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SYLLABUS Course Overview What Is (Existential) Philosophy? PHIL211 EXISTENTIALISM SPRING 2012 SYLLABUS PHIL 211 Existentialism – Spring 2013 CRN: 35502 -- Credits: 04 16:00-16:50 MWF (180 PLC) and Friday discussion section. Professor: Peter Warnek PLC 327 [email protected] Office hours: F 1:15-3:50, and by appointment. Course Overview This course provides a general introduction to the tradition of existential thinking and writing, and considers both the atheistic and religious tendencies of this movement. Our starting point will be the historical origins of this tradition. By considering some of the philosophers who anticipate the themes of existential thought, such as Schelling and Hegel, we will ask whether the existential concern emerges as a continuation of our tradition or as a rebellion against it. The course thus begins by reading selected passages from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. In this context, we will also ask about the usefulness of the label “existentialism,” and why it might be inappropriate to view existential experience and questioning as one philosophy among others. We will continue with readings from notable twentieth century authors, from Jaspers, Heidegger and Marcel, to Camus, Merleau-Ponty, de Beauvoir and Sartre. As we work our way through this material, we will also take note of the pervasive presence of existential themes in popular literature, film and culture. The course concludes with a novel that presents in literary form many of the issues dealt with during the term. These include the meaning and possible interpretations of very basic human experiences, such as freedom and compulsion, birth and death, hope and despair, anxiety, fear and courage, love and enmity, absurdity, meaningless, nihilism, boredom, joy, loneliness and being with others. We will also reflect upon the existential critique of rationalism, science and technology, as these have come to dominate our contemporary world. What is (existential) philosophy? “It is completely correct and in the best order to say: ‘one can get nothing done with philosophy.’ Only it is misplaced to maintain that the judgment concerning philosophy has thereby been settled. For a small addendum follows in the form of an opposing question: if indeed we can do nothing with philosophy, the question is whether philosophy in the end cannot do something with us—assuming, of course, that we allow ourselves to get involved with it.” – Martin Heidegger “Philosophy demands: seek constant communication, risk it without reserve, renounce the defiant self-assertion which forces itself upon you in ever new disguises, live in the hope that in your very renunciation you will in some incalculable way be given back to yourself.” – Karl Jaspers “We are interrogating our experience precisely in order to know how it opens us to what is not ourselves. This does not even exclude the possibility that we find in our experience a movement toward what could not in any event be present to us in the original and whose irremediable absence would thus count among our originating experiences.” – Maurice Merleau-Ponty 1 PHIL211 EXISTENTIALISM SPRING 2012 DISCUSSION SECTIONS GTF Name EMAIL FRIDAY SECTIONS Cara Bates [email protected] 1100-1150 105 FEN 1200-1250 204 CHA Lauren Eichler [email protected] 1300-1350 112 WIL 1400-1450 303 GER Fulden Ibrahimhakkioglu [email protected] 1300-1350 122 MCK 1400-1450 123 MCK Teri Mayfield [email protected] 1100-1150 112 WIL 1200-1250 112 WIL Justin Pack [email protected] 1100-1150 201 VIL 1200-1250 107 PETR Learn the name of your GTF and remember the time and place of your section. It is important to understand that your GTF is your first person to contact for this course. Your GTF will grade your exams and submit your final grade. If you are unable to attend lectures, discussion sections or must miss exams, please take this up with your GTF directly. TEXTS and READINGS You will have readings for each lecture. Most of these readings can be found in your course packet. You should come to lecture having read and taken notes on the material for the day. Lecture will discuss the reading assignment for the day. The slides from lecture will be available on Blackboard. Login at: blackboard.uoregon.edu/ To login you will need your Oregon username and password. Click the link for this course, PHIL211. You will find the lecture slides under Course Documents. The slides will normally be posted from one to three days after the lecture. Please note: the use of electronic devices in class, including computers, cell phones and mp3 players, is not permitted. These devices distract your neighbors and disrupt the learning environment. COURSE REQUIREMENTS • Discussion. Active participation in discussion sections. You are invited to raise questions and to contribute during discussion in lecture. We will try to devote the last minutes of lecture to