AP/PHIL1100 3.0 N: The Meaning of Life
Offered by: PHIL
Session
Winter 2020
Term
W
Format
LECT
Instructor
Calendar Description / Prerequisite / Co-Requisite
An exploration of a number of fundamental practical philosophical questions, including: What is the meaning of (my) life? What is happiness, and how can I achieve it? What is wisdom? What is death, and what does it mean to me?
Course Website
Many courses utilize Moodle, York University's course website system. If your course is using Moodle, refer to the image below to access it.
Dr. Joshua Moufawad-Paul
moufawadpaul@gmail.com
Office Location: S401 Ross Building
Phone Number: (416) 736-2100 Ext. 77592
Office Hours: Monday 2:00 - 3:00 & Wednesday 1:00 - 3:00 and by appointment
This course will explore various questions surrounding the meaning of life. Beginning with some discussions regarding life's meaning and whether or not it is meaningful to even talk about "the meaning of life", we will examine conceptions of meaningful human lives, nihilist challenges to the very idea that life can be meaningful, the ways in which life and death socially construct meaning, and the possibility of establishing meaning in the face of dehumanization.
All of the material is posted on the Moodle site for this course. As noted on the time line below, we will be reading a broad range of material, including many classics, all of which is available for free online. Please note, however, that some of the Moodle links will be entire books so pay attention to the instructions and focus on that chapter or part that you are required to read.
Participation: 10%
Short Paper: 15% (Due February 5)
Mid-term Test: 20% (February 27)
Essay: 25% (Due April 4)
Final: 30% (Exam period, TBA)
Lecture & Tutorials
TBA
January 7: Introduction
9: Robert Nozick (Philosophy and the Meaning of Life)
14: Susan Wolf (The Meanings of Lives)
16: Plato (Apology)
21: Aristotle (from Nicomachean Ethics)
23: Karl Marx (Estranged Labour)
28: Karl Marx (from Grundrisse)
30: Friedrich Nietzsche (from The Gay Science)
February 4: Jean-Paul Sartre (Existentialism as a Humanism)
Short Paper Due
6: Simone De Beauvoir (from The Ethics of Ambiguity)
11: Hanna Arendt (from The Human Condition)
13: Hanna Arendt (continued)
25: Leo Tolstoy (from My Confession)
27: In Class Test
March 3: David Benatar (Why is it better to never come into existence?)
5: Quentin Meillassoux (from After Finitude)
10: Quentin Meillassoux (continued)
12: Michel Foucault (Nietzsche, Genealogy, History)
17: Achille Mbembe (Necropolitics)
19: Achille Mbembe (continued)
24: Frantz Fanon (from The Wretched of the Earth)
26: Frantz Fanon (continued)
31: Lewis Gordon
April 2: Review
Essay Due
- Academic Honesty
- Student Rights and Responsibilities
- Religious Observance
- Grading Scheme and Feedback
- 20% Rule
No examinations or tests collectively worth more than 20% of the final grade in a course will be given during the final 14 calendar days of classes in a term. The exceptions to the rule are classes which regularly meet Friday evenings or on Saturday and/or Sunday at any time, and courses offered in the compressed summer terms. - Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities
