EXISTENTIALISM &
RELIGION
RELIGION 300/5
Fall 1999
MWF 11:45 - 12:40
Slocum Rm. 115
Instructor: Jeff Robbins
Office: HL #513
Office Hours: MW, 10:00-11:30
or by appointment
phone: 443-5723 (office)
475-7120 (home)
email: jwrobbin@syr.edu
When philosophy and life are intermingled, we no longer know if we
look to philosophy because it is life, or if we cling to life because
it is philosophy.--Emmanuel Levinas
Beginning to think is beginning to be
undermined.--Albert Camus
Existentialism's first move is to
make every man aware of what he is and to make the full responsibility of his existence rest on him.--Jean-Paul
Sartre
Whatever its ultimate meaning, the
universe into which we have been thrown cannot satisfy our reason-let
us have the courage to admit it once and for all.--Gabriel
Marcel
If it were conceivable that one might
be damned by obeying God and saved by disobeying him; I would
nonetheless obey him.--Simone
Weil
The courage to be is rooted in the
God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt.
-Paul
Tillich
One might say that I am the moment of individuality, but I refuse to be a paragraph in a system--Soren Kierkegaard
It seems to me that the meaning of a
person's life consists in proving to himself every minute that he's a
person and not a piano key.
--Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Book
List:
(Available at the Orange Bookstore and at Bird Library Reserve
Desk)
Related
Websites:
Course Schedule
8/30 - 9/1
1. Introducing Existentialism:
Read Kaufmann Introduction: "Existentialism from Dostoyevsky to Sartre"
Read Walker Percy: "The Delta Factor"
Read Annie Dillard: "The Wreck of Time: Taking Our Century's Measure"
9/3 - 9/27
2. The Responsibility of Existentialism:
Read and Discuss Hannah Arendt
First Response Paper Due: 9/27
9/29 - 10/11
3. What is Existentialism?:
Read and Discuss Sartre
10/13 - 10/25
4. From What to How:
Read and Discuss Kierkegaard
Second Response Paper Due: 10/25
10/27 - 10/29
5. Why Philosophy?:
Read and Discuss Camus
11/1 - 11/19
6. The Question of Being:
Read and Discuss Heidegger
Third Response Paper Due: 11/15
Exam: 11/19
(No Classes: 11/22, 11/24, 11/26)
Reviews Due: 11/29
11/29 - 12/8
7. Religion and Existentialism:
Group Presentations on Tillich, Weil, and Buber.
Presentations: 12/1, 12/3, 12/6
Final Class: 12/8
Final Papers and all make-up work due: 12/10
Requirements:
REQUIREMENTS FOR 'C'
Attend class regularly and be willing to participate in class
discussion. Read assigned texts and demonstrate sufficient understanding
in critical reflection papers. Complete semester project paper (5-10 pages) in consultation with the
instructor.
REQUIREMENTS FOR 'B'
Fulfill the requirements listed for a
'C'. Do acceptable work on mid-term exam (If you fail to do
acceptable work on the mid-term, then you will be given the
opportunity to take it again).
REQUIREMENTS FOR 'A'
Fulfill the 'C' and 'B'
requirements. Participate in an end of the semester group presentation on
either Tillich, Buber, or Weil. Write a review (3-5) pages on one of the suggested novels/plays/movies.
Note on the Grading System:
In this grading system all student work (reflection papers, class
presentation, semester paper) will be graded either 'satisfactory' or
'unsatisfactory.' All unsatisfactory work can be repeated by the
student later in the semester.
This contract system places emphasis on student responsibility,
creativity, and motivation. It requires that students make an honest
assessment about the time and energy that they can and will invest in
the course. You need to be candid with yourself as you decide on the
level at which you can work and be systematic and diligent in
fulfilling your contract.
Course Objectives:
The title of the course is best thought of as a question, thus the
series of questions that make up the semester schedule. As such,
there are no preestablished objectives other than the basic
requirement that this course be an exercise in thinking. By thinking,
you will be in an ongoing and multi-layered conversation with the
authors and texts we will be reading, with fellow classmates, with
the instructor, and last but not least, with yourselves as you think
the questions that question the nature of existence and religion. The
greatest aim of the course is that we find ourselves in collaboration
with one another, a collaboration that culminates in an appreciation
of the possibilities of thinking and community, as well as a greater
recognition of the responsibilities of a thoughtful existence.
As a course-in-question there is a built-in element of flexibility.
In other words, your presence, participation, and consideration
matter not only to yourself and your grade, but even more, to the
class as a whole as we together realize the peculiar promise of a
university education.
Finally, as we begin to think, the objective is that we discover a
world that is, but not entirely, of our own making, and a subject
matter that is, but not wholly, thinkable. Existence will be rendered
existential. And religion will be thought theological.