Syllabus
Updated syllabus for "Towards a Philosophy of Existence" Winter Term 2021 5
October
Introduction 12
October
A Prehistory of "Existence" 19
October
Kierkegaard I: Stages of Existence
Reading: Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling 26
October
Kierkegaard II: The Synthesis of Existence
Reading: Kierkegaard, Sickness Unto Death 2
November
Kierkegaard: discussion 9
November
Nietzsche I: Introduction 16
November
Reading/Consultations Week 23
November
Nietzsche II: Metaphorical Existence
Reading: Nietzsche, On Truth and Lies (…) 30
November
Nietzsche III: A Genealogy of the (also)Human
Reading: Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Book I 7
December
Nietzsche: discussion 14
December
Kafka: Roaming Existence and The Castle
Optional Reading: The Castle 21
December
Heidegger I: Intro into the Fundamental Ontology 4
January
Colloquium
Readings:
Overviews:
GOLOMB, J. In Search of Authenticity. From Kierkegaard to Camus. London/New York: Routledge, 1995. ISBN 0-415-11946-4.
FLYNN, T. Existentialism. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 978–0–19–280428–0.
Key Readings (note the "pp" indicating compulsory page-range):
KIERKEGAARD. S. The Sickness Unto Death. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980. ISBN 0-691-07247-7. pp. 6-74.
KIERKEGAARD. S. Fear and Trembling. In Fear and Trembling. Repetion. Kierkegaard´s Writings VI. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983. ISBN 1-400810-329. pp. 1-123.
NIETZSCHE, F. On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense. In Philosophy and Truth. Selections from Nietzsche´s Notebooks of the early 1870´s. New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1993. ISBN 978-1573925327. pp. 79-91.
NIETZSCHE, F. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-521-84171-9. pp. 3-59.
JASPERS., K. Philosophy of Existence. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1971. ISBN 0-8122-7629-9. pp. 3-14.
PATOČKA, J. Body, Community, Language, World. Chicago: Open Court, 1998. ISBN 0-8126-9358-2. pp. 143-161.
Annotation
The course is intended as an introduction into the German variety of existential philosophy (Existenzphilosophie).
We will be discussing the philosophical work of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Jaspers, Heidegger, and Patočka. Our goal is to understand the basic scope, topics, and bearings of this particular variety of philosophy. The course is open to all interested students and requires no prior philosophical knowledge.