180075 VO-L Introduction to Phenomenology and Existentialism (2017W)

Contents:
This course will introduce students to the phenomenological tradition of philosophy, including both ‘transcendental’ and ‘existential’ phenomenology. It will focus upon some central themes in the writings of Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Sartre, including the phenomenological reduction, the Ego, the experience of time and possibility, the relationship between the scientifically described world and the world of everyday experience, interpersonal and social experience, the body, moods and emotions, and freedom. Students will learn how to read, interpret, and critically discuss phenomenological writings. However, the primary emphasis of the course will be on learning how to do phenomenology for oneself, by drawing on the insights of others. Hence, throughout the course, students will be actively encouraged to reflect upon and describe the structure of experience – to become phenomenologists.

Methods:
- explanation and clarification of themes, methods, concepts, and claims through a series of lectures
- critical discussion of ideas during lectures, through question-and-answer sessions
- group exercises during lectures, involving phenomenological reflection
- reading of primary texts, as well as introductory and other secondary literature
writing an essay under exam conditions

Aims:
Students will:
- become familiar with phenomenological methods, and with themes that are central to historical and current phenomenological research
- learn how to interpret and critically discuss texts and ideas
- practice phenomenological reflection themselves
- sit an examination, during which they will write one essay