ARLT 101g Existentialism, death, and meaninglessness Summer 1999
Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30 a.m.- 1:05 p.m., THH 112

Professor Edwin McCann
MHP 107, 213-740-5169, FAX 213-740-5174, mccann@bcf.usc.edu
Office hours: TTh 1:45-2:30, and by appointment

Course home page: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~mccann/courses/992/

We will study some of the major works of recent (nineteenth and twentieth century) literature and philosophy concerned with the question of the meaninglessness of human life in the face of the increasing bureaucratization and reliance on technology exhibited by modern societies, and by the decline of religious belief and other traditional sources of meaning. Special attention will be paid to existentialism as a systematic attempt to come to terms with the threat of meaninglessness.

Books for the course
1. Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, tr. Lynn Solotaroff (Bantam)
2. Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground and The Gambler, tr. Jane Kentish (Oxford U.P.)
3. Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Grand Inquisitor, ed. Charles Guignon, tr. Constance Garnett (Hackett)
4. Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality, tr. Clark & Swenson (Hackett)
5. Robert Bretall, ed. A Kierkegaard Anthology (Princeton U.P.)
6. Robert Cumming, ed. The Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre (Random House)
7. Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis, tr. Stanley Corngold (Norton)
8. Albert Camus, The Stranger, tr. Matthew Ward (Vintage)
9. Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (Grove Press)
10. Course reader (CR), containing:

a. Leo Tolstoy, "My Confession."
b. Albert Camus, "The Absurdity of Human Existence"
c. Thomas Nagel, "The Absurd"
d. Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Humanism

Course requirements
1. Regular attendance and participation in class sessions.
2. Three papers: two 5 page papers (critical/analytical, not involving research) on assigned topics; each is worth 20% of the course grade. The third paper will be an extensive rewriting and expansion of one of these papers; it is worth 30% of the course grade. (Total value of three papers=70% of course grade.)
3.One final examination, take-home essay format, covering material from the whole of the course. The final is worth 30% of the course grade.

Schedule of topics and readings
(Note: readings marked with * are available on electronic reserve and in the course pack.)

Week one
May 20: Introduction and course overview.

Week two
May 25: Death and the problem of meaning. Reading: Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilich; Tolstoy, "My Confession" (CR); Camus, "The Absurdity of Human Existence"(CR); Thomas Nagel, "TheAbsurd"(CR).

May 27: Camus and life without hope. Reading: Camus, The Stranger.

LAST DAY TO DROP WITHOUT A MARK OF W AND WITH 100% REFUND, OR TO CHANGE ENROLLMENT OPTION:May 28.

Week three
June 1: Master morality and slave morality. Reading: Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality, Preface and Treatises I and II (Clark & Swensen, pp. 1-66).

June 3: Nihilism and self-denial. Reading: Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality, Treatise III (Clark & Swensen, pp.67-118); Kafka, The Metamorphosis (Corngold, pp. 3-42).

FIRST PAPER DUE: June 8.

Week four
June 8: Existentialism and the choice of a life for oneself. Reading: Selections from Kierkegaard, ‘The Diary of a Seducer’ from Either/Or (Bretall, pp. 19-108), and from Kierkegaard, The Point of View for My Work as an Author (Bretall, pp. 323-339).

June 10: Truth as subjectivity; faith and truth. Reading: Selections from Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling (Bretall, pp. 116-134), and from Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript (Bretall, pp. 190-258).

Week five
June 15: Consciousness, freedom, and despair. Reading: Selections from Kierkegaard, Sickness unto Death (Bretall, pp. 339-371); Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground (Kentish, pp. 3-123); Dostoevsky, “Rebellion” and “The Grand Inquisitor” chapters from The Brothers Karamazov (Guignon, pp. 7-37).

June 17: Existentialism and morality: 'Man makes himself.' Reading: Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism (CR).

SECOND PAPER DUE: June 24

Week six
June 22: NO CLASS

June 24: Consciousness, self, and choice. Reading: Selections from Sartre, Being and Nothingness (Cumming, pp. 101-136, 167-181).

LAST DAY TO DROP WITH A MARK OF 'W': June 29

Week seven
June 29: Bad faith. Reading: Selections from Sartre, Being and Nothingness (Cumming, pp. 137-166).

July 1: Intimacy and concrete relations with others. Reading: Selections from Sartre, Being and Nothingness (Cumming, pp. 188-230).

STUDENT EVALUATION OF THE CLASS AND INSTRUCTOR: July 6, at the midpoint of the regular class meeting

THIRD PAPER DUE: July 6

FINAL EXAMINATION DUE: July 6

Week eight
July 6: Beckett and the loss of meaning. Reading: Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot.

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