PHL314 Existentialism
Professor: Craig DeLancey
Office: CC212A
Email: craig.delancey@oswego.edu


Current Assignments
4 February
Finish reading part I of Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals.

BTW: I was talking with Dr. Wray, and he suggested that the "English psychologists" might refer to Herbert Spencer and his followers. This seems plausible, since Spencer wrote on psychology and is also mentioned later in the Genealogy.

6 February
Finish reading part II of Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals.

Tentative assignments (these will be revised)
February
Read the Husserl handout and also section 7 part c of Being and Time (pages 58-63).

February
Read B&T pages 1-40 (sections 1-5). Don't worry if it is confusing -- we'll clarify as we work on it, but it is useful to attempt it on your own. Recommended are Polt chapters 1 and 2 (pages 1 - 21).

February 13
Read B&T sections 9, 10, 11 (pages 65-77).

February 15
Read B&T sections 12 and 13 (chapter II, pages 78-90).

February 18
Read B&T sections 14 and 15.

February 20
Read B&T sections 16, 17, and 18 (you should thus have read up to page 122 now).

A simple assignment, due at the beginning of class. This should only take a paragraph or two. It can be typed or handwritten. Four tasks: (1) Write at least one existentiell fact about yourself, and also (2) one existential fact about yourself. Also: (3) name one thing that is typically ready-to-hand for you, and describe when it is ready-to-hand (I mean, under what kinds of activities or conditions)? And (4) name one thing that is present-at-hand for you and describe when (that is, during which kind of activity) it is present-at-hand. Please apply the honor system and come up with your own example, working on your own. Don't just copy an example from Dreyfus or Polt or -- god forbid -- Wikipedia.

I recommend that you read B&T sections 19 through 24 (pages 122-148), but we will unfortunately not be able to make the time to discuss them.

February
Read B&T chapter IV section 27. Recommended is all of B&T chapter IV.
February 25
Read sections 29, 31, and 32. But recommended is all of chapter 5.

Homework (this concerns the discussion in chapter 4 on the ready-to-hand). Write a brief description of how, in your own life, (1) something ready-to-hand became present-at-hand because of conspicuousness; (2) something ready-to-hand became present-at-hand because of obstinacy; (3) something ready-to-hand became present- at-hand because of obtrusiveness. This will likely just take you a paragraph or two. You may also explain how the totality of the towards-which of equipment became present to you in each case. See pages 102-103 for a reminder.

February 27
Read from B&T chapter V, sections 35 through 38.

1 March
Read B&T chapter VI, sections 40 and 41.

3 March
Read B&T Division II, sections 45, 50.

Homework! Write a brief description of an instance of idle talk in your own life; and of curiosity (in Heidegger's sense of inauthentic greed for the new) in your own life. How do they arise from a they-self?

5 March
Read B&T Division II, sections 51-53.

8 March
Read B&T Division II, sections 54-57, 60, 62.
10 March
Exam 1. Heidegger and Nietzsche. Topics will include but not be limited to (and so you'll be expected to be able explain accurately but to an intelligent roommate):
  • Nietzsche's history of Christian morality
  • Nietzsche's concept of Resentment
  • The Ubermensch
  • Dasein
  • World, Being-in-the-world
  • Ready-to-hand
  • Present-at-hand
  • Towards-which and for-the-sake-of-which
  • Being-with
  • Das Mann
  • the They-self
  • Attunement ("State-of-mind")
  • Idle talk, curiosity, ambiguity
  • Angst ("anxiety")
  • Resoluteness
  • What it means that Dasein must die alone
  • Authentic and inauthentic ways of being for Dasein
22 March
Read "Existentialism is a Humanism," available at: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/works/exist/sartre.htm. This is our first non-technical reading, so you should be able to understand it pretty well before we sit down to discuss it. While reading, ask yourself:
  • What are the criticisms that Sartre sets out to answer?
  • What does Sartre really suspect causes critics to dislike existentialism?
  • What are the two kinds of existentialists, according to Sartre?
  • What does Sartre say all existentialists have in common? That is, how does he define existentialism?
  • How does Sartre interpret and explain "anguish" (which is a common translation for angst and anxiety), "abandonment" and "despair" ?
  • Why can existentialism allow a moral judgment?
  • What does he mean when he says that existentialism is a humanism? That is, what sense of "humanisim" is he ruling out, and what sense is he intending?
We discussed the Milgram experiment. Some footage of the original is buried in a lot of youtube noise, but here's some of it.

26 March
Read our selection from Being and Nothingness.
29, 31 March
Read Sartre's No Exit. Come ready to describe the play, and to offer both a Sartrean and a general existentialist interpretation of it. Here are some questions to think about (and wouldn't they make great pop-quiz question?):
  • Where are Garcin, Inez, Estelle? Or: where do they think they are?
  • Does it mean something that they cannot find a mirror (a "glass")?
  • Does anything distinguish the three characters' interaction in the room that is a necessary feature of the room? That is, are they acting the way they are because of some outside influence?
  • What do you think of Garcin's plan to help each other?
  • Does Garcin's motive in fleeing the war matter?
  • What matters to Estelle? In herself and in others?
  • What should we think of Garcin's goal: to convince another he is not a coward, that he is good?
  • Does it matter that the room is in Second Empire style?
5 April
We should take a day to discuss free will, since it keeps coming up.
5 April
Read Sartre's The Flies. (You really should read Aeschylus's trilogy of plays, The Oresteia, if you have not done so in the past. You can get a copy of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides just about anywhere, and you can't really claim to be educated without having read these.)
April 12
Beckett Waiting for Godot, Act I, in class.

April 14
Beckett Waiting for Godot, Act II, in class.

