LITS3303 READING SCHEDULE MODULE ONE:
PHENOMENOLOGY, EXISTENTIALISM, HERMENEUTICS

Seminar 1: Introduction / What is Contemporary Philosophy? What is Continental Philosophy?

• Levy, Neil: Analytic and Continental Philosophy: Explaining the Differences

Seminar 2: the Dialectic

• G. W. F. Hegel The Science of Logic [1812]: "Introduction: Notion of Logic" (see extract entitled "Dialectics," pp. 243-246 in Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, eds. Literary Theory: an Anthology; also in folder)

Recommended Readings:

Off-Line:

On-Line:

• PhilWeb: Contemporary Philosophy: Continental Philosophy: Phenomenology

Notes:

• 01A What is Contemporary Philosophy?

• 01B Prehistory of Hegelian Phenomenology

WEEK 2: GERMAN IDEALISM II

Seminar 1: History as the Self-Realisation of Spirit

• G. W. F. Hegel The Philosophy of History [1805-1806; 1830-31] (pp. 76-87 in Patrick Gardiner, ed. Nineteenth Century Philosophy; pp. 457-464 in The Modern Tradition, ed. Richard Ellman, et al.; also in folder)

Seminar 2: the Master / Slave Dialectic

• G. W. F. Hegel The Phenomenology of Spirit [1807]: "The Master / Slave Dialectic" (pp. 630-636 in Leitch; also pp. 47-56 in McNeill and Feldman)

Recommended Readings:

Off-Line:

On-Line:

• History of Philosophy: Nineteenth Century Philosophy: Hegel

Notes:

[Refresh yourself on Plato's worldview by clicking here.]

• 02A Hegel Science of Logic: Dialectics

• 02B Hegel Philosophy of History

• [02C Prehistory of Hegelian Phenomenology] I have relocated this to Week 1 (above) where it is now Handout 01B

• 02C Hegel Phenomenology of Spirit (I have combined former Handouts 02D and 02E to make 02C)

WEEK 3: NINETEENTH CENTURY GERMAN MATERIALISM

Seminar 1:

• Friedrich Nietzsche "On Truth and Lies in a non-Moral Sense" [1873] (pp. 874-884 in Leitch; pp. 634-639 in Adams; also pp.358-361 in Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan, eds. Literary Theory: an Anthology)

Seminar 2:

• Friedrich Nietzsche Extracts from On the Use and Abuse of History [1873], Beyond Good and Evil [1886], On the Genealogy of Morality [1887], etc. in folder

Recommended Readings:

Off-Line:

On-Line:

• History of Philosophy: Nineteenth Century Philosophy: Nietzsche

Notes:

• Nietzsche

  • 03A On Truth and Lies in a non-Moral Sense"

  • 03B On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life

WEEK 4: FROM PHENOMENOLOGY TO EXISTENTIAL PHENOMENOLOGY

Seminar 1

• Edward Husserl
  • "Phenomenology" [1927] (pp. 15-22 in Kearney) and / or
  • "Philosophy in the Crisis of European Mankind [aka The Vienna Lecture]" [1935] (pp. 7-14 in Kearney)

Seminar 2:

• Martin Heidegger Selections from Being and Time [1927] (pp. 27-52 in Kearney; pp. 107-122 in McNeill and Feldman)

Recommended Readings:

Off-Line:

On-Line:

• Husserl
• Heidegger

Notes:

• Husserl "Phenomenology"

• Heidegger Being and Time

WEEK 5: EXISTENTIAL PHENOMENOLOGY II

Seminar 1:

• Jean-Paul Sartre

  • Selections from Being and Nothingness [1943] (pp. 153-160 in McNeill and Feldman)

  • Existentialism and Humanism [1946] (pp. 65-76 in Kearney)

Seminar 2:

• Maurice Merleau-Ponty Preface to Phenomenology of Perception [1945] (pp. 79-92 in Kearney)

Recommended Readings:

Off-Line:

On-Line:

• Sartre

• Merleau-Ponty

Notes:

• Sartre Existentialism and Humanism
• Merleau-Ponty Phenomenology of Perception: Preface

WEEK 6: PHENOMENOLOGICAL HERMENEUTICS

Seminar 1

• Hans-Georg Gadamer "The Universality of the Hermeneutical Problem" [1966] (pp. 111-121 in Kearney; pp. 186-193 in McNeill and Feldman)

Seminar 2:

• Emmanuel Levinas "The Trace of the Other" (pp. 176-185 in McNeill and Feldman)

Recommended Readings:

Off-Line:

On-Line:

• Gadamer
• Levinas

Notes:

• Gadamer "The Universality of the Hermeneutical Problem"

• Levinas "The Trace of the Other"

END OF MODULE ONE

[you should be working on your term paper]