TTEASK029U The Making of the Modern Self: Existential Philosophy

Volume 2019/2020
Content

This English language course, open to Danish students as well as international students, traces the conception of authentic existence in the works of thinkers from the Existentialist tradition such as Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Hannah Arendt, and Copenhagen’s own Søren Kierkegaard. Among other things, we will observe how ethical thinking has moved from the language of duty to that of personal answerability, and how the search for meaningful personal existence has increasingly become the responsibility of the individual. The unique vocabulary of these authors appears not only in works of philosophy, theology, and psychology, but also literature and theatre, which illustrates that we understand ourselves via the stories we tell, and that these narratives are necessarily told in dialogue with “the Other,” our fellow human beings.

Class Instruction
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 28
  • Course Preparation
  • 122
  • Exam
  • 120
  • Exam Preparation
  • 150
  • Total
  • 420
Credit
15 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment
Undergraduate requirements (bachelor students):

Requirement to pass the course for undergraduate students (bachelor students): Active attendance (at least attendance in 75% of the class-sessions, documented by protocol). The syllabus volume and content are determined by the teacher, and three to five assignments are handed in to the teacher on each 9,600-12,000 characters, ie. 4-5 pages, as well as a final major assignment, which has s size of 19,200-24,000 characters, ie. 8-10 pages, and based on 400-500 pages literature in agreement with the teacher. The assignments are assessed by the teacher and the final assessment is given after the 7-point grading scale.

Graduate requirements (kandidat/master students):

Requirement to pass the course for graduate students (kandidat/master students): Active attendance (at least attendance in 75% of the class-sessions, documented by protocol). The syllabus volume and content are determined by the teacher, and three to five assignments are drawn on each 9,600-12,000 characters, ie. 4-5 pages, as well as a final major assignment, which has a size of 26,400-36,000 characters, ie. 11-15 pages, and is based on 800-1000 pages of literature in agreement with the teacher. The assignments are assessed by the teacher and the final assessment is given after the 7-point grading scale.
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Exam period

Winter and Summer Exam