161-054 Human Life in Modern Thought

This is an intensive two-week subject offered at the beginning of January. Timetabling will be such that this subject and 161-053 The Good Life in Ancient Thought can be taken concurrently. To be offered in alternate years. The subject dates and HECS/course fee census date for this subject change each year. Check your enrolment record for the correct census date for this subject.

Any two university subjects or equivalent, or permission from the Head of School or the subject coordinator.

The subject examines some influential 19th and 20th century conceptions of human life and human nature, including some of the revolutionary ideas of Nietzsche, Darwin, Marx, Sartre, Freud and Wittgenstein. Students are asked to engage with key questions arising in the writings of these thinkers, including the following: 1. Are human life and values determined by biological instinct, by social and economic forces, by personal psychological dynamics, or by free individual choices? 2. Does human morality require a religious foundation? 3. Do human minds differ radically from those of (other) animals? 4. Do such ideas concerning human nature have implications for the way we should conduct our lives?

• acquire the skill to understand new contributions to the field as they emerge;

• acquire the ability to read complex theoretical texts from a critical perspective;

• develop skills pertinent to assessing divergent readings of such texts.

Two 2000-word essays due in March and April 50% each. Provision for earlier assessment can be made in approved cases, by special arrangement with the lecturer.

A subject reader will be available.