April 16
Discussion of Beckett; perhaps a scene from Happy Days.

April 19
Background on Camus. Discussion of "The Myth of Sisyphus." A few copies are floating around on the web; e.g., here.

April 21
No class. Quest.


Soon we're going to read Camus's The Plague. There is a decent reading available also. For example, at: audible. Obviously it's not cheaper than the paperback....

April 23 The Plague, part I (pages 1-64). Questions to ask yourself while reading include:
  • What is Oran like? Where is it? On what sea or ocean?
  • What does Rieux do for a living?
  • What is the meaning, or what is revealed, by Rieux's first exchange with the journalist Rambert?
  • What is the first sign of plague?
  • What is the meaning of the old man with the cats that Tarrou writes about in his journal? (I mean: the old man who spits on the cats?)
  • Why are the city leaders reluctant to declare a plague? What do you think is the significance of them trying to ascribe to Rieux a "view" and of Rieux resisting this?

April 26
Some of you were giving Quest talks and were a bit swamped by it, so I've given you some extra time on the paper. A ~5 page paper due, on one of the following questions:
  • What, if any, are the similarities and differences between Sartre's Bad Faith and Heidegger's Authenticity?
  • Sartre says that Heidegger is, like him, an atheist. Is this right? What reasons are there to think it is right?
  • How do the condition and the choices of the characters in No Exit exemplify choices and difficulties that Sartre describes in his existentialism?
  • How do the condition and the choices of the characters in The Flies exemplify choices and difficulties that Sartre describes in his existentialism?
  • Orestes tells Zeus that it doesn't matter if Zeus created the universe. Would Sartre's existentialism remain the same if a god existed? Focus on one specific aspect of his existentialism -- for example, the idea that values are created by choice.
  • How do Heidegger and Sartre balance their notions of facticity with the claim that we are free?
  • What, if any, similarities are there between Beckett's work and existentialism? Where do they differ? (A good thing to consider is the notion of authenticity....)
I would consider a one-act play or short fiction in lieu of the paper; you would have to discuss it with me. In such a case the due date could be later. Please follow my paper format guidelines.

April 26 The Plague, part II (pages 65-164). While reading, ask yourself:
  • What is the meaning of Paneloux's sermon? What does it mean the plague really is?
  • What is Rambert's primary goal? Contrast Rambert with Grand -- what are their relative motivations? What are they spending all their (free) time doing?
  • What is Tarrou's proposal to Rieux? Does it mean something that Tarrou proposes it (as opposed to, say, a government program)?
  • What is Rieux's view on God and the plague?

April 28 The Plague, parts III and IV (pages 165-266). While reading, ask yourself and be prepared to answer questions about:
  • How do they now have burials during the plague?
  • Why does Camus spend such detail upon the death of Othon's son?
  • What is Paneloux's response to the child's death?
  • Why do you think that people find superstition comforting?
  • Why is Cottard flourishing during the plague?
  • What does Rambert do when he gets a chance to escape? Why? Similarly, what does Othon do when he can leave the stadium? Why?
  • What does Grand do when facing death?

30 April The Plague, part V (pages 267-308). While reading, ask yourself:
  • What did Tarrou mean when he said he has plague?
  • Why does Tarrou say it's harder to be a man than a saint?
  • What happens to Rieux's wife? What happens to Tarrou?
  • The novel ends with celebration. Why? To what does Camus mean to draw our attention?

May 3
Read Heidegger's B&T section 65. The first two pages of this are a bit vague, but focus on the material that follows the proclamation that "Temporality reveals itself as the meaning of authentic care."

May 5
Read Heidegger's B&T sections 74 and 75.

Note we obviously aren't going to squeeze in another paper before the end of the semester! So, if there are no objections, I will change the grade distribution to be: paper 25%, exams 25% each, homeworks (4) and quizes (1) 25%.

May 5, 7
More selections from Heidegger and Sartre.

May 3
Read Heidegger's B&T section 65. The first two pages of this are a bit vague, but focus on the material that follows the proclamation that "Temporality reveals itself as the meaning of authentic care."

May 5
Read Heidegger's B&T sections 74 and 75.

May
Final exam. You may also bring B&T, The Plague, No Exit, The Flies, The Geneology of Morals, a copy of existentialism is a humanism, or even if you like a copy of Being and Nothingness. Consider the following as worthy of study, along with the study questions from the midterm and any study questions concerning our readings:
  • What does Heidegger mean by "anxiety"? What does anxiety reveal?
  • What does Sartre say all existentialists have in common? That is, how does he define existentialism? Would you agree with his definition? Why or why not?
  • How does Sartre interpret and explain "anguish" (which is a common translation for angst and anxiety), "abandonment" and "despair" ?
  • What does Orestes mean in The Flies when he says there is another way? What is his epiphany?
  • Why don't the characters of No Exit leave the room?
  • What would Sartre recommend the subjects in Milgram's experiment do? How should they understand their situation?
  • What are Vladimir and Estragon waiting for, in Waiting for Godot? Should they keep waiting? What does it mean (that is, what does Beckett appear to mean to assert by showing) that they wait without any result? Would Sartre recommend we wait? Would Heidegger? Would Nietzsche? Would Camus?
  • Why does Paneloux decide he will not accept the care of a doctor? Why does the death of Jacques Othun cause him to committ to this? Contrast his view with Rieux's notion that the job of a doctor is to resist the order of creation.
  • What does Tarrou mean when he says that he too suffered from plague? What kind of plague?
  • Nietzsche took as one of his tasks opposition to nihilism. What is nihilism? How do Heidegger, Sartre, Beckett, and Camus variously answer the possibility of nihilism?
  • What is existentialism? Of the philosophers and writers we've read, who is an existentialist, who is not, and why?