What is the Meaning of Life? An Introduction to Existentialism
Course Description
How can I live a meaningful human life? What does it mean to be authentic, and why do our lives often feel inauthentic? Am I really free to choose my own life? How can we face the threat of nihilism that emerges in a modern, secular world? These were just some of the questions that gripped existentialist thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone De Beauvoir, and Albert Camus in the wake of the horrors of World War II. Rejecting the idea that philosophy should be detached from the world, these thinkers found philosophical significance in everyday experiences such as boredom, embodiment, anxiety, despair, and angst. Most of all, they passionately sought an answer to the question: how should we live? This course will serve as a broad introduction to the rich tradition of existentialist thought.
We will read the central texts in this philosophical tradition, and explore existentialist themes by engaging with film and literature. Beginning with Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, the ‘fathers’ of the existentialist tradition, we will consider their critiques of traditional morality and religion as guides to a good human life before going on to explore the flowering of existentialist thought in the 20th-century, reading thinkers such as Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Camus, Kafka, Sartre, De Beauvoir, and Fanon.
Along the way we will grapple with existentialist idea about the nature of freedom, responsibility, alienation, meaning, death, and the absurd. No previous background in philosophy will be presupposed or required for the course.
Academic Interest
Examining Culture and Society, Humanities (e.g, arts, literature, philosophy)
Application Materials
A complete application includes a transcript, two short essays, a letter of recommendation, writing sample, application fee, and a submitted parent confirmation. If you are seeking need-based financial aid, you must indicate that in your application before it is submitted. Please refer to the Application Instructions for complete details.
Instructor(s)
Laura Martin
Cost
$4,980