The course is intended as an introduction into the German variety of existential philosophy (Existenzphilosophie).
We will be discussing the philosophical work of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Jaspers, Heidegger, and Patočka. Our
goal is to understand the basic scope, topics, and bearings of this particular variety of philosophy. The course is
open to all interested students and requires no prior philosophical knowledge.
Poslední úprava: Mgr. Eva Beranová (20.11.2017)
The course is intended as an introduction into the German variety of existential philosophy (Existenzphilosophie).
We will be discussing the philosophical work of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Jaspers, Heidegger, and Patočka. Our
goal is to understand the basic scope, topics, and bearings of this particular variety of philosophy. The course is
open to all interested students and requires no prior philosophical knowledge.
Požadavky ke zkoušce - angličtina
Poslední úprava: Mgr. Jakub Marek, Ph.D. (20.02.2019)
Every student will be required to deliver a presentation of a short philosophical text. For your presentations, I give you choice of the following:
Kierkegaard (all texts from The Essential Kierkegaard uploaded to the SIS): Either/Or, A Fragment of Life, I, pp. 37- 65, Philosophical Fragments, or a Fragment of Philosophy AND Johannes Climacus, or De omnibus dubitandum est, pp. 116-137, The Concept of Anxiety, pp. 138 - 155, Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, pp. 187-246, Works of Love, pp. 277 - 311.
Nietzsche (all texts from The Nietzsche Reader uploaded to the SIS) On the Utility and Liability of History for Life (1874) AND Schopenhauer as Educator (1874), pp. 124-150, Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits, volume 1 (1878) 161-190, Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future (1886) 311-361, On the Genealogy of Morality: A Polemic (1887), pp. 390-436.
Kafka: The Zürau Aphorisms (uploaded to the SIS), The Castle / - any edition, ideally in the original.
Jaspers: Philosophy II, Part III, chapter 7, "Boundary Situations", pp. 177-217. Heidegger: Basic Writings, chapter 5, "Letter on Humanism", pp. 213-266. Patočka: The Natural World as a Philosophical Problem, part "“The Natural World” Remeditated Thirty- Three Years Later", pp. 115-180, esp. pp. 160-180. Norberg-Schulz: Genius Loci, Parts I-IV, pp. 5-110.
Sylabus - angličtina
Poslední úprava: Mgr. Jakub Marek, Ph.D. (23.11.2021)
Updated syllabus for "Towards a Philosophy of Existence" Winter Term 2021
5
October
Introduction
12
October
A Prehistory of "Existence"
19
October
Kierkegaard I: Stages of Existence
Reading: Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
26
October
Kierkegaard II: The Synthesis of Existence
Reading: Kierkegaard, Sickness Unto Death
2
November
Kierkegaard: discussion
9
November
Nietzsche I: Introduction
16
November
Reading/Consultations Week
23
November
Nietzsche II: Metaphorical Existence
Reading: Nietzsche, On Truth and Lies (…)
30
November
Nietzsche III: A Genealogy of the (also)Human
Reading: Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Book I
7
December
Nietzsche: discussion
14
December
Kafka: Roaming Existence and The Castle
Optional Reading: The Castle
21
December
Heidegger I: Intro into the Fundamental Ontology
4
January
Colloquium
Readings:
Overviews:
GOLOMB, J. In Search of Authenticity. From Kierkegaard to Camus. London/New York: Routledge, 1995. ISBN 0-415-11946-4.
FLYNN, T. Existentialism. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 978–0–19–280428–0.
Key Readings (note the "pp" indicating compulsory page-range):
KIERKEGAARD. S. The Sickness Unto Death. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980. ISBN 0-691-07247-7. pp. 6-74.
KIERKEGAARD. S. Fear and Trembling. In Fear and Trembling. Repetion. Kierkegaard´s Writings VI. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983. ISBN 1-400810-329. pp. 1-123.
NIETZSCHE, F. On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense. In Philosophy and Truth. Selections from Nietzsche´s Notebooks of the early 1870´s. New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1993. ISBN 978-1573925327. pp. 79-91.
NIETZSCHE, F. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-521-84171-9. pp. 3-59.
JASPERS., K. Philosophy of Existence. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1971. ISBN 0-8122-7629-9. pp. 3-14.
PATOČKA, J. Body, Community, Language, World. Chicago: Open Court, 1998. ISBN 0-8126-9358-2. pp. 143-161.
