PHIL418/518 FA25
PHIL418/518: Existentialism
Dr. Amanda Parris
Tuesdays & Thursdays · 2:00pm–3:15pm · LA5–149
Course Description
Existentialism is a designation given—sometimes after their death and sometimes despite their lifelong protest—to several late-19th and 20th century thinkers critical of the traditions they inherited. Although it can be said that the entire history of philosophy proceeds by critique, the existentialists denounced some of the most basic suppositions common to that history. The figures we shall read in this class range from fervent Christian to avid atheist, from philosopher to bureaucrat, from novelist to resistance fighter, and sometimes multiple of these. Throughout this semester we will examine these diverse thinkers in order to confront some of the philosophical concepts that are still pressing for us today: God, self, other, and death.
Learning Outcomes
- By the end of the semester, students will be able to do the following: Understand the value of thinking philosophically by reflecting on the meaning of one’s own life in the context of a meaningless universe, the inauthenticity and bad faith so often involved in human action and belief, the nature of the self in its entanglement with the other and the despair and nausea of the absolute responsibility that is the human condition (assessment via class participation, weekly learning activities, presentation, and essays).
- Understand and discuss coherently the central existential issues, such as the problem of living beyond good and evil, the death of God, being forced to be free, the self/other relation, the will to knowledge, and the question of the meaning of being (assessment via class participation, weekly learning activities, and essays).
- Demonstrate an ability to identify and articulate, both orally and in writing, the primary philosophical themes and issues found in the writings of the major existentialist philosophers (assessment via class participation, weekly learning activities, and essays).
- Demonstrate an ability to evaluate philosophical arguments critically, both orally and in writing, using philosophical methods, including Kierkegaard’s dialectical lyricism, Nietzsche’s symptomatology, and Heidegger’s fundamental ontology (assessment via class participation, weekly learning activities, presentation, and essay).