- Existentialism

Catalog description

Existentialism asks how we can generate a meaning for our lives without appealing to outside sources. Many existentialists embrace a view characterized with the slogan “existence precedes essence.” This slogan means that any attempt to figure out what one is must begin with the fact that one is. In addition, if existence precedes essence, then there may well be a multiplicity of ways that one can be, making choosing between these ways a difficult task. That one’s existence may well be experienced as constrained by social forces seemingly beyond one’s control complicates matters. We will read major philosophical sources of existentialism (e.g., Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Beauvoir, Fanon, Nishitani) and watch some of the existentialist films they inspired (by, e.g., Kurosawa, Tarkovsky, Bergman).