Philosophy and Phenomenology of the Will

Annotation

WINTER 2019

Charles University

Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

(BA Module + Erasmus students)

Daniele De Santis, Ph. D.

(NOTA BENE: Erasmus students need to notify the teacher)

Office hours: Thursday 1100-1200

Email: [e-mail]

Philosophy and Phenomenology of the Will

(Wednesday 17:30-19:05)

Room: P217 1. General Description and Aims of the Module

There is no doubt that what we call “will” has been at the center of the Western philosophical speculation since antiquity. And yet, there is also no doubt that the 20th tradition of thought that goes by the name of “phenomenology” seems to have introduced a brand new conception of the will based on the distinction between the mere law of “causality” and “motivation,” hence their relevant spheres of application. What is the novelty of the phenomenological approach to the will vis-à-vis more traditional perspectives? In a few, yet blunt words, it can be maintained that phenomenology tends to free, to so say, the phenomenon of the will from its embeddedness within such and such a metaphysical system or construction. The “will” is no longer seen and analyzed as a element or component of an overall metaphysical view on the nature of being, for example, but discussed and described as it is in itself; nevertheless, this does not rule out the possibility, nor the necessity for phenomenology to appropriate and re-think in a new way “motives” that are central to the tradition of philosophy (and to more metaphysical approaches to the will)

In order to show all of the above, excerpts and passages will be read from Arthur Schopenhauer so as to understand in what sense the “will” can be construed within the framework of a metaphysical speculation. We will then move on to phenomenology, so as to discuss different phenomenological perspectives on the matter; in particular, excerpts and passages will be read from Husserl, Pfänder and Edith Stein: as we will see, the will is no longer understood as the key to enter the metaphysical building, as is in fact the case with Schopenhauer, but the expression of a specific dimension of our conscious and spiritual life 2. Structure

The module will be divided into “two” parts. While the first part will be dedicated to a systematic presentation and discussion of the role of the will in A. Schopenhauer’s The Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason and The World as Will and Representation, the second part will be dedicated to the phenomenological approach to the question of the will. In particular, a discussion within the early phenomenological tradition bearing on the notions of will and motivation will be at the center of our attention. 3. Course Outline

Part 1

(Week 1-Week4)

Main Readings From:

The Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason (Schopenhauer)

The World as Will and Representation (Schopenhauer)

Part 2

(Week 5-Week 8)

Main Readings From:

The World as Will and Representation (Schopenhauer)

Phenomenology and Willing and Motivation (Pfänder)

Part 3

(Week 9-Week 12)

Main Readings From:

Philosophy of Psychology and the Humanities (Stein)

Ideas for a Pure Phenomenology and a Phenomenological Philosophy. Volume II (Husserl)

Freedom and Nature (P. Ricoeur)

Recapitulation

(Week 13)