EXISTENTIALISM
Columbia University: Phil S3350
Ernesto V. Garcia, Department of Philosophy
E-mail address: evg4@columbia.edu
Office hours: TBA
Mailbox for class materials pick-up/drop off: 7th floor, Philosophy Department
This course offers a broad survey of many of the most important thinkers involved with the movement known as Existentialism, including Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, and Camus. Focusing upon traditional existentialist themes such as authenticity, angst, radical freedom, commitment, the absurd, and the nature of human beings and their special place in the world, the course covers three main topics: (1) 19th-century existentialist precursors, primarily Kierkegaard and Nietzsche; and (2) existentialist accounts of (2a) metaphysics, broadly construed, taking up issues in traditional ontology and the way humans relate to other people and to the world; and (2b) value theory, primarily focusing upon practical deliberation and the fundamental problem of the meaning of life.
Class grading
60% Two 4-6 pp. essays
30% Five 1-page weekly response papers
10% Class participation and attendance
Required books
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals (Vintage)
Søren Kierkegaaard, Fear and Trembling (Penguin)
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time (Harper and Row)
Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness (Washington Square Press)
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (Vintage)
Class coursepack: Readings from Dostoevsky, Sartre, and de Beauvoir
CLASS READINGS
INTRODUCTION: Existentialist Themes in 19th-Century Thought: Critique of ‘Objectivity’, ‘Mass Man’ (The Herd) vs. the Individual, and Overcoming Nihilism
Week 1
Tuesday, 5/25
Introductory Class: Existentialism and Overcoming Nihilism
Thursday, 5/27
Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, Preface, Sections 1 and 2
Week 2
Tuesday, 6/1
Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, Section III
Dostoevsky, Notes from the Underground, Pt. I (xerox handout)
Thursday, 6/3
Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, Preface, Preamble from the Heart, Problemas I and II, Epilogue
PHENOMENOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS: Heidegger on the Problem of Being, Dasein as Being-in-the-World, Spatiality of Dasein, Das Man, Everydayness, and Authenticity
Week 3
Tuesday, 6/8
Heidegger, Being and Time, §§1-3, 9, 12-16, 24-29, 32-33
Thursday, 6/10
Heidegger, Being and Time, §§38-42, 49-58
EXISTENTIAL PHENOMENOLOGY: Sartre on the Problem of Being Revisited, Being-in-itself vs. Being-for-itself, Ontological Status of Nothingness, Non-Substantiality of the Self, Being for Others, and ‘Bad Faith’
Week 4
Tuesday, 6/15
Sartre, Being and Nothingness, Introduction and Part One, Chaps. I and II
Thursday, 6/17
Sartre, Being and Nothingness, Part Three, Chapter III, §I, and Part Four, Chapters I, II and III
VALUES AND THE MEANING OF LIFE: Feminism and Existentialist Ethics, Sartrean Subjectivity and Values, Suicide, The Absurd, and the Leap of Faith vs. Revolt
Week 5
Tuesday, 6/22
Finish up Sartre, Being and Nothingness
Sartre, “Existentialism,” from Existentialism and Human Emotions (xerox handout)
Thursday, 6/24
de Beauvoir, The Second Sex and The Ethics of Ambiguity (excerpts- xerox handout)
Week 6
Tuesday, 6/29
Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, pp. 1-31
Thomas Nagel, “The Absurd” (xerox handout)
Thursday, 7/1
Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, pp. 31-65, 119-12