Admission requirements
Admission to this course is restricted to:
BA students in Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives, who have successfully completed at least 70 ECTS credits of the mandatory components of the first and second year of their bachelor’s programme, including Philosophical Skills and one of the following combinations: Philosophy of Culture and Concepts of Selfhood OR World Philosophies: Greek and Roman Antqiuity and Language and Thought.
BA students in Filosofie, who have successfully completed at least 70 ECTS credits of the mandatory components of the first and second year of their bachelor’s programme, including Filosofische vaardigheden and one of the following combinations: Cultuurfilosofie and Continentale filosofie OR Griekse en Romeinse filosofie and Medieval Philosophy.
Pre-master’s students in Philosophy who are in possession of an admission statement and who have to complete an advanced seminar.
Description
This course examines Martin Heidegger’s question into the meaning of Being as developed in the famous and influential work Sein und Zeit (1927). We will first focus on Heidegger’s understanding of the question of time, the influence of Husserlian phenomenology and the notions of inauthenticity and authenticity in relation to freedom. Close attention will be given to Heidegger’s account of the history of philosophy and the necessity for its ‘destruction.’ These topics will give us a comprehension of Dasein and the ontological difference. During the second part of the course, we will closely examine the fundamental and profound criticism of Heidegger by Emmanuel Levinas, who perceived Heidegger as a totalitarian thinker, and, as such, as representative of the history of philosophy in the sense that this history , and thus Heidegger included, had been unable to conceive of the ethical relationship with the other person. Whereas Heidegger sought to think the alterity of Being, Levinas will place this alterity in the relation to the other person. We will try to assess the similarities and differences in these approaches to alterity.
Course objectives
This course aims to provide students not only with an insight in Heidegger’s thought, but also with knowledge of his place within the history of philosophy and his questioning of this very history.
Students who successfully complete the course will have a good understanding of:
some of the key aims and terms Heidegger developed in Sein und Zeit, as well as the thoughts and ideas of Levinas.
Heidegger’s and Levinas’s positions in the history of philosophy;
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
- describe and interpret and reflect on the thinking of Heidegger and Levinas both in writing and orally
Timetable
The timetables are available through MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Class attendance is required.
Assessment method
Assessment
Active participation in class
Class presentation: pass/fail, required to pass the course
Written examination (3-hours) with essay questions
Weighting
- Written examination (3-hours) with essay questions (100%)
The final mark for the course is established by determination of the weighted average combined with the additional requirement of a class presentation and active participation. To pass the course, the final grade should be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
The resit is a written examination with essay questions.
Attendance and active participation in class is required for admission to the resit.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
- Heidegger, M. Sein und Zeit, 2005: Niemeyer Verlag, and/or the translated version (as Being and Time) by Macquarrie and Robinson (Blackwell, 1962), or by Joan Stambaugh (SUNY, 2010)
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga.
Remarks
Not applicable.