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Intermediate Philosophy Part 2: Nihilism, Phenomenology and Existentialism

One unexpected outcome of the Enlightenment period was the rise of nihilism, a crisis of finding any real meaning in the emerging scientific worldview. The development of the new philosophical movement of phenomenology can be seen as, in part, a response to this crisis. Husserl sought to analyse the role of consciousness in constituting meaning in experience in a way which united our daily experience of the world with the scientific world view. The approach he developed was swiftly challenged in the name of a more embodied and historically situated account of meaning by the work of Heidegger, de Beauvoir, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. This course will explore how the emergence of phenomenology as a philosophical method came to be inextricably linked to the wider issue of Existentialism as a response to the urgent problems of the 20th Century.
  • Who is it for?

    This is not a course for absolute beginners to philosophy. Students joining this course would benefit from having some previous experience of studying philosophy. Graduates of other humanities or social-science disciplines, however, with experience of complex theoretical frameworks, should find it very challenging yet potentially intellectually manageable to begin their philosophical studies with this course. All students will need to have reached at least Level 2 standard (equivalent to GSCE) in the English language.

  • What does it cover?

    The course begins with four sessions on the history of the concept of nihilism. We start by looking at Gorgias' argument for why nothing exists, situating it in the context of Pre-Socratic philosophy. Then we look at modern discussions of nihilism in F.H. Jacobi, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Camus, Beauvoir and Deleuze.
    In the main body of the course, we develop an account of the basic methods and concepts of Phenomenology and Existentialism, paying particular attention to how Husserl's Phenomenology became a discourse about Being (an ontology) in the hands of Heidegger. After exploring key ideas in Husserl's Phenomenology (eg. intentionality, the epoche, and phenomenological reduction), we examine the central doctrines of Heidegger's Being and Time (focusing on the difference between Being and beings, the analytic of Dasein and human temporality), and examine his approach to nothingness in the essay 'What is Metaphysics?' We will also assess the impact of the recently published Black Notebooks.
    In the last third of the course, we turn our attention to French Existentialism. After an intensive introduction to the key ideas of Sartre's Being and Nothingness, we look at Simone de Beauvoir's development of Existentialist ethics, and Merleau-Ponty's attempt to rethink the Existentialist account of perception and embodiment in The Phenomenology of Perception.
    The conceptual focus of the course is on being and nothingness, and so we conclude with a discussion of Emanuele Severino's The Essence of Nihilism and Badiou's Seminar on Parmenides, with the aim of integrating Pre-Socratic ideas about being and nothingness with Phenomenological and Existentialist approaches.

    By the end of the course, you should be able to:

    - Analyse, compare and contrast different approaches to the philosophical problem of Nihilism
    - Explain key concepts from a range of thinkers in the Phenomenological tradition (e.g. In Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty)
    - Explain key concepts in Heidegger's development of phenomenology as an account of Being (e.g. the ontological difference, the analytic of Dasein and temporality) and assess the implications of this
    - Apply the insights you have developed during the term to wider debates in philosophy.

  • What will it be like?


    The course is an interactive mixture of tutor exposition and class discussion. Extensive documentation will be provided throughout the course, and powerpoints covering the main points will be distributed after each session. There are opportunities for further discussion and reading outside of the class via the course's Moodle website.
    We will assess your expectations of the course in the first sessions. Thereafter, you will be able to monitor your progress on the course through participation in class discussion, questions and answers and in-class exercises. At the end of the course, you will be able to measure your progress against the stated outcomes for the course.

  • What else do I need to buy or do?


    Notebook and pen, for taking notes in class. Students may find it helpful to have Robert Solomon's book Continental Philosophy Since 1750: The Rise and Fall of the Self (about £17.99), as useful background reading, but this is not a requirement of the course. Extracts from the work of some of the thinkers we are studying will be provided as preparatory reading at home, and exercises will be set as homework for some classes. Students who undertake the reading and exercises will find that they gain more from the course.
    The central works referred to in this course are Heidegger's Being and Time and Sartre's Being and Nothingness. It is recommended that students acquaint or re-acquaint themselves with Heidegger's tome before the course starts. If you are completely new to Existentialism, you could start with Mary Warnock's overview, Existentialism.

