AP/PHIL4075 3.0 A: Life, Death, Absurdity, and Meaning
Offered by: PHIL
Session
Summer 2023
Status
Cancelled: Course Delivery
Term
S1
Format
SEMR
Calendar Description / Prerequisite / Co-Requisite
This course focuses on one of the fundamental questions in philosophy: What is the meaning of life?. The theories and supporting arguments of major philosophers in the past and present who have addressed this question are analyzed and critically evaluated. Prerequisite: At least nine credits in philosophy.
Course Start Up
Course Websites hosted on York's "eClass" are accessible to students during the first week of the term. It takes two business days from the time of your enrolment to access your course website. Course materials begin to be released on the course website during the first week. To log in to your eClass course visit the York U eClass Portal and login with your Student Passport York Account. If you are creating and participating in Zoom meetings you may also go directly to the York U Zoom Portal.
For further course Start Up details, review the Getting Started webpage.
For IT support, students may contact University Information Technology Client Services via askit@yorku.ca or (416) 736-5800. Please also visit Students Getting Started UIT or the Getting Help - UIT webpages.
Professor Jim Vernon
jvernon@yorku.ca
Office Location: S427 Ross Building
Phone Number: (416) 736-2100 Ext. 33519
Office Hours: TBA
What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of my life? Do pain, suffering and death rob life of its meaning, or render it absurd? Or, to the contrary, do suffering and death make life more meaningful? What is the best, or most authentic way, to live my life? This class treats a variety of philosophical approaches–both historical and contemporary–to the interconnection of life, death, and meaning.
As the title suggests, this is a course that treats a number of challenges themes; students should both be aware of the potentially discomforting nature of all of the readings, and conduct themselves in class in a way that respects the sensitivity of the issues under debate.
Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity (Open Road)
Online resources, provided on eClass page.
Attendance and Active Class Participation 20%
6 ‘response’ papers 30% (5% each)
Term Paper 50%
Lecture/Reading Schedule:
Wed. May 10th
Course Intro./“The Dispute Between a Man and his Ba”; “The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, Spell 125”; “The Story of Sinuhe”.
Fri. May 12th
Plato, Apology.
Wed. May 17th
Epictetus, The Handbook (The Enchiridion), selections #1-12, 15, 17, 20-22, 26-27, 30, 33-34, 48, 51.
Fri. May 19th
Epicurus, “Letter to Menoeceus”; “The Principal Doctrine”.
Wed. May 24th
Arthur Schopenhauer, “On the vanity of existence”; “On the sufferings of the world”.
Fri. May 26th
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes From the Underground.
Wed. May 31st/Fri. June 2nd
No Class (Congress Break)
Wed. June 7th
Thomas Nagel, “The Absurd”.
Fri. June 9th
Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, Ch. 1.
Wed. June 14th
de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, Ch. 2.
Fri. June 16th
de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, Ch. 3.
Wed. June 21st
Chris Hedges, “War is a Force that Gives us Meaning”; Martin Luther King, Jr. “Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break SIlence”
Fri. June 23rd
Martin Luther King, Jr., “The Drum Major Instinct”; “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life”; “The Answer to a Perplexing Question”.
Familiarize students with varied philosophical responses to the problem of life, death, and meaning; to sharpen essay writing, as well as editing skills by learning how to give constructive feedback from others and incorporate it oneself; to embed philosophical knowledge in an understanding of its interaction with broader social trends.
- 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
