Existentialism

Catalog description

This course serves as an introduction to the most widely known contemporary Western philosophical movement. We examine different approaches to its major themes of human existence (such as authenticity, absurdity, freedom, responsibility, nothingness, or the possibility of a meaningful life) by key authors Camus, de Beauvoir, and Sartre, and perhaps also Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, or others. We may also examine its treatments of social issues such as anti-black racism or the construction of gender, and its impact in other areas of culture such as literature, jazz, and film.