REL 4933/5937: RELIGION AND EXISTENTIALISM TUESDAYS: 5-6 TH PERIODS & THURSDAYS: 6 TH PERIOD 101 ANDERSON HALL FALL 2011 Instructor: Dr. Manuel A. Vásquez Office: Anderson 107B Tel. 352-273-2945 E-mail: manuelv@ufl.edu Office Hours: Wednesdays 11:30AM- 1:30PM & Thursdays 2:00 3:30PM COURSE DESCRIPTION In the trial that led to his death, Socrates declared that the unexamined life is not worth living, a dictum that existentialist thinkers from Kierkegaard to Sartre placed at the center of their philosophies. While existentialism is a complex movement, most existentialists stress the irreducibility and uniqueness of the individual, who must make and remake him/herself through free and authentic choices and actions in the face of uncertainty and finitude. In a postmodern age which is deeply skeptical of essences and grand narratives, particularly emancipatory ones, and which celebrates shallow and even virtual identities, is existentialism still relevant? Drawing from the writings of key figures in the movement as well as applications in popular culture and media, this course explores the sources and development of existentialism and, in particular, its tense relation to institutional religion, theology, and faith, with the ultimate aim of assessing the current relevance of existentialist concerns and approaches. OBJECTIVES 1. To understand the historical development of existentialism and discuss its impact on literature, psychology, philosophy, popular culture, and religious studies. 2. To encourage critical thinking among students by debating issues connected with the existence of God, the problem of evil, free will, authenticity, and responsibility. 3. To use the small seminar setting to sharpen students expository writing skills as well as their ability to articulate and defend their own analytical perspectives. REQUIREMENTS 1. Three Take-Home Exams: Each exam will contain two or three essay-questions addressing key issues raised in the readings, class discussions, and lectures for each of the course sections. I will hand out exams about a week before they are due. Each of the first two exams is worth 20%, and the third exam, which will be cumulative, will constitute 30% of your final grade. 2. A Film Review (5-6 pp.): Undergraduate students will analyze a film, novel, or a TV program, drawing explicitly from themes found in the readings, class discussions, and lectures. The issue of plagiarism and/or cheating is especially relevant for this assignment. See Rules below. The assignment is worth 20% of the final grade. Students enrolled for graduate credit (REL 5937) will write a final research paper in lieu of this review. This final paper will be 15-20 pages in length. Students are encouraged to discuss paper topics with the instructor early in the semester. 3. Attendance, Active Participation, and Quizzes: Students are expected to attend class regularly and punctually and to participate actively in class discussion. Active and informed participation demands that 1
students read the material carefully before coming to class. The instructor reserves the right to give quizzes at any time during the course. Attendance, participation, and quizzes represent of 10% your final grade. 4. Students enrolled for graduate credit will read 2 additional books (to be selected in consultation with the instructor) and will meet with the instructor outside normal class time to discuss each of these books (for a total of two 1 ½ hour meetings). RULES 1. Plagiarism or cheating: Students are expected to uphold the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity. On the issue of plagiarism and cheating, I operate under a zero tolerance policy. Students caught plagiarizing or cheating will automatically receive a grade of zero on the assignment in question and will fail the course. In addition, they will be reported to the appropriate university authorities. Please keep in mind that plagiarism does not consist only in copying verbatim someone else's material and presenting it as if it were yours. It also includes taking ideas (even paraphrased!) from an author without according him/her proper recognition (through a footnote, for instance). Other forms of cheating (particularly downloading material from the Internet and presenting as if it were yours) will also be subject to the same action. See http://www.dso.ufl.edu/judicial/honestybrochure.htm & www.dso.ufl.edu/judicial/academic.htm for more information on UF policies. 2. Incompletes are strongly discouraged and will be given only when students who have finished most of the assignments satisfactorily cannot complete the final requirements due to unforeseen events. If this is the case, students must arrange for the incomplete before the end of the semester. 