| CODE | PHI2034 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Phenomenology and Existentialism | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Philosophy | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Phenomenology can be easily defined as the study of experience, of the way things appear to us together in their truth. It proposes a shift from ‘experiencing things’ to ‘experiencing how we experience things’. The principal goal is to discern the truth of experience itself. Phenomenology makes a fresh start by returning to philosophy’s origin in experience. As Scheler writes, “the phenomenological philosopher, thirsting for the lived-experience of being, will above all seek to drink at the very sources in which the contents of the world reveal themselves.” Phenomenology is this direct way of bringing us face to face, up close and personal, with the fundamental layer of experience, a layer presupposed by science and everyday life. Husserl, the founder of phenomenology, maps a way for retreating from the battlefield of thought and returning to the field of experience. In this sense, phenomenology is no ideology, no system, no finished product but, rather, something alive and growing, adapting to different considerations, aspiring ever to fulfil the mandate to return to reality as it is experienced. In turn, existentialism - which is also known as a ‘philosophy of existence’ - can be better appreciated and understood in light of phenomenology, as an experience of human existence within a world filled with others. Existentialism, as a manner of doing philosophy and a way of addressing the issues that matter in people’s lives, is at least as old as philosophy itself and current as the human condition which it examines. Study-Unit Aims: This study-unit aims to introduce students to the basic concepts of phenomenology and existential philosophy through an engagement with their texts and ideas. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - define key phenomenological concepts (Intentionality, intuition, evidence, noesis and noema, empathy and intersubjectivity, the lifeworld); - define key existential concepts (Existence precedes essence, the absurd, faciticity, authenticity, the Other and the Look, Angst, despair). 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - interpret these concepts in a written assignment; - demonstrate his/her knowledge of phenomenological and existential concepts through discussions; - adopt a phenomenological attitude and existentialist approach to philosophy by moving through the different stages and layers of learning, thinking and doing. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - Chad Engelland, Phenomenology (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2020). - Donald Wallenfand, Phenomenology (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2019). - Dan Zahavi, Husserl’s Phenomenology (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2003). - Jean Wahl, Human Existence and Transcendence (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2016). - Thomas Flynn, Existentialism: A very short introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). - Gabriel Marcel, The Philosophy of Existentialism (New York: The Citadel Press, 1970). - Dan Zahavi, The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Phenomenology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). - Hubert L. Dreyfus, A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism (Malden, USA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2006). - Robert Sokolowski, Introduction to Phenomenology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Tutorial | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Claude Mangion |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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