Syllabus Showcase: Emma McClure, Existentialism

Existentialism asks: how do you live a meaningful life? This is what makes Existentialism so fascinating to undergraduates — particularly 18-year-olds transitioning into independent adulthood.

In the first half of the semester, I taught answers to this question offered by members of the traditional canon: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Camus, and Beckett. However, Existentialism is more than just a historical tradition — one of its primary aims was to offer concrete recommendations that could be put into practice by the reader. I was teaching at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and the vast majority of my students were men and women of color. Focusing exclusively on a canon of white men would needlessly alienate my students. Moreover, I argued in lecture that these canonical theorists all made the same mistake: they overlooked the role that oppression plays in the search for a meaningful life.

Therefore, in the second half, I focused on versions of Existentialism that incorporated diverse experiences. Simone de Beauvoir, co-founder of Existentialism, showed how discrimination and complicity impacted women’s pursuit of authenticity and freedom. W.E.B. Du Bois and Franz Fanon called attention to the African diaspora’s experience of similar issues. Finally, Zora Neale Hurston combines Black and Feminist perspectives in her book, Their Eyes Were Watching God. She highlights the role of family and the interplay of gender and race in the existential development of Janie, a young black woman.

Expanding the canon helped to make Existentialism more accessible to my students, but these historical texts were still missing an essential part of the movement: a sense of modernity. When first proposed, Existentialism felt shockingly vibrant and relevant to the trials of modern life. To capture this sense of immediacy, I paired the historical writers with more recent artists whose works exemplified similar existential themes.

This led to my most successful course activity. At the end of the week on Du Bois and Fanon, I showed a music video, Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” and then split the class into small groups to discuss the existential themes present in its lyrics and cinematography. I’d only intended for them to find lyrics that echoed the reading we’d discussed earlier that day, but each group made connections to theorists we’d discussed weeks — and even months — earlier. Their discussions were so vibrant and detailed that the activity filled the rest of the session: an hour of student-run close reading and debate.

The same enthusiasm manifested outside of the classroom. I modeled the assignment structure after my most life-altering course in undergrad: Adam Leite’s Philosophy of Psychoanalysis. Like Professor Leite, I required my students to write journal entries about each reading. I was astounded by the thoughtfulness of their responses. Students shared their struggles against restrictive parental expectations, bullying, and discrimination, and they connected their experiences to the struggles faced by existentialists during their search for meaning. Several students revealed that they hadn’t fully understood the course material until they had the opportunity to think about how it connected to their own experiences. I’m pleased with my decision to focus on issues and perspectives that were relevant to my student’s lives. Most of my students were not philosophy majors, yet on evaluations, 82% of them reported discussing course material outside of class “a great deal.”

My course is best encapsulated by a quote from Barry Jenkin’s Moonlight, which I assigned in the final weeks: “At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you’re going to be. Can’t let nobody make that decision for you.” I hope other course instructors and professors decide to adopt some of the changes I’ve made to the standard Existentialism syllabus.

Here is the syllabus.

Existentialism

Lecture Times:TR 11-12:30, MW 120

Instructor: Emma McClure (emma.mcclure@mail.utoroto.ca)

Office Location and Hours: TR 1-2, or by appointment in Portable 102, P104

Course Description:

When Jean-Paul Sartre first heard of phenomenology, he went pale with excitement. He had grown bored of traditional philosophical debates, and he leapt at the chance to study a philosophy inspired by the problems and passions of ordinary life. I hope many of you feel the same excitement as you break away from your past coursework and delve into this radically new form of philosophy.

In the first half of the course, we will introduce the concepts that drive existentialist thinking: authenticity and absurdity. Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Camus, and Beckett blur the lines between good/evil, truth/fiction, and philosophy/literature.

All these writers share a common experience: rich, white, European, male. In the second half of the course, we will consider other versions of existentialism. We turn first to de Beauvoir—the co-founder of the existentialist movement—for an articulation of Feminist Existentialism.

While de Beauvoir objects to Sartre’s overly-masculine assumptions, however, Spelman challenges de Beauvoir’s representation of a universal female experience — that excludes poor women and women of color. In light of these criticisms, we explore a second challenge to European existentialism: the Black Existentialism of Du Bois, Fanon, Lamar, and Jenkins.

Finally, we combine the two challenges into a discussion of Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Beyoncé’s Lemonade. Do these count as existentialist works? Can we stretch existentialism so far beyond its roots in rich, white, mid-century France, or is existentialism necessarily limited to a particular cultural milieu? As with all truly existential questions, the answer is yours to decide…

Evaluation:

As a philosophy student, you will complete traditional assessments (2 papers, worth 25% each, and a final exam, worth 30%). Since existentialism diverges from traditional philosophy, however, you will also be asked for more personal engagement with the texts: you will be asked to write 11 short reading responses (only the highest 10 grades will count, for a total of 20% of your final grade) These responses will require you to provide a short description of a concept and then invite you to connect the concept to either your lived experience or an artistic work.

Required Texts:

Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (available from UTSC Bookstore)

Barry Jenkins, Moonlight (available for rent on Google Play)

Beyoncé, Lemonade (available for purchase on Tidal or iTunes)

All other readings will be available on the “Readings” section of the Blackboard course page. 

Reading Schedule:

Class 1: Introduction to the question, “How do we live a meaningful life?”

• Sarah Bakewell, “Sir, What a Horror, Existentialism!”