3. Make-up quizzes and exams will only be given to students who can present proper, legitimate written documentation (in the form of a medical excuse or a funeral notice, for example) to justify their inability to take a quiz or an exam during the scheduled time. 4. Late assignments will be marked down half a grade (from A to A-, for example) for each day they are late, unless the student can present proper, legitimate written documentation to justify the tardiness. Late assignments will not be accepted a week after the deadline. In that case, the student will receive a 0 (zero) in the assignment. 5. Grading Scale: A: 100-95; A-: 94-90; B+: 89-87; B: 86-84; B-: 83-80; C+: 79-77; C: 76-74; C-: 73-70; D+: 69-67; D: 66-64; D-: 63-60; E: <60. Please keep in mind that a C- will not be a qualifying grade for major, minor, Gen Ed, Gordon Rule or College Basic Distribution credit. 6. Given that religion is often a very personal and potentially contentious topic, we expect students to treat each other with civility and respect. I hope that our debates will be lively and that people will feel free to express their opinions and disagree with each other. However, these opinions and disagreements have to be presented in a manner that is appropriate to an academic setting. 7. Students engaging in any sort of disruptive behavior, including passing notes, reading a newspaper, playing computers games, checking their e-mail, or chatting while lectures and class discussions are taking place, will be asked to leave the classroom. They will be counted as absent for that particular day. Please turn phones and pagers off during class. 2
8. Please make sure to arrive to class on time. I dislike being interrupted once class has started. 9. Students with Disabilities. Students requesting classroom accommodation or special consideration must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student, who must then give this documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodation or special consideration. REQUIRED READINGS Books Plato. The Trial and Death of Socrates (New York: Dover, 1992). Bretall, Robert, ed. A Kierkegaard Anthology (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1946). Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Portable Nietzsche (New York: Penguin, 1977). Tillich, Paul. The Courage to Be (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952). Camus, Albert. The Stranger (New York: Vintage, 1989). Sartre, Jean-Paul. Basic Writings (New York: Routledge, 2001). Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot (New York: Faber and Faber, 1956). Other Additional Readings (Available at the Religion Dept., 107 Anderson and on-line) Barad, Judith. Blade Runner and Sartre: The Boundaries of Humanity. In The Philosophy of Neo-Noir, edited by Mark T. Conard (Louisville: University of Kentucky Press), 21-46. Brannigan, Michael. There is no Spoon: A Buddhist Mirror. In In The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real, edited by William Irwin ( Peru, IL: Carus, 2002), 101-110. Camus, Albert. An Absurd Reasoning, in The Existentialist Reader, edited by Paul S. MacDonald (New York: Routledge, 2001), 151-183. Conard, Mark. Thus Spake Bart: On Nietzsche and the Virtues of Being Bad. The Simpsons and Philosophy, edited by William Irwin, Mark Conard, and Aeon Skoble (Peru, IL: Carus, 2001), 59-78. Derrida, Jacques. The Ends of Man, in Margins of Philosophy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982), 109-136. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Rebellion and The Great Inquisitor from The Brothers Karamazov, in Religion from Tolstoy to Camus, edited by Walter Kaufmann (New York: Harper, 1961), 139-159. Drohan, Christopher. Alfred, the Dark Knight of Faith: Batman and Kierkegaard. In Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul, edited by Mark D. White and Robert Arp (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2008), 183-197. Fosl, Peter. Fosl, Metalica, Nietzsche, and Marx: The Immorality of Morality. In Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery, edited by William Irwin (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007), 74-84. Heidegger, Martin. Selections from Being and Time in Existentialism, edited by Robert Solomon (New York: The Modern Library, 1974), 93-116.. Letter on Humanism, in From Modernism to Postmodernism: An Anthology, edited by Lawrence Cahoone (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996), 274-308. Marcel, Gabriel. The Refusal of Salvation and the Exaltation of the Man of Absurdity, in Homo Viator: An Introduction to a Metaphysics of Hope (New York: Harper Torchbook, 1962), 185-212. 3
