Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL2002: Existentialism

This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.

Module Aims

The aim of this module is to introduce you to the place of existentialism as a philosophical tradition, while also exploring the cultural movement of existentialism that flourished in Europe during the 20^th century. The module will situate existentialism within the history of philosophy and critically explore and investigate the challenges associated with the practice and method of existentialism as a philosophical movement. In addition, the module will explore the intersections between philosophical existentialism and literary existentialism. A further aim is to encourage you to be able to reflect existentially about your own lived experience and to explore the contemporary relevance of the existential approach to a variety of topics and disciplines.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. Identify and cogently discuss the key methods, questions, themes and topics within the existential tradition 2. Critically distinguish and evaluate various approaches to existentialism, and related critiques, within the 20th century
Discipline-Specific Skills	3. Demonstrate a high level of understanding of the interrelation between theories, values and lived experience 4. Demonstrate sound knowledge of different types of philosophical analysis
Personal and Key Skills	5. Demonstrate a significantly expanded philosophical vocabulary and understanding with respect to key ideas in twentieth century European philosophy 6. Engage in complex arguments both orally and through writing 7. Conduct research independently engaging with complex ideas and problems

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics

Introduction to Existentialism & Soren Kierkegaard
Friedrich Nietzsche – The Gay Science
Martin Heidegger – Being & Time – Dasein, Authenticity and being-towards-death
Jean-Paul Sartre – ‘Existentialism as Humanism’
Jean-Paul Sartre – Nausea
Simone de Beauvoir – Feminist Existentialism and The Ethics of Ambiguity
Simone de Beauvoir – The Blood of Others
Albert Camus – The Outsider and The Myth of Sisyphus
Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Notes from Underground
Frantz Fanon – Black Skins, White Masks
Ralph Ellison – The Invisible Man
Soren Kierkegaard – Fear and Trembling and The Sickness Unto Death

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
21.5	128.5	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	16.5	11 x 1.5 hour lectures. Lectures provide you with detailed overview and analysis of key thinkers and texts in the existential tradition; lectures cover more ground than is possible in tutorials, and are designed to establish a context in which to think about the themes, thinkers and texts discussed in tutorials.
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	5	5 x 1 Hour Fortnightly tutorials. A specific reading is assigned, and you are provided with a list of key issues to identify and discuss for each tutorial. Texts are carefully chosen as classic exemplars of the core course themes.
Guided Independent Study	45	Preparation for lectures and tutorial participation including reading and planning.
Guided independent study	83.5	Independent research for glossary entry and essay.

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Indicative Reading List:

Readings will primarily come from the following two anthologies:

1. Basic Writings of Existentialism, edited by Gordon Marino (Modern Library, 2004)

2.Existentialism Basic Writings, Second Edition, Edited by Charles Guignon and Derk Pereboom (Hackett Publishing, 2001).

Indicative readings will include extracts from the following philosophical and literary works:

Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness
Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea
3. Jean-Paul Sartre, ‘Existentialism is a Humanism’
4. Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
Simone de Beauvoir, The Blood of Others
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time
7. Albert Camus, The Outsider
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science
Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
Soren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death
Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man

Selected Secondary Texts:

A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism – edited by H.L. Dreyfus and M.A. Wrathall (Blackwell Publishers)
The Cambridge Companion to Existentialism – edited by S. Crowell (Cambridge University Press)
Iris Murdoch – Sartre: Romantic Rationalist
Iris Murdoch – Essays on “Encountering Existentialism” from Existentialists and Mystics.