Existentialism

PHIL23001 Existentialism 20 Semester 1 Undergraduate Level 2 Joel Smith Unit coordinator School of Social Sciences 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Middle part of Bachelors ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0 Existentialism is an approach to philosophical questions that can be found in the writings of Nineteenth Century authors such as Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky, and Nietzsche, and more explicitly in Twentieth Century Philosophers Heidegger, Sartre, and de Beauvoir. Existentialist thought focuses on the meaning—for our individual lives—of lived experience, value, freedom, responsibility, and commitment, and is often associated with an ethics of authenticity. In this unit we will consider a selection of writings by these authors, looking at how existentialist ideas have been represented in both philosophy and literature. Existentialism is an approach to philosophical questions that can be found in the writings of Nineteenth Century authors such as Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky, and Nietzsche, and more explicitly in Twentieth Century Philosophers Heidegger, Sartre, and de Beauvoir. Existentialist thought focuses on the meaning—for our individual lives—of lived experience, value, freedom, responsibility, and commitment, and is often associated with an ethics of authenticity. In this unit we will consider a selection of writings by these authors, looking at how existentialist ideas have been represented in both philosophy and literature. The unit aims to:<ul><li>introduce students to the philosophical writings of Nineteenth & Twentieth Century existentialists;</li><li>present the historical, philosophical, and literary context in which existentialism was developed;</li><li>explore in detail some central concepts of existentialism: meaning, value, lived experience, authenticity, mortality, etc;</li><li>show how existentialism relates to issues in ethics, epistemology and the philosophy of mind.  </li></ul> <ul><li>identify the main philosophical questions arising in a variety of texts by Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, and Fanon</li><li>clearly articulate existentialist philosophical claims</li></ul>  <ul><li>evaluate the claims and arguments of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, and Fanon</li><li>relate existentialist philosophy to other areas of philosophical inquiry</li><li>evaluate existentialist philosophy's lasting significance</li></ul>  <ul><li>interpret and criticise both primary and secondary texts </li></ul> <ul><li>undertake independent research and apply theoretical knowledge to complex issues </li></ul> There will be a mixture of lectures and tutorials.Please note the information in scheduled activity hours are only a guidance and may change.   0 Other 100% Essay 1 (2000 words)  50%Essay 2 (2000 words)  50%   <div> The School of Social Sciences (SoSS) is committed to providing timely and appropriate feedback to students on their academic progress and achievement, thereby enabling students to reflect on their progress and plan their academic and skills development effectively. Students are reminded that feedback is necessarily responsive: only when a student has done a certain amount of work and approaches us with it at the appropriate fora is it possible for us to feed back on the student's work. The main forms of feedback on this course are written feedback responses to assessed essays and exam answers.</div><div>  </div><div> We also draw your attention to the variety of generic forms of feedback available to you on this as on all SoSS courses. These include: meeting the lecturer/tutor during their office hours; e-mailing questions to the lecturer/tutor; asking questions from the lecturer (before and after lecture); presenting a question on the discussion board on Blackboard; and obtaining feedback from your peers during tutorials.</div> Y Reading list: The following reading list is indicative, and students are not required to read all of the publications listed.                                                                                               Smith, Joel. 2022. Existentialism: A Philosophical Inquiry. London: Routledge  Webber, Jonathan. 2018. Rethinking Existentialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.  Dreyfus, Hubert L. and Mark A. Wrathall (eds.). 2006. A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism. Oxford: Blackwell.  Daigle, Christine. 2010. Jean-Paul Sartre. London: Routledge.  Arp, Kristina. 2001. The Bonds of Freedom: Simone de Beauvoir’s Existentialist Ethics. La Salle, IL: Open Court. Lectures 22 Tutorials 10 0 168 <p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:"Times New Roman";font-size:medium;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Tutorial preparation 10 x 5 hours = 50 hours<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:"Times New Roman";font-size:medium;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Essay 1 preparation 59 hours<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:"Times New Roman";font-size:medium;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:start;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Essay 2 preparation 59 hours