PHIL 355 Existentialism Fall 2011 Professor Edwin McCann, MHP-205F, 213-740-5169, Fax 213-740-5174, [email protected] Class meetings: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 a.m. to 10:50 a.m., SOS B46 Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., and by appointment. Course #49422R

Catalogue description: A critical survey of major nineteenth and twentieth century existentialist writers, including Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Kafka, Kietzsche, Camus, and Sartre.

Fuller description: Existentialism is a philosophical movement that is specific to the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. It is best seen as a response to the threat of meaninglessness that resulted from the rise of modern industrial and post- industrial society and the attendant decline in religious belief. We will study some key philosophical and literary works from the existentialist movement, in semi-chronological order, with an eye to tracing the development of existentialism, understanding its key tenets, and critically evaluating its main claims.

Course requirements 1. Six unannounced quizzes; the best four quiz grades will count for 20% of the course grade. 2. Three 3-5 page papers (each worth 20% of course grade). 3. In-class essay format final examination (worth 20% of course grade). The final exam will be conducted as follows: about two weeks before the exam is to take place I will distribute a list of six or seven questions. At the beginning of the exam question I will specify three questions from this list, and you will select two questions from the list of three on which to write essays.

NOTE: students must submit all three required papers, take the final exam, and take at least two quizzes in order to receive credit for the course.

Books for the course 1. Robert Bretall, ed. A Kierkegaard Anthology Princeton U. P. ISBN 978-0691019789 2. Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (ed. Guignon, tr. Garnett). Hackett. ISBN 978-0-87220-905-3 3. Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Grand Inquisitor (ed. Guignon, tr. Garnett). Hackett. ISBN 978-0-87220-193-4 4. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Portable Nietzsche (ed. and tr. Kaufmann). Viking Penguin. ISBN 978-0140150629 5. Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories (tr. Pasley). Penguin. ISBN 9780140283365 6. Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness (tr. Barnes). Washington Square Press. ISBN 978-0671867805 7. Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Writings (tr. O’Brien) Vintage. ISBN 978-0679733737 8. Albert Camus, The Stranger (tr. Ward). Vintage. ISBN 978-0679720201 Schedule of topics and readings

Tu Aug 23 (1.1.1) Introduction and overview

Part one: The problem of meaning and value

Th Aug 25 (1.2.2) Tolstoy on death and the threat of meaninglessness. Reading: Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich (novella)—complete; access at http://www.classicallibrary.org/tolstoy/ivan/index.htm;

Leo Tolstoy, Confession (autobiography)—chapters 1, 3-11, 16; access at http://www.classicallibrary.org/tolstoy/confession/index.htm

Tu Aug 30 (2.1.3) Against the ideals of the Enlightenment: Dostoevsky on freedom, love, and despair. Reading: Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground.

Th Sep 1 (2.2.4) The terror of freedom: Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor. Reading: Selections from Book Five of The Brothers Karamazov (Guignon, pp. 1-37)

Tu Sep 6 (3.1.5) Nietzsche on the natural history of morals and the obfuscations of science and philosophy. Reading: Selections from Beyond Good and Evil, The Gay Science, Toward a Genealogy of Morals, and The Will to Power, Kaufmann pp 443-461; Twilight of the Idols (Kaufmann, pp. 463-563).

Th Sep 8 (3.2.6) Nietzsche on the scourge of Christianity. Reading: The Antichrist (Kaufmann, pp. 565-656).

Part three: Existentialism in the nineteenth century

Tu Sep 13 (4.1.7) Kierkegaard on the aesthetic, ethical, and religious life. Reading: selections from Kierkegaard’s Either/Or (‘The Rotation Method,’ ‘The Diary of a Seducer,’ ‘The Aesthetic Validity of Marriage’) and The Point of View for my Work as an Author (Bretall, pp. 21-97, 324- 39).

Th Sep 15 (4.2.8) Kierkegaard on the leap of faith. Reading: selections from Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling (Bretall, pp. 118-34).

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 20: FIRST 3-5 PAGE PAPER DUE

Tu Sep 20 (5.1.9) Kierkegaard on truth as subjectivity. Reading: selections from Kierkegaard’s Concluding Unscientific Postscript (Bretall, pp. 193-231). Th Sep 22 (5.2.10) Kierkegaard on despair as the sickness unto death. Reading: selections from Kierkegaard’s The Sickness unto Death (Bretall, pp. 341-71).

