is that of the intellectual pessimist who (i) rejects the pretensions of natural reason, treating the search for wisdom as a hopeless task for which our "vulgar methods of reasoning" are insufficient, and (ii) urges the rest of us to concentrate on the mundane affairs by which we get by in this world.

(I'll leave it to your imagination to figure out whether or where the character Demea in Hume's Dialogues fits in here.)

Enter the brilliant and disturbing Nietzsche, who weighs in with his own distinctive conception of the true philosopher -- a conception that he explicitly contrasts with its Platonic, Christian, and enlightenment alternatives.

Read extremely carefully the Preface, Part Two ("The Free Spirit"), and Part Three ("The Religious Nature") of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.

In Part Two Nietzsche, in his inimitable style, describes his ideal human being, the Free Spirit. Your first task, which should take up the first half of the paper, is to lay out in orderly fashion the chief characteristics of the Free Spirit, giving ample references to the text. In this part of the paper you are free to make use of the lecture notes on Nietzsche for both ideas and references to the text.

In the second half of your paper, choose one of the above alternatives to the Free Spirit and explain as clearly as you can what Nietzsche thinks is wrong with it. You may also -- though this is not required -- contest Nietzsche's criticisms if you have space to do so.

(If you choose the more optimistic enlightenment/democratic alternative, you should use chapter 3 of Mill's On Liberty as your main text, though you might find parts of Descartes' Discourse on Method -- the provisional morality comes immediately to mind -- useful as well. One rule of thumb here is that Nietzsche disdains enlightenment-inspired appeals to the "authority of natural reason" with the same intensity with which enlightenment philosophers disdain appeals to religious, political, and social authority and tradition. This is in part what Nietzsche means when he says that the Free Spirit is a friend of "perspectival" truth. That is, unlike the optimistic enlightenment philosophers, he doesn't think that all those with "good sense" will arrive at consensus or agreement on fundamental metaphysical, moral, and political beliefs.)