CORE095 Philosophy on the meaning of life

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Josef Petrželka, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Radim Brázda, Dr. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Josef Petrželka, Ph.D.
Department of Philosophy – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Kateřina Urubková
Supplier department: Department of Philosophy – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Wed 12:00–13:40 B2.23, except Mon 18. 11. to Sun 24. 11.
Prerequisites
TYP_STUDIA(BM) && FORMA(P) && !(PROGRAM(B-PH_) || OBOR(FBPHpV))
The course is open to students in full-time Bachelor's and five-year Master's programmes, with the exception of the Philosophy programme.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
The capacity limit for the course is 100 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 97/100, only registered: 10/100, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/100
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to introduce the ways and approaches through which philosophy can address the generally urgent question of the meaning of life. According to the general notion (and even according to some definitions of philosophy itself), philosophy should answer this very question. Philosophy can certainly address this question (unlike other disciplines) and does so, but if it proceeds methodologically correctly, rather than providing a definitive answer, it can offer the identification, analysis, and comparison of different argumentative strategies - and that is precisely the aim of the course.
Learning outcomes
The graduate of the course will be able to
explain the philosophical significance and historical framing of the question of the meaning of life;
describe various philosophical approaches to the question of how we should live and what is the purpose of life;
identify the problematic nature and limits of possible answers to the question after the meaning of life.
Syllabus
  • 1. What is actually the meaning of the question about the meaning of life?
  • a. Popularity of the concept of "the meaning of life"
  • b. Is or is not the question about the meaning of life a philosophical question?
  • 2. The beginning of explicit inquiry into the meaning of life
  • a. The earliest occurrences of the term "the meaning of life" at the end of the 18th century
  • b. Much older expressions of the feeling of the absence of meaning – what consolation could philosophy provide?
  • 3. Philosophical consolations (Plato's Phaedo, Seneca, Boethius, Rádl, Bondy)
  • 4. What kind of life is right (and meaningful)?
  • a. The concept of a good state of a human being = fulfillment of the human task
  • b. The good state of man lies in the intellectual life...
  • 5. Happiness as the goal (and meaning) of life
  • a. in antiquity
  • b. later
  • 6. The good life and God
  • a. before Christianity
  • b. in Christianity
  • 7. History of ethics as the context for fundamental reflections on the meaning of life
  • a. What is the subject of ethics and how does it relate to the inquiry into the meaning of life?
  • b. Examples of fundamental ethical positions and their connection to the question of the meaning of life
  • 8. Typology of strategies for answering the question of the meaning of life
  • a. What types of answers to the meaning of life do the history of philosophy offer and for what reasons?
  • b. Examples of fundamental opinions on the meaning of life
  • 9. The question of the meaning of life in the context of religion
  • a. When the source of the meaning of life is external, how can it be internalized, what follows from this, and what happens when it disappears or is lacking?
  • b. Examples of religious interpretation of the meaning of life (Spinoza, Sloterdijk)
  • 10. Can the question of the meaning of life be considered absurd and nonsensical, and why?
  • a. Skeptical attitudes and opinions on the question of the meaning of life, their reasons, and what the side consequences of the need for the meaning of life may be.
  • b. Examples of skeptical attitudes (Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Darwin, Dennett)
  • 11. The meaning of life from the perspective of human finitude – death as one of the answers to the meaning of life
  • a. Examples of ultimate attitudes from the history of philosophy, literature, and film
  • 12. Philosophical variations of answers to the meaning of life in the field of artistic creation
  • a. Examples from literature and film as illustrations of fundamental philosophical opinions on the meaning of life
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Landau, Iddo. Why has the question of the meaning of life arisen in the last two and a half centuries. Philosophy Today. Summer 1997; 41, 2. P. 263-269.
  • Metz, Thaddeus, "The Meaning of Life", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = .
  • Metz, Thaddeus, "The Meaning of Life", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = .
  • Leach Stephen - Tartaglia James. The meaning of life and the great philosophers. London: Routledge, 2018. ISBN 978-1-315-38593-8.
  • PICHOVÁ, Dagmar. Émilie Du Châtelet, Rozprava o štěstí (Émilie Du Châtelet, Discourse on Happiness). Vydání první. Praha: Dybbuk, 2016. ISBN 978-80-7438-141-6. info
  • PATOČKA, Jan. Kacířské eseje o filosofii dějin. 3., opr. vyd. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2007, 135 s. ISBN 9788072982752. info
  • PLATÓN. Faidón. Translated by František Novotný. 6., opr. vyd. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2005, 107 s. ISBN 8072981587. info
  • BOËTHIUS, Anitius Manlius Torquatu. Filosofie utěšitelka. Translated by Josef Hrůša. Vyd. 1. V Olomouci: Votobia, 1995, 217 s. ISBN 80-7198-021-8. info
  • Útěcha z filosofie. Edited by Emanuel Rádl - Ladislav Hejdánek. Vyd. 6., v Nakladatelství S. Praha: Svoboda, 1994, 90 s. ISBN 8020503994. info
  • SENECA. Útěchy. Translated by Václav Bahník. Vyd. tohoto souboru 1. Praha: Odeon, 1977, 267 s. URL info
  • MARCUS AURELIUS, Antoninus. Hovory k sobě. Translated by Rudolf Kuthan. Vyd. 6., ve Svobodě 2. Praha: Svoboda, 1975, 194 s. info
  • SCHLEGEL, Friedrich von. Lucinde. 1. Aufl. Leipzig: Philipp Reclam jun., 1970. info
Teaching methods
Lectures with presentations, open discussion.
Assessment methods
On-line open book test.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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