Syllabus: Existentialism
PHL314
Professor: Craig DeLancey
Office: MCC 212A
Office Hours: Online Tuesday 9:00 - 11:00 a.m., Zoom Thursday 2:00 - 4:00 p.m., every other W in my office, and by appointment
Email: craig.delancey@oswego.edu
Our classroom is MCC223
What is this course for?
In this class, we will be asking the most important questions: What is
our purpose? What should our purposes be? If the universe is absurd,
then what purposes, if any, are justified? By studying the answers of
the existentialists, and by struggling to find your own answers, to
these questions, you will develop the skills that are most essential
to being a philosopher.
This class is an introduction to existentialism. Existentialism was a
movement of 20th Century philosophy that focused on these questions,
and offered powerful and difficult answers to them. By studying
existentialism, you will acquire profound insights into your own
existence.
Existentialism developed new methods of philosophy aimed to reveal the
everyday nature of experience and of human existence; and which shared
a set of concerns about the purpose of human being and the relation of
this purpose to the nature of other kinds of being. Existentialism
produced some of the most interesting and challenging philosophers of
its time: Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Camus, de Beauvoir.
Other goals of this class include to work on improving the following skills:
- Writing. We will have many short writing assignments, and some longer
ones.
- Understanding complex texts.
- Applying philosophical theories in new contexts.
We will work hard at these. Our goal is to ensure that you develop and
improve these skills by the end of the semester.
How can you achieve these goals?
You must commit to studying the existentialist philosophers, and to
applying their concepts to your own life.
This will require you to read closely these philosophers. The books
we will be studying are:
- F. Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals
- Martin Heidegger, Being and Time
- J. P. Sartre, No Exit and other plays
- Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity.
- Albert Camus, The Fall
There will also be many short readings or viewings available in
various ways.
Knowing and Applying
As we study this material, we'll try to proceed always from understanding
to application. That means you will have some practices that ask you to
memorize certain terms and methods; and also some practices that ask you
to apply that material.
Don't worry about grades, except as a way to determine what you need
to put extra work into mastering. But the raw grade will be
determined in the following way:
- Practices and various in-class assignments 50%
- Tests 30% (15% each)
- Paper 20%
Screens
I am asking that no one use a computer or cell phone in class.
I know that this is a catastrophe of some kind, but I have found
that they always become terrible distractions. If you must use
Snapchat or watch Netflix, just skip class.
College Policy on Intellectual Integrity
Intellectual integrity on the part of all students is basic to
individual growth and development through college course work. When
academic dishonesty occurs, the teaching/learning climate is seriously
undermined and student growth and development are impeded. For these
reasons, any form of intellectual dishonesty is a serious concern and
is therefore prohibited.
The full intellectual integrity policy can be found at
www.oswego.edu/administration/registrar/policy_text.html#cpii
Office Hours
In addition to the listed office hours, I encourage you to make
appointments. I am available quite a bit. Please try to come to
office hours with specific questions in mind. You can of course come
with a general request for help, but it is always helpful if you spend
a little time thinking about how I can best help you out.
Objectives
By the end of this class, you should know:
- Nietzsche's notion of what Darwin means for human purposes;
- the basic concepts of Husserl's phenomenology;
- the basic concepts of Heidegger's existentialism
(e.g., Dasein, being at hand, present at hand, existential,
existentiell, ontic, ontology, world, homelessness,
reference);
- Sartre's basic concepts of existentialism;
- de Beavoir's attempt to create an existentialist ethics;
- how to interpret Sartre's plays, Camus's novels,
and Beckett's plays in light of existentialist concepts.
Outline
Our main themes can be outlined:
- Predecessors
- Nietzsche faces nihilism
- Kierkegaard embraces individualism
- Freedom as burden: The Grand Inquisitor
- Method
- Husserl and phenomenology
- Existentialists
- Heidegger
- Sartre
- de Beauvoir
- Almost: early Camus
- What is existentialism?
- Post-existentialists
Schedule
I will frequently update an online schedule. It is your
responsibility to check the www pages for the class at least every
other day!