PHIL 224.001 – Existential Philosophy and the Meaning(lessness) of Life

Instructor: Z Quanbeck. This course meets MTWRF 1:15 – 2:45 p.m. via remote synchronous (RS) instruction.

In this course we will attempt to come to terms with a range of philosophical issues that are central to our modern human condition, including human freedom and finitude, the meaning of life, the nature of the self, individuality in modernity, authenticity, death, despair, morality, and faith. We will approach these topics from a distinctively existentialist perspective, which involves first-personal engagement with how these issues bear on who we are and how we ought to live. We will read philosophers such as Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Frantz Fanon, and Albert Camus, interspersed with literature (e.g. Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Ralph Ellison) and film (e.g. Ingmar Bergman).