PHIL 395 : Existentialism

This course introduces students to the philosophy of existentialism through both its classic and contemporary expressions. Existentialism is both distinguished from other styles of philosophy and at the same time explicated as a core of traditional philosophy. An important dimension of existentialism that is to be explored is the application of existentialist philosophy to the real life of the student. The course is designed to cover four areas of existentialist thought: (i) the classical canon; (ii) the Post-War period; (iii) Holocaust related; (iv) contemporary expressions. Themes to be considered are attitudes toward death, angst, despair and joy, the search for meaning, existential freedom, responsibility, pessimism, fatalism and optimism, the relation to artistic expression, the tragic and the comic, theism and atheism, the religious and the secular, rationality and irrationality, truth and ambiguity, reason and emotion, ethics, faith, bad faith, authenticity, feminism, choice and commitment. Classic films will also be shown that explore these themes.