FYS: Death as a Philosophical Problem (PHIL 78.001)

Instructor: Ryan Preston-Roedder. This course meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 – 10:45 AM in Caldwell 103.

This course will explore the nature and significance of death by drawing on works in philosophy, literature, and film. The questions we will consider include: Do we survive our bodily deaths, and if not, should we fear death? Do our lives have meaning? Does our mortality have any implications for the way we should live? Beginning with Plato’s account of the trial and death of Socrates and ending with Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, the course will also include readings by Joan Didion, Viktor Frankl, Kazuo Ishiguro, and C.S. Lewis.

This course satisfies the PH general education requirement.

Ryan Preston-Roedder’s webpage