Anglo-American University in 糖心Vlog Introduction to Existentialism
| Course Name | Introduction to Existentialism |
| Course Code | PHI183 |
| Description | This class is an introduction to existentialism, one of the most influential intellectual currents of the 20th century. The existentialists鈥� characteristic preoccupations arise from what they see as threats to human freedom arising from such diverse forces as religious conformity, cultural homogenization, unfeeling rationality and mass society. In this course, we will explore the existentialists鈥� philosophical responses to these threats, beginning with the roots of the movement in the 19th century. We will be reading and discussing texts by a selection of noteworthy philosophers, including Jos茅 Ortega y Gasset, Martin Heidegger, S酶ren Kierkegaard, Jean-Paul Sartre, Friedrich Nietzsche, Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt, and Albert Camus. In addition to philosophical texts, we will read literary texts by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Ralph Ellison and watch two films, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990) and Living (2022), in order to familiarize ourselves with the wide range of genres in which existentialist themes are explored. |
| Learning Outcomes | Upon completion of this course, students should be able to: – comprehend the existentialists鈥� characteristic preoccupations; – relate existentialist concerns to earlier ideas in the philosophical tradition; – place existentialist notions within a social historical context; – intelligently discuss the existentialists鈥� philosophical responses to the threats to human freedom arising from such diverse forces as religious conformity, cultural homogenization, unfeeling rationality, and mass society; – apply their knowledge of existentialist concerns to the wide range of genres in which existentialist themes are explored, such as philosophical texts, literary texts, films |
| School | School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Level | BA |
| Number of credits (US / ECTS) | 3 US / 6 ECTS |