  • What could it lead to?

    This course is designed as the second of a series of three term-long courses, and therefore students can enrol on the Summer Term course to continue their studies. Students who are unable to continue onto the second part of the course will find this term a good preparation for general intermediate level courses in Continental Philosophy, German Idealism, or Existentialism at institutions such as Birkbeck or other colleges.

Available Courses

Intermediate Philosophy Part 2: Nihilism, Phenomenology and Existentialism

One unexpected outcome of the Enlightenment period was the rise of nihilism, a crisis of finding any real meaning in the emerging scientific worldview. The development of the new philosophical movement of phenomenology can be seen as, in part, a response to this crisis. Husserl sought to analyse the role of consciousness in constituting meaning in experience in a way which united our daily experience of the world with the scientific world view. The approach he developed was swiftly challenged in the name of a more embodied and historically situated account of meaning by the work of Heidegger, de Beauvoir, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. This course will explore how the emergence of phenomenology as a philosophical method came to be inextricably linked to the wider issue of Existentialism as a response to the urgent problems of the 20th Century.

10 January 2024 – 27 March 2024
Wednesday, 11:00 to 13:00
Course Code:419B
£152 / £53
12 Meetings
High Street, Stratford
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Upper Intermediate Philosophy: Geo-Philosophy in the Age of Climate Crisis

Building upon the predictions concerning the ramifications of human activity on earth's resources, a pertinent question emerges: Can philosophy play any role in navigating this predicament? This course aspires to conjure such an intervention and sheds light on the intertwining of philosophy with the human relation to the Earth, a concern extending beyond the realms of present-day debates. Indeed, it reveals a deep-seated enigma that has been a constant companion of Western philosophy since its very dawn - what is the nature of the bond between thought and the Earth? Through an exhaustive exploration emphasising the Earth's enduring, yet often enigmatic, presence across the trajectory of philosophical debate, this course lays the foundation for a philosophical retort to the looming ecological reality. The course will traverse key philosophical texts, commencing with the pre-Socratic philosophers and the Stoics, and continuing through Plato and Aristotle; progressing to philosophers of the enlightenment such as Descartes, Leibniz, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Kant; and concluding with 19th and 20th-century thinkers like Nietzsche, Marx, Heidegger, and Deleuze. Together, we will asses how the history of the concept 'Earth' has shaped our relation to the natural world, and the possibility of forging a new perspective, one which could pave the way towards a revitalized relationship with our environment, ultimately crafting a different future trajectory.

22 April 2024 – 15 July 2024
Monday, 13:00 to 15:00
Course Code:421CS
£147 / £51
11 Meetings
High Street, Stratford
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Intermediate Philosophy Part 3: Society, Language and Difference

Philosophy in the second half of the 20th century was faced with the demands of formulating an adequate response to the world after the second world war: the rise of different forms of totalitarianism, the horrors of the war itself and the role of technology in bringing this about became urgent issues. We will examine two forms of response to this situation. Firstly, we will examine how Critical Theory attempted to explain and move beyond the social contradictions that had been laid bare during this period. Following on from this, the question of the place of language in our relations with the world came to a central focus of attention, giving birth to the ideas of structuralism and post-structuralism. In this part of the course we will engage with the work of Lacan, Derrida, Foucault and Deleuze.

22 April 2024 – 15 July 2024
Monday, 18:00 to 20:00
Course Code:418
£139 / £49
11 Meetings
High Street, Stratford
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24 April 2024 – 10 July 2024
Wednesday, 11:00 to 13:00
Course Code:419C
£152 / £53
12 Meetings
High Street, Stratford
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Philosophy For Beginners Part 3

Explore some of the most important ideas, themes and thinkers in the history of Western philosophy. Learn about some of the central problems of philosophy, and how to puzzle them out for yourselves.

24 April 2024 – 10 July 2024
Wednesday, 14:00 to 16:00
Course Code:412
£145 / £51
12 Meetings
High Street, Stratford
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25 April 2024 – 11 July 2024
Thursday, 18:30 to 20:30
Course Code:415
£152 / £53
12 Meetings
High Street, Stratford
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For more information contact hum@marywardcentre.ac.uk at admin@marywardcentre.ac.uk

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