Class 2-3: Kierkegaard raises the possibility that we can find meaning through God

• Søren Kierkegaard, “Diary of a Seducer”
• Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling (Selections)

Class 4-5: Nietzsche counters that God cannot save us from the search for meaning

• Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality (Selections)

Class 6-8: Sartre argues that each person is responsible for creating their own meaning

• Jean-Paul Sartre, “Erostratus”
• Jean-Paul Sartre, “Existentialism is a Humanism”
• Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea (Selections)

Class 9-10: Camus recommends we revolt against the desire for meaning

• Albert Camus, Myth of Sisyphus (Selections)

Class 11-12: Beckett suggests friendship may be the solution to our quest for meaning

• Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot

Class 13-15: de Beauvoir shows how gender discrimination impacts the search for meaning

• Simone de Beauvoir, “Introduction to The Second Sex”
• Simone de Beauvoir, “The Narcissist”
• Simone de Beauvoir, “The Woman in Love” (Selections)

Class 16: Spelman expands de Beauvoir’s account to include all women, not just white women

• Elizabeth Spelman, “Simone de Beauvoir and Women”

Class 17-18: Du Bois and Fanon show how race discrimination impacts the search for meaning

• W.E.B. Du Bois, “Of Our Spiritual Striving”
• Franz Fanon, “Introduction” & “The Lived Experience of the Black Man”
• Kendrick Lamar, “Alright” (watch music video in class)

Class 19-20: Jenkins presents different ways to answer the question, “Who is you?”

• Franz Fanon, “By Way of Conclusion”
• Barry Jenkins, Moonlight (watch film before class)

Class 21-24: Hurston and Beyoncé combine all the preceding themes

• Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Beyoncé Lemonade
• Janet Mock, “‘Lemonade’ Is Beyoncé’s Testimony of Being Black, Beautiful and Burdened”

Course Policies:

Contact Policy:

You are required to check your university email accounts regularly. All announcements and grades will be posted on Blackboard, and papers will be returned over Blackboard.

I can be reached at office hours or over email: emma.mcclure@mail.utoronto.ca If you email me, please include the course code (PHLB30) in the subject line. My response time will be ~24 hours. If you haven’t heard back within 48 hours, please email me again to remind me.

Office Hours:

Please feel free to drop by my office hours, or if you are unavailable during that time, email me to make an appointment. You are not bothering me by coming to my office hours. These are times I have set aside so that I can speak with you one-on-one. You can come with particular questions or you can come just wanting to chat. My biggest regret about my own time as an undergrad was not taking advantage of office hours. Don’t be like me! Come to office hours.

Attendance and Participation:

Attendance is highly encouraged, though not strictly required. Handouts will be posted on Blackboard, but regular lecture attendance will be necessary in order to understand class material and succeed on assessments.

Similarly, while class participation is not mandatory, it is helpful to test out your ideas prior to being assessed on them. You will get more out of the class, and the class will be more enjoyable. Note that some of the topics we discuss will be very personal, and you may feel uncomfortable, particularly as we discuss structures of domination in the second half of term. I want us to learn to live with, and work through, these feelings of discomfort. Listen to your classmates and engage with them respectfully. Allow yourself to learn and change your mind. I expect to learn from this experience as well.

Late Assignments:

There will be a 2% penalty for each day an assignment is late. The late penalty can be waived and the deadline extended if you find yourself in exceptional circumstances (due to accessibility reasons, trauma, family problems, etc). Please reach out if you are struggling to meet deadlines.

If you need to miss the final exam (for whatever reason), you must petition the College Registrar’s Office for an opportunity to sit a deferred exam.

Accessibility:

I am happy to provide any accommodations needed to ensure that all materials and activities are accessible to all students. All readings and handouts will be available on Blackboard in PDF form. Class attendance and late-assignment policies were constructed with an eye towards making this class as accessible as possible. Please let me know if you require any other accommodations, at any point throughout the term. If you know that you won’t be able to perform a required activity, we can discuss alternative evaluation schemes.

Mental Health:

Academic work is difficult and psychologically demanding. It’s important to work hard and push yourself but it is even more important to be kind to yourself. The University has a number of resources available if difficulties arise:

http://discover.utoronto.ca/health-wellness

http://life.utoronto.ca/get-help/counselling/

http://mentalhealth.utoronto.ca/

Academic Integrity:

The purpose of the assignments is to improve your skills in reading, writing, and critical thinking. The purpose of grades is to reflect your competency in these skills. Plagiarism undercuts these aims. You have plagiarized if you a) include writing that is not your own AND b) do not cite your sources. Submitting a paper you wrote for another class also counts as plagiarism. If you find yourself tempted to plagiarize because of time pressures or personal reasons, please get in touch. You might be able to get an extension or another accommodation.

I will investigate suspected cases of plagiarism and academic dishonesty, in accordance with the procedures outlined in the University of Toronto’s Code of Behavior on Academic Matters (available online at: http://www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/policies/behaveac.htm).

If you have questions about what constitutes appropriate academic behavior or appropriate research and citation methods, you are expected to seek out additional information from other institutional resources. (http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_plagiarism.html is a good place to start.)

Writing Help:

Writing a philosophy essay can be difficult. We will spend some time in class talking about techniques for good writing and argumentation. More detailed information is available here: http://www.sfu.ca/philosophy/resources/writing.html

For in person help—especially with grammar or syntax—make an appointment at the UTSC Writing Centre: http://utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/writing-centre-tutorial

The Syllabus Showcase of the APA Blog is designed to share insights into the syllabi of philosophy educators.  We include syllabi that showcase a wide variety of philosophy classes.  We would love for you to be a part of this project.  Please email sabrinamisirhiralall@apaonline.org to nominate yourself or a colleague.

Emma McClure

Emma McClure is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto, they were inspired to write this post by conversations with fellow graduate students and early career scholars: Kayla Wiebe, Lisa McKeown, C. Dalrymple-Fraser, Jessica Wright, Mark Fortney, Joshua Brandt, Howard Williams, and her co-authors on the APA blog post where they originally raised these questions, Arianna Falbo and Heather Stewart.