discussion. • Reading. Keep up with the assigned readings. Come to lecture and discussion having read the assigned text for the day. Please reread and study the material in preparation for the exams. Study guides will also be posted on Blackboard. You should make use of this material along with your readings and the lecture slides. • Attendance. It is important to attend lecture because material is presented in lecture that is not found in the readings. Also, lecture provides an interpretation of the material and gives you guidance concerning which passages to focus on. Please note: It is not possible to 2 PHIL211 EXISTENTIALISM SPRING 2012 receive a grade higher than C- if absent without an excuse at three or more meetings of discussion section. It is also not possible to receive a grade higher than C- if you miss more than 5 lectures. You will be asked to sit in an area of the lecture hall designated for your discussion section. If you do not sit in this area, you may be marked absent. If you need to miss a discussion section or cannot attend lecture, or have to reschedule an exam, please arrange this directly with your GTF. • Exams. We will have a total of 4 examinations. For exact dates see schedule below. The exams will consist of a combination of short answer, short essay, and multiple choice questions. These exams will test your comprehension of the concepts and vocabulary in the readings and lectures. The exams during the term will treat the material we have worked with most recently. The final will be comprehensive. Texts The course packet is available at The Copy Shop (539 E. 13th). The Unbearable Lightness of Being is available at Black Sun Books (2467 Hilyard St.). Please be sure to purchase a copy of both texts. Grade Breakdown Percent of Total Grade Participation 10% Exam #1 20% Exam #2 20% Exam #3 20% Final Exam 30% Disability Accomodations If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course please make arrangements to meet with me and with your GTF within the first two weeks of the course. Please request a letter from Disability Services verifying your disability and stating your needed accommodations. Bibliography for the Readings Beauvoir, Simone de. 2000. The Ethics Of Ambiguity. Citadel. Camus, Albert. 1991. The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays. Vintage. Jaspers, Karl. 1971. Philosophy of Existence. Translated by Richard F. Grabau. University of Pennsylvania Press. ———. 2003. Way to Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy, Second Edition. Translated by Ralph Manheim. Yale University Press. Kierkegaard, Soren. 1962. The Present Age. Harper Perennial. 3 PHIL211 EXISTENTIALISM SPRING 2012 Kierkegaard, Søren. 1983. Fear and Trembling/Repetition : Kierkegaard’s Writings, Vol. 6. Translated by Edna H. Hong and Howard V. Hong. Princeton University Press. ———. 1992. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, Volume 1. Translated by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press. Kundera, Milan. 2009. The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel. Deluxe. Harper Perennial Modern Classics. Marcel, Gabriel. 2002. The Philosophy Of Existentialism. Citadel. Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. 2012. Phenomenology of Perception. Translated by Donald Landes. Routledge. Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1990. On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo. Vintage. Sartre, Jean-Paul. 1992. NotebooKs for an Ethics. Translated by David Pellauer. University of Chicago Press. 4 SCHEDULE OF READINGS, EXAMINATIONS WEEK DATE AUTHOR TEXT/TOPIC I 4.1 Introduction Syllabus and Introductions 4.3 Friedrich Nietzsche Genealogy of Morals 4.5 Søren Kierkegaard Repetition & Concluding Unscientific Postscript II 4.8 Kierkegaard The Present Age 4.10 Karl Jaspers Philosophy of Existence 4.12 Jaspers "The Unconditional Imperative" III 4.15 Gabriel Marcel "Ontological Mystery" 4.17 Marcel "Ontological Mystery" 4.19 Marcel "Ontological Mystery" IV 4.22 Exam #1 Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Jaspers, MarCel 4.24 Albert Camus "An Absurd Reasoning" 4.26 Camus "An Absurd Reasoning" V 4.29 Camus "An Absurd Reasoning" 5.1 Merleau-Ponty "Cogito" 5.3 Merleau-Ponty "Cogito" VI 5.6 Merleau-Ponty "Cogito" 5.8 Merleau-Ponty "Cogito" 5.10 Merleau-Ponty "Cogito" VII 5.13 Exam #2 Camus aNd Merleau-PoNty 5.15 Simone de Beauvoir "Ambiguity and Freedom" 5.17 de Beauvoir "Ambiguity and Freedom" VIII 5.20 de Beauvoir "Ambiguity and Freedom" 5.22 Jean-Paul Sartre "A New Authentic Way of Being Oneself" 5.24 Sartre "A New Authentic Way of Being Oneself" IX 5.27 MEMORIAL DAY NO CLASS 5.29 Sartre "A New Authentic Way of Being Oneself" 5.31 Exam #3 de Beauvoir and Sartre X 6.3 Milan Kundera Unbearable Lightness of Being 6.5 Kundera Unbearable Lightness of Being 6.7 Kundera Unbearable Lightness of Being 6.11 FINAL AT 3:15pm 5.
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