Human Person Schedule
Philosophy 151: Section A
Winter/Spring 2012
Week One:
January 18:
Overview of course, texts, and requirements.
What is philosophy?
Meaning Reflection: We'll go through an example together in class on "What Is a Meaning of Food?" and then individually write reflections on "What Is a Meaning of Sleep?"
Introduction to Terry Eagleton, The Meaning of Life.
Week Two:
January 25:
Readings:
Terry Eagleton, The Meaning of Life, Chapter 1 "Questions and Answers" (pages 1-32).
In this chapter Eagleton explores whether "What is the meaning of life?" is a proper sort of question at all and whether it might be unanswerable, along with several popular or attractive ways of addressing it, including the notion that we might be the creators of our own meaning.
Terry Eagleton, The Meaning of Life, Chapter 2 "The Problem of Meaning" (pages 33-55).
In Chapter 2, Eagleton explores the meaning "meaning" and the possibility that life is meaningless or, even if it is meaningful, that pursuing life's meaning might be self-destructive.
Questions for Reflection:
Chapter 1: What does Eagleton mean when he asks whether the question of life's meaning is a properly formed question at all? Does he think it is a meaningful question? Why or why not? Given that it is meaningful, is it answerable?
How does Eagleton's discussion of meaning intersect with our experience of tragedy and our awareness of our own finitude?
How does the sheer variety in the modern world, or ability to choose, affect our perception of meaning? How are traditional sources of meaning (culture, religion, sexuality) commodified in today's world? What are the implications of this for the possibility we create our own meaning?
Chapter 2: What does Eagleton say about the meaning of "meaning" when we talk about life having meaning? What are some of the various possibilities he explores, using examples from everyday language?
What point is he trying to make using the example from Macbeth? Do Macbeth's claims about the meaningless of his own life make sense? What lessons does Eagleton from his consideration of Macbeth?
Why does Eagleton bring up the disturbing views of Arthur Schopenhauer?
Week Three:
February 1:
Readings:
Terry Eagleton, The Meaning of Life, Chapter 3 "The Eclipse of Meaning" (pages 56-77).
In Chapter 3, Eagleton asks whether the contrast between "meaningful" and "meaningless" already assumes too much and then goes on to try to work through the seeming distinction between "inherent" meanings and meanings that are "ascribed" or "constructed."
Questions for Reflection:
Chapter 3: What is the distinction that Eagleton makes between "inherent" meaning and "constructed" (or "ascribed") meaning? How might something have meaning both inherently and through human acts of interpretation?
Discussing our material nature, our species-membership, and our social embeddedness, What are some of the limitations upon the kinds of meaning we can construct that Eagleton suggests at the very end of Chapter 3?
Week Four:
February 8:
Meaning Reflection: In class written reflection on "What Is a Meaning of Time?"
Readings:
Terry Eagleton, The Meaning of Life, Chapter 4 "Is Life What You Make of It?" (pages 78-101).
In this final chapter, Eagleton gives his attention to one of main contenders for claiming to be the meaning of life: happiness, understood as human self-fulfillment. But Eagleton also considers some other contenders: power, love, freedom, desire, death, self-sacrifice, worldly success, intellectual contemplation, and so forth.
Questions for Reflection:
Chapter 4: According to Eagleton's discussion in Chapter 4 what are some of the possibilities for what we mean by "happiness"? What are some possible meanings of life that Eagleton dismisses as unlikely or too instrumental or two trivial?
How does love relate to happiness? How is that relationship illustrated by the analogy of a jazz band at the end of Chapter 4?
