Course level: Undergraduate
Fall 2024
Syracuse University
This course is an introduction to the major thinkers in the existential tradition, which begins with the 19th century writings of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche and includes such 20th century authors as Albert Camus, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone De Beauvoir, and Frantz Fanon. Existential philosophers are united by a shared concern for certain themes. These include the significance of individual experience, the limitations of abstract reason, the nature of freedom, and the difficulty of living a meaningful or authentic life in light of our predicament as finite beings.
Through critical reading and discussion-based seminars, we will grapple with the urgent questions raised by the existentialists, including: what values ought to guide us and orient our lives? How can we be true to ourselves while living among others in society? What is the role of religious beliefs or spiritual practices in a life of meaning, or should these be rejected as somehow dishonest? How are our moments of passionate inspiration related to forming and sustaining ongoing commitments and convictions? And what attitude or outlook should we adopt toward our own lives and toward human existence in general?