Philosophy 1100: The Meaning of Life
Syllabus
Course Director: Henry Jackman
Course Location: ACE 102
Course Time: M, W: 10:30 - 11:30
Office: 434 South Ross
Office hours: M, W: 9:30-10:20
Office phone: 736 2100 x77595
E-mail: hjackman@yorku.ca Web Page: www.jackman.org
REQUIRED TEXTS: All of the required texts are in the course
kit available at the bookstore.
Brief Course Description
This course is devoted to exploring a number of fundamental philosophical questions
that make their way into everyday life: What is the meaning of (my) life? Is
there any meaning in my life that will not be destroyed by my death? What is
happiness, and how can I achieve it? What is it to be wise, and is wisdom a
good thing to have? What is death, and what does it mean to me? Is the unexamined
life really not worth living (as Socrates maintained)?
In exploring these questions, we will read selections from the works of classical
philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and the Epicureans, as well
as a number of modern and contemporary philosophers such as Hume, Schopenhauer,
Nietzsche, Marx, James and Sartre.
Course Requirements:
1000 word essay (25%)
1200 word essay (30%)
Final Exam 35%
Tutorial Participation 10%
Final Exam: This exam will be given during the exam period
(Dec 6-20). Students are strongly recommended not to make any travel plans until
the university schedules dates for these exams.
Tentative 2006 schedule
September:
6: Introduction
11: Plato: Apology
13: Plato: Crito
18: Epictetus: The Handbook
20: Epicurus: Principle Doctrines
25: Epicurus: "Letter to Menoeceus", Nozick:
“The Experience Machine”
27: Nagel: “Death”
October:
2: Yom Kippur (No Class)
4: Aristotle: Nichomachean Ethics, Book 1
9: Thanksgiving (No class)
11: Aristotle: Nichomachean Ethics, Book 10 (First Paper Due)
16: Marx: “Alienated Labor”
18: Hume: "On Suicide”
23: Schopenhauer: Studies in Pessimism
25: Schopenhauer: Studies in Pessimism
30: Nietzsche: The Gay Science (books 1-3)
November:
1: Nietzsche: The Gay Science (book 4)
6 : Nietzsche: The Gay Science (book 5)
8 : Sartre: “The Humanism of Existentialism”
13: Sartre: “The Humanism of Existentialism”
15: Sartre: “The Humanism of Existentialism” (Second Paper
Due)
20: Tolstoy: My confession,
22: James: “The sick soul" & "The Divided Self”
27: Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, Hare: “Nothing Matters”
29 : Nagel, “The absurd”
December:
4: Review
6-20 Exam period
Other dates to remember:
September 21: Last day to enroll without my permission.
October 6: Last day to enroll with my permission.
November 10: Last day to drop class without receiving a grade: