Note: The course is open primarily to Master's and Doctoral students registerted in the Philosophy Department.
COURSE OUTLINE:
Ubiqe mors est; optime hoc cavit Deus;
Eripers vitam nemo non homini potest;
At nemo mortem: mille ad hanc aditus patent.
Seneca
The subject matter of this course will be death where we will be reading and evaluating mainly contemporary literature. There are two discursive axes of our discussion. On the one hand, we will examine some prominent existential and/or phenomenological accounts addressing the questions of, inter alia, the methodological problems surrounding studies of one’s own death, the meaning of finite existences, how culture fashions people’s conception of death, death and/in literature, life and death of Homo Narrans, and death as the ultimate phenomenological limit. On the other hand, we will also consider certain contemporary analytical treatments of human death, taking the famous Epicurean argument regarding the harm or evil of death to be our starting point. Hence, the course principally aims to build a multi-faceted or polychromatic approach to the phenomenon of human death.
Grading: You will write a single paper for this course, at least 4000 words or approximately 12 pages (65% grade value). It will be submitted in the finals period. You are required to produce a written progress report (10% grade value) several weeks before the submission of paper. The remaining 25% will come from your presentations, attendance rate and participation in our class discussions.
Note: Students are responsible for arranging a presentation time in consultation with me. You are expected to determine your presentation topic/time in the first month of the term.
Plagiarism: Students must familiarize themselves with the definition of plagiarism and the ways to avoid it.