Part four: Modernity and its discontents

Tu Sep 27 (6.1.11) Alienation as self-estrangement; family dynamics à la Freud. Reading: Kafka, Metamorphosis (Pasley, pp. 64-110).

Th Sep 29 (6.2.12) The loss, and the lingering memory, of meaning. Reading: Kafka, ‘In the Penal Colony’ (Pasley, pp. 111-136); ‘A Fasting-Artist’ (Pasley, pp. 192- 200).

Tu Oct 4 (7.1.13) Camus on living without appeal. Reading: Camus, The Stranger.

Th Oct 6 (7.2.14) Camus on the absurd. Reading: Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus pp. 3-66, 119-138.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 11: SECOND 3-5 PAGE PAPER DUE

Part five: Existentialism in the twentieth century.

Tu Oct 11 (8.1.15) Sartre and phenomenology. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 3-30.

Th Oct 13 (8.2.16) Sartre on the origin of nothingness. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 33-85.

Tu Oct 18 (9.1.17) Sartre on bad faith. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 86-116.

Th Oct 20 (9.2.18) Sartre on consciousness and self-consciousness. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 119-58.

Tu Oct 25 (10.1.19) Sartre on being in time. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 159-237

Th Oct 27 (10.2.20) Sartre on human transcendence. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 238-98.

Tu Nov 1 (11.1.21) Sartre on the philosophical problem of the other. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 301-39.

Th Nov 3 (11.2.22) Sartre on the look and the other. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 340-400.

Tu Nov 8 (12.1.23) Sartre on the body. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 401-70. Th Nov 10 (12.2.24) Sartre on concrete relations with others, I: love. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 471-94.

Tu Nov 15 (13.1.25) Sartre on concrete relations with others, II: sexual desire. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 494-534.

Th Nov 17 (13.2.26) Sartre on ‘being-with’ others. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 534- 56.

Tu Nov 22 (14.1.27) Sartre on the meaning of death; conclusions. Reading: Being and Nothingness pp. 680-711, pp. 785-798.

Th Nov 24 : Thanksgiving Recess. Class does not meet.

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 29: THIRD 3-5 PAGE PAPER DUE

Tu Nov 29 (14.2.28) Sartre on existentialism and humanism. Reading: Sartre, Existentialism isa Humanism; access at http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/works/exist/sartre.htm

Th Dec 1 (15.1.28) Heidegger’s reply to Sartre. Reading: ‘A Letter on Humanism’; access at http://www.archive.org/details/HeideggerLetterOnhumanism1949

THURSDAY DECEMBER 8, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.: FINAL EXAMINATION.

More about course mechanics

1. All students who have registered with the USC Disability Services and Programs office will be afforded all required accommodations. I will be glad to work with you on an individual basis to be sure that the accommodations are appropriate. Please supply me with the appropriate form from the DSP office no later than the beginning of the fourth week of classes. 2. All e-mail communications regarding the course should have a subject line beginning with ‘355’, and followed by your surname, e.g. ‘355 Jones Could we meet?’ or ‘355 Garcia Paper 2’. 3. Papers are to be typed, double-spaced, with at least 1" margins all around; font no smaller than 12 point. Please do not use any folders or binders; there is no need for a title page. Be sure that your name appears on the top right-hand corner of the first page. 4. Keep a personal copy (on paper or disk) of any paper you submit, and retain all graded papers that have been returned to you at least until the time that final grades are issued. 5. The papers in this class are not research papers. If you do, however, make any use of the work of others in preparing your paper, be sure fully to document this. Failure to do so may constitute plagiarism; see Section 11 in SCampus for information on Academic Integrity violations. If you have any doubts about when and how to document the use of outside sources, see me. 6. Late paper policy: late papers may be submitted up to one week past the deadline, with a penalty of one full grade point (e.g. a paper that would earn a ‘B’ if submitted on time would receive a grade of ‘C’ if turned in one week late). After that, late papers may be submitted anytime up to the last class meeting (December 1); these papers will be penalized two full grade points, and will not receive comments. No advance permission is required, but please send an e-mail by the original due date for the paper telling me when you expect ot submit it. Penalties will be waived in the case of documented medical or personal emergencies, or for disability accommodations as noted in 1 above.