Existentialism and Humanism

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Existentialism and humanism are philosophical approaches that emphasize our freedom as human beings to take charge of our lives, holding that we have the capacities necessary to deal with the suffering and meaninglessness that sometimes affects us. The concepts we will examine include: individual freedom, human suffering, alienation, absurdity, the death of God, the human construction of meaning and power. This module explores the work of a number of philosophers who have argued for existentialist and humanist approaches. We will also consider critical reactions to those approaches, which have generated an anti-humanist perspective. A wide choice of study material will be presented, including texts by: * Kant * Schopenhauer * Kierkegaard * Marx * Adorno * Nietzsche * Sartre * Camus * Beauvoir * Foucault * Arendt