Philosophers Against Reason

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course explores criticisms of the Enlightenment within 19th and 20th-century European philosophy. Since the Enlightenment heralds the age of reason, the course explores the views of philosophers who are apparently against reason. We will explore the ideas of Schlegel, Novalis, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Camus, Sartre, and Beauvoir, among others. These philosophers were skeptical of our ability to find some absolutely certain principle for making sense of the world and tried to imagine a life without solid foundations. The course will explore, for example, the nihilistic point of view which despairs over this felt loss of solid foundations, the absurd point of view which embraces our freedom in a meaningless world, the ironic point of view which re-centers the self around the diversity of perspectives in the present age, and the moral point of view which finds meaning in a project of worth. The course will also explore attempts to find meaning through artistic expression and explore feminist critiques of some of the ideas in the course.