SAMPLE SYLLABUS
|
Philosophy
of the Human Person
0122-300-06 & 07
Professor Fairweather
Fall 2000 |
| Instructor: Abrol
Fairweather, PhD (ABD) |
| Office: CA-D6A (ext.
5833) |
| Office Hours: W 6-8
or by appointment |
| Email: abrol@earthlink.net |
| Required Texts: |
| Images of the Human,
Brown ed., Loyola Press 1995 |
| The Meaning of Life,
Klemke ed., Oxford University Press 2000 |
| Course Value |
| I think this is a
very important course. Our topic is the nature of persons and this raises some of the
deepest questions that can be asked. Finding definitive answers may be difficult, but I
think the importance of the course lies elsewhere. Reflecting on your personhood enlarges
your world and provides depth to your experiences. This course is important because
opportunities to do this are fairly rare these days, as this is not the type of thinking
that is encouraged or rewarded for the most part. I think this is a very unfortunate fact
about contemporary society. I hope to provide a forum for deep personal reflection over
the semester. |
| Course Description |
| This course centers
on two primary questions: (1) What Am I? And (2) What is the Meaning of Life? These
questions are connected, since we need to have a handle on what we are in order to know
what makes life meaningful for creatures like us. Furthermore, in answering (1) we would
include the fact that we are creatures that ask questions like (2). On the other hand, we
can pursue each question on its own terms, without bringing in the other. We will do both.
We will have focused analysis of readings on both topics. Images of the Human is a
collection of the most famous philosophical writings on the nature of the person. These
readings span 2,500 years. We will see that philosophers have very diverse theories about
what is most essential to personhood. The Meaning of Life is a collection of
contemporary essays all of which address the topic mentioned in the title. The main divide
we will encounter is between Trascendentalist and Subjectivist approaches. We will also
spend some time examining the meaning of the question itself! |
| Course Requirements |
| 2 Take-Home Essay Exams (30%
each) |
| 1 In-Class Exam (30%) |
| Paricipation (10%) |
| Take-Home exams will include
1 essay of 5 pages, and approximately 10 medium length questions (a couple paragraphs).
The 10 questions are a test of breadth,, the essay a test of depth. The In-Class exam is
of the familiar sort, testing your understanding of course readings. Each exam will allow
you to incorporate your own ideas, but also requires you to base your ideas on those
presented in the reading. |
| Schedule of Readings |
| Readings for Take-Home #1:
Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and Simone deBouvoir from Images of the Human. Thomas Nagel,
from The Meaning of Life. |
| Readings for Take-Home #2:
Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Wittgenstein from Images of the Human. William Craig, Owen
Flanagan, Leo Tolstoy, Kai Nielsen from The Meaning of Life. |
| Readings for In-Class Exam:
Sartre, Edith Stein, William James from Images of the Human. |
