Syllabus Showcase: Philosophy of Person, Amber George

When tasked with creating the course “Philosophy of Person,” I wished to focus on the great existential thinkers. I teach this course at an institution that offers accelerated 7-week undergraduate courses online. The students electing to take my course have taken the philosophy pre-requisites and enjoyed it enough to want more. I make existential philosophy (and philosophers) relevant by asking students to share their existential experiences through a series of assignments, readings, and audio-visual materials. Students complete a weekly discussion board requirement to expand upon their impressions of the material and each other’s thoughts. Each week, students meet “new” philosophers that build on the previous week of learning. I have them “communicate” in conversation with each philosopher as they go along. The first week explores answers to the question, “what is existentialism?”; then, after which, the philosophies of Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir are studied in more detail.

Students learn that existentialism represents a theory, a movement, a personal identity label, or even an approach to living. By opening their understanding of this one word, they seem less intimidated by philosophy and less likely to believe existentialism is intellectually inaccessible. I demonstrate that existentialism is something they naturally do every day.

Next, I introduce the “father,” or perhaps it is more accurate to say, “grandfather” of existentialism, Søren Kierkegaard. Through Kierkegaard, students realize that self-reflection using existentialism is possible. Healing their “psychological states of mind” and “ontological states of being” was important to Kierkegaard. His philosophies also offer the students their first glimpse at understanding choice, anxiety, subjective, truth, the limits of reason, and authenticity. These themes will play out within other philosophers’ sandboxes throughout the entirety of the course.

Fredrich Nietzsche is the next heavyweight existentialist students explore in the course. They often assume that Nietzsche’s words will be challenging and not valuable. However, by the end of the week, they often find Nietzsche empowering and insightful. He is one of the great philosophers because of his focus on subjective individuality, the dangers of absorbing into the herd and losing “freedom,” and rejecting all of the usual crutches that people lean upon to escape responsibility. Given his rebel status as a cultural outsider, advocacy of unconventional philosophies, and intense personal issues, students often dig that he was a radical.

Next, we visit Martin Heidegger, who students find baffling due to his distinctive writing style. On the one hand, the task of reading Heidegger seems so foreboding that students often avoid it entirely. However, students are relieved to learn his language is unusual because he struggled to express things for which our conventional linguistic terms are utterly inadequate to explain. On the other hand, if students concentrate too much on Heidegger’s language, they make little headway with his arguments. Thus, I emphasize his big-ticket items such as “the question of being within his primary approach to reality: what does it mean to say of something that it is, that it exists?”

Nearing the end, students meet the thoughts of the existential lovebirds John-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. We basically pick up where Kierkegaard and Nietzsche left off to expand upon the relationship between “essence and existence.” In other words, was Rene Descartes correct by proclaiming, “I think. Therefore, I am”? Did traditional Western philosophy get it right when suggesting, “essence precedes existence,” which means essences determine existing things? This is relevant because Sartre flips the script to suggest, “existence precedes essence.” Sartre instructs us to try this on for size, “I am. Therefore, I think.” Do you think humans are born first (exist) and then define their nature (essence)? Students often exclaim, “Mind blown, cue the mic drop, now.”

The course ends by giving much love to the women philosophers who are often ignored or entirely written out of history. Simone de Beauvoir agreed that “existence precedes essence” and is especially true within a patriarchal society in which gender roles dictate sexism. de Beauvoir famously states, “One is not born, but rather becomes a woman” to make the point that women are subject to social influences that rob them of freedom. To overcome these constraints, women engage in courageous self-assertion. As when they learned about the rebel Nietzsche sticking it to traditional philosophical studies, students are equally thrilled to learn about a woman philosopher also exerting a call for social change.

Through the thoughts and philosophies of these philosophers, I attempt to dispense powers of self-formation to my students. This includes attaining some form of freedom, and taking responsibility for one’s character, motivations, and actions. If students can then ascribe some meaning to their lives and create a sense of importance in the world, I’ve done my job well.

The Syllabus Showcase of the APA Blog is designed to share insights into the syllabi of philosophy educators. We include syllabi in their original, unedited format that showcase a wide variety of philosophy classes.  We would love for you to be a part of this project. Please contact Series Editor, Dr. Matt Deaton via MattDeaton.com or Editor of the Teaching Beat, Dr. Sabrina D. MisirHiralall via sabrinamisirhiralall@apaonline.org with potential submissions.

Amber George

Dr. Amber E. George is an Assistant Professor of cultural diversity, philosophy, and sociology at Galen College. Dr. George is the Director of Finance for the Institute for Critical Animal Studies (ICAS) and editor of the Journal for Critical Animal Studies.