Existentialism and Its Sources (319-0-20)

Topic

Kierkegaard and Indirect Communication

Instructors

Mark Alznauer
847/491-2559
Kresge 3-417

Meeting Info

University Hall 122: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

This class will involve a close reading of one of the great masterpieces of existential literature, Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postscript. In that book, Kierkegaard asks whether we, despite living in the midst of Christendom, have the faintest idea about how to _become_ a Christian, and he raises the paradoxical question of whether this is even the sort of thing that one person could directly communicate to another (say by writing a book). In this course, we will also consider several other figures in the history of thought who similarly insisted upon the need for what Kierkegaard calls ‘indirect communication' (possibly including Plato, Lessing, Friedrich Schlegel, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Leo Strauss, Paul de Man, Susanne Langer, and Jonathan Lear).

Class Materials (Required)

Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Soren Kierkegaard, trans. Hong & Hong, Princeton University Press
Other essays will be provided

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Pre-registration -- Reserved for Philosophy students.
Add Consent: Instructor Consent Required