PHIL328E

Existentialism was a philosophical, literary, artistic, and social-political movement that emerged in twentieth century Europe with roots in nineteenth century philosophy. The course will be divided into the following three parts. We will begin with the origins of existentialism by examining the Danish Christian Soren Kierkegaard and the German atheist Friedrich Nietzsche, focusing on themes such as subjectivity, perspectivism, and the reevaluation of values. Then we will examine French existentialists like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus in the twentieth century, focusing on themes such as bad faith and the absurdity of the human condition. We will conclude the course by examining existentialist approaches to feminism and decolonization in the work of Simone de Beauvoir and Frantz Fanon. A broad theme of the course will be the significance of philosophical style for these authors.