McMahon, Jennifer. 24 and The Existential Man of Revolt, in Philosophy of TV Noir, edited by Steven Sanders and Aeon Skoble (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 2008), 115-130. Taylor, Mark C. Prelude, Chapter 1: Death of God, Chapter 8: Erring Scripture, and Interlude, in Erring: A Postmodern A/theology (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1984), 3-33, 170-184. Weberman, David. The Matrix Simulation and the Postmodern Age. In The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real, edited by William Irwin (Peru, IL: Carus, 2002), 225-239. SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNMENTS Part I: Know Thyself! The Socratic Legacy Tues. 08/23: Thurs. 08/25: Tues. 08/30: General Introduction Plato, The Trail and Death of Socrates Read: Euthyphro and Apology Plato, The Trail and Death of Socrates Read: Crito and Phaedo Part II: The Nietzschean Revolt: The Death of God and Beyond Thurs. 09/01: Tues. 09/06: Thurs. 09/08: Tues. 09/13: Thurs. 09/15: Dostoevsky and the Problem of Evil Read: Rebellion and The Great Inquisitor Nietzsche, I Teach You the Overman Read: Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Prologue and First Part Conard, Thus Spake Bart Nietzsche, Whither is God? Read: Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Second Part; Book V and The Madman from The Gay Science, Nietzsche, The Eternal Return and the Will to Power Read: Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Third and Fourth Parts and selections from The Will to Power Fosl, Metalica, Nietzsche, and Marx: The Immorality of Morality. Nietzsche, Christianity as a Slave Religion Read: The Anti-Christ Part III: Kierkegaard: How Can One Contemporaneous with Christ? Tues. 09/20: Thurs. 09/22: Kierkegaard, The Aesthetic, the Ethical, and the Religious Read: The Journal, pp. 1-18, and from Either/Or, in A Kierkegaard Anthology, pp. 36-108. Kierkegaard, The Knight of Faith Read: Fear and Trembling, A Kierkegaard Anthology, pp. 116-134. Drohan, Alfred, the Dark Knight of Faith: Batman and Kierkegaard. 4
Tues. 09/27: Thurs. 09/29: Tues. 10/04: Kierkegaard, Toward an Anthropology of Religious Existentialism Read: The Present Age, pp. 258-269 and Sickness Unto Death, A Kierkegaard Anthology, pp. 339-371 Kierkegaard, To be a Christian amid Christendom Read: The Journals (1850-1854), pp. 426-433 and Attack Upon Christendom, pp. 435-468 Guest Facilitator: TBA Kierkegaard, The Anti-Hegel Read: Concluding Unscientific Postscript, in A Kierkegaard Anthology, pp. 190-258 *** FIRST TAKE-HOME EXAM DUE ON 10/04 IN CLASS * * * Part IV: Heidegger, Camus, and Sartre: The Self, Being, and Nothingness Thurs. 10/06: Tues. 10/11: Thurs. 10/13: Tues. 10/18: Thurs. 10/20: Tues. 10/25: Thurs. 10/27: Tues. 11/01: Existentialism and Literature Read: Camus, The Stranger, Part I The Concept of the Absurd Read: Camus, The Stranger, Part II and An Absurd Reasoning McMahon, 24 and the Existential Man of Revolt Absurdity and Nihilism Read: Gabriel Marcel s The Refusal of Salvation and the Exaltation of the Man of Absurdity. Guest Facilitator: TBA Heidegger s Analytics of Dasein Read: Selections from Being and Time in Salomon s Existentialism What is Existentialism? Read: Sartre, Existentialism and Humanism, Chapter 2 in Basic Writings. Nothingness and the Self Read: Chapters 5-8 in Basic Writings. Sartre, Existentialist Ethics Read: Chapters 9-10 in Basic Writings. Is Existentialism Apolitical? Read: Chapters 11-12 and 16 in Basic Writings. Barad, Blade Runner and Sartre: The Boundaries of Humanity *** SECOND TAKE-HOME EXAM DUE ON 11/01 IN CLASS*** 5
Part V: Existentialism and Christian Theology and Ethics Thurs. 11/03: Tues. 11/08: Thurs. 11/17: Tillich, The Courage to Be Read: Chapters One and Two, pp. 1-63 Tillich, The Courage to Be Read: Chapter Four and Five, pp. 86-154 Tillich, The Courage to Be Read: Chapter Six, pp. 155-190 Part VI: Existentialism and Postmodernity: Is Existentialism Dead? Tues. 11/22: Beyond Existentialism? The Critique of Subjectivism and Western Metaphysics Read: Heidegger s Letter on Humanism *** FILM REVIEW DUE ON 11/22 IN CLASS *** Thurs. 11/24: Tues. 11/29: Thurs. 12/02: Tues. 12/06: THANKSGIVING BREAK The Postructuralist and Deconstructive Critiques Read: Derrida, The Ends of Man Religion and/or Irreligion in the Desert of the Real Read: Brannigan, There is no Spoon, and Weberman, The Matrix Simulation and the Postmodern Age After Existentialism: A Postmodern God? Read: Beckett, Waiting for Godot Taylor, Prelude, Chapters 1 & 8, Interlude. *** THIRD TAKE-HOME DUE ON 12/16 AT NOON *** 6