Time Schedule:
Vinod Acharya
PHIL 401
Seattle Campus
A study of philosophical topics at the advanced level. Topics vary.
Class description
This course explores the fundamental questions of human existence by closely examining some of the important philosophical and literary texts of 19th and 20th century existentialist thought. Existentialism is neither a unified doctrine nor a school of thought, but it came into prominence as a loose philosophical movement with diverse responses to a set of problems concerning the meaning of the individual’s existence in the modern world. We will be concerned with themes such as alienation and anxiety, death and meaninglessness, God and the absence of God, freedom and responsibility, authenticity and bad faith, the limitations of universal morality and abstract thought, and the joy and strength of individual affirmation. We will also consider the representations of these themes in art forms such as films. TEXTS: "Fear and Trembling", Soren Kierkegaard, author, Alastair Hannay, trans.; "Notes from the Underground and The Grand Inquisitor", Fyodor Dostoevsky, author, Ralph Matlaw and Constance Garnett, trans.; "Beyond Good and Evil", Friedrich Nietzche, author, R.J. Hollingdale, trans.; "Existentialism is a Humanism", Jean-Paul Sartre, author, Carol Macomber, trans.; "Basic Writings", Martin Heidegger, author, David Farrell Krell, ed.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
