PHI 91 — The Meaning of Life: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and More
Quarter: Fall
Instructor(s): Frederick M. Dolan
Date(s): Sep 22—Dec 1
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Tuesdays
Class Meeting Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Please Note: Class will meet on Tuesdays, 7:00 - 8:50 pm (PT). Note: No class on November 17. That week class will meet on Thursday, November 19 instead. No class on November 24.
Tuition: $585
Refund Deadline: Sep 24
Unit(s): 2
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Fall
Day: Tuesdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Date(s): Sep 22—Dec 1
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $585
Refund Deadline: Sep 24
Instructor(s): Frederick M. Dolan
Recording Available: Yes
Status: Registration opens Aug 17, 8:30 am (PT)
Please Note: Class will meet on Tuesdays, 7:00 - 8:50 pm (PT). Note: No class on November 17. That week class will meet on Thursday, November 19 instead. No class on November 24.
What is the meaning of life? The question invites religious and spiritual answers. But it’s also a problem that philosophers try to approach systematically. Søren Kierkegaard finds meaning in the self’s ability to connect the temporal to the eternal, while Martin Heidegger locates it in our way of living with death. Political theorist Hannah Arendt draws attention to the democratic public sphere, where citizens exchange views about the significance of their words and deeds. Existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus explore how individual integrity is achieved by facing up to a universe devoid of objective purpose. Ralph Waldo Emerson celebrates the experience of wholeness that nature provides to those who free themselves from the restrictions of society, Friedrich Nietzsche recommends approaching life as a work of art, and Susan Wolf identifies activities in which subjective passion meets objective value. This course provides an opportunity to improve your ability to ask and answer what the meaning of life is.
FREDERICK M. DOLAN
Professor of Rhetoric, Emeritus, UC Berkeley
Frederick M. Dolan’s interests include political and moral philosophy, theories of interpretation, and aesthetics and the philosophy of art. He received a PhD from Princeton. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Søren Kierkegaard & Alastair Hannay (Trans), Fear and Trembling, Penguin Classics (ISBN 978-0140444490)
(Required) Søren Kierkegaard & Alastair Hannay (Trans), The Sickness Unto Death, Penguin Classics (ISBN 978-0140445336)
(Required) Friedrich Nietzsche & Walter Kaufmann (Trans), The Gay Science (ISBN 978-0394719856)
(Required) Friedrich Nietzsche & R. J. Hollingdale (Trans), Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christ, Penguin (ISBN 978-0140445145)
(Required) Søren Kierkegaard & Alastair Hannay (Trans), The Sickness Unto Death, Penguin Classics (ISBN 978-0140445336)
(Required) Friedrich Nietzsche & Walter Kaufmann (Trans), The Gay Science (ISBN 978-0394719856)
(Required) Friedrich Nietzsche & R. J. Hollingdale (Trans), Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christ, Penguin (ISBN 978-0140445145)