David Jopling
jopling@yorku.ca

Virtual office hours: Virtual office hours by email exchanges Monday to Friday, or by zoom audio meeting (not video) two hours per week; or by phone. Time and day TBA.

This course explores attempts by a handful of major (and some minor) philosophers, both ancient and modern, to answer the following questions: What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of my life? Is there any meaning in (my) life that will not be destroyed by (my) death? Is it better to never have been born, as some claim? What is death, and should I be afraid of it? Would it be better to be immortal than mortal? How should I deal with suffering, pain, and loss? Major approaches to be discussed include the ancient practical philosophies of stoicism, cynicism, hedonism, and skepticism; then, more recent Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment approaches such as pessimism, anti-natalism, existentialism, absurdism, and theism. Readings from: Epictetus, Epicurus, Aristippus, Diogenes (aka "the Dog"), Sextus Empiricus, Schopenhauer, Spinoza, Tolstoy, Nietzsche, Darwin, Sartre, Camus, Taylor, Nagel, Williams. Links to other relevant materials such as interviews, podcasts, websites, and videos will be posted on the e-class site.

Times and locations: The course is online and asynchronous. You can complete the readings and listen to the lectures at your own pace, on your own time, and post comments on the e-class discussion forum for each of the topics at any time. Lectures that cover the readings will be posted to the e-class website each week. Midway through the course, and then at the end of the course, there will be an online quiz. The dates and times of the quizzes and written assignments are fixed.

The entire course, including the submission of assignments and posts to the discussion forum, will take place on the course’s e-class site. There are no live online meetings or group discussions or classes, and no in-person interactions or activities on campus.

There is no course kit and no textbook. All texts used in the course are in the public domain and are found on the internet. URLs and links will be posted on the e-class site and in the syllabus.

Two quizzes (15% each);
two essays, 30% and 40%, dates TBA

TBA

After completing this course, students will be able to:

1. understand and explain the main philosophical positions defended by Epictetus, Epicurus, Diogenes, Sextus Empiricus, Spinoza, Tolstoy, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Darwin, Sartre, Nagel, Camus, Dennett, Dawkins and others on the problem of the meaning of life;
2. critically analyze and evaluate the arguments developed by these philosophers in defense of their respective positions;
3. understand and explain the relevance of these philosophers to some ancient and contemporary debates in ethics and metaphysics.

Course policies

1. All audio recordings should be used for educational purposes only and as a means

for enhancing accessibility.

2. Students do not have permission to duplicate, copy and/or distribute the recordings outside of the class (these acts can violate not only copyright laws but also FIPPA.)
3. All recordings will be destroyed after the end of the course.
4. Please hand in all assignments on time. Extensions are allowed in the event of illness, bereavement, disabilities, or special needs. Work that is submitted late and that falls outside these conditions will incur a late penalty of 2% per day. Students with disabilities will automatically receive extensions.
5. Please refer to Senate Policy on Academic Honesty: http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/legislation/senate/acadhone.htm.
6. Please refer to The Academic Integrity Tutorial at: http://www.yorku.ca/tutorial/academic_integrity/