PHIL 26400 - Existentialism

Course Credit: 1
The philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre claimed that all existentialist philosophers, whether atheistic or theistic, share the belief that “Existence precedes essence.” By this unifying principle, Sartre meant that we must begin philosophizing by acknowledging the fact of the enigma of existence. In Sartre’s view, the history of philosophy has shown us that philosophical systems attempting to provide the meaning of existence necessarily fail. What philosophy then will stand in place of failed essentialist philosophy? If life has no discoverable meaning, how should we live? In this course, we will examine primary texts of four existentialist philosophers, who wrestle with this post-modern understanding of philosophy: Martin Heidegger, Soren Kierkegaard, Albert Camus, and Walker Percy. [AH]