COURSE DESCRIPTION AND APPLICATION INFORMATION
| Course Name | Code | Semester | T+A+L (hour/week) | Type (C / O) | Local Credit | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philosophy of Life | KHAS 1610 | Spring | 03+00+00 | Elective | 3 | 5 |
| Academic Unit: | Core Program |
| Mode of Delivery: | Face to face |
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Language of Instruction: | English |
| Level of Course Unit: | Undergraduate |
| Course Coordinator: | - - |
| Course Lecturer(s): | TUĞBA SEVİNÇ YÜCEL |
| Course Objectives: | This course aims to guide students in thinking about how life and living itself becomes a philosophical issue. During the course, we will consider questions that at least some of us visit as we live our lives: What is the goal and meaning of life? What is a good life? Is any form of life better than the other? What is the role of happiness, pleasure, freedom, pain, and utility in life? How do reason and passion affect our life? What are freedom and alienation? What is the meaning of death in relation to life? Within the long course of the Western philosophical tradition, various responses to these questions have been suggested. Whereas Ancient Greeks viewed happiness as the ultimate aim of life, in the modern era, the good life is equated with the life of reason and capacity for rational self-determination. The course introduces these questions and aims to equip the student with the necessary tools for critically evaluating different answers given to these questions. |
| Course Contents: | This course aims to inquire and discuss these different approaches regarding life and living within the Western philosophical canon. We will be looking into Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Kant, Mill, Marx, Russell, Simon de Beauvoir, and Sartre. At the end of the course, we will examine one last question raised by feminist thinkers: Is philosophical thinking on what constitutes (good) life gendered? |
| Learning Outcomes of the Course Unit (LO): |
|
| Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods: | *Lectures & Writing-Discussion Sessions - 60-90 min. of lectures per week - 90 min of discussion and group work per week *Reading and Writing Sessions - Synchronous reading and writing tasks completed both individually and in groups - 1. Summary and response paragraphs, 2. Essay outline, 3. Final paper draft, 4. poster presentation, 5. Final essay draft, 6. Final Essay |
WEEKLY SUBJECTS AND RELATED PREPARATIONS
| Week | Subjects | Related Preperation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orientation, syllabus overview and introduction | none |
| 2 | Bertrand Russell: "The Value of Philosophy" | Reading the assigned article, preparing for the in-class writing activity |
| 3 | Plato: Apology (excerpts) | Reading the assigned article, preparing for the in-class writing activity |
| 4 | Plato: Republic, Book 7, Cave Allegory Matrix I movie (by Wachowski Brothers,1999) | Reading the assigned article, preparing for the in-class writing activity |
| 5 | Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, Book I. (excerpts) | Reading the assigned article, preparing for the in-class writing activity |
| 6 | Epicurus: “Letter to Menoeceus” pp:251-256. Novel: Huxley, The Brave New World, (excerpts |
Reading the assigned article, preparing for the in-class writing activity |
| 7 | John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism (excerpt) pp: 325-338. | Reading the assigned article, preparing for the in-class writing activity |
| 8 | Group assignment | Preparing a poster presentation |
| 9 | Kant: 'What is Enlightenment?' | Reading the assigned article, preparing for the in-class writing activity |
| 10 | Karl Marx: Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, “Estranged Labour”, pp:70-81 (excerpts) Charlie Chaplin: Modern Times |
Reading the assigned article, preparing for the in-class writing activity |
| 11 | Sigmund Freud: Civilization and Its Discontents | Reading the assigned article, preparing for the in-class writing activity |
| 12 | Jean-Paul Sartre, “Existentialism is a Humanism” (excerpts) | Reading the assigned article, preparing for the in-class writing activity |
| 13 | Simone De Beauvoir: Introduction to Second Sex (excerpts) | Reading the assigned article, preparing for the in-class writing activity |
| 14 | Overview | Reading the assigned article, preparing for the in-class writing activity |
At Kadir Has University, a Semester is 14 weeks; The weeks 15 and 16 are reserved for final exams.
REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED READING
| Aldous (Aldous Leonard) Huxley, Brave New World, London: Vintage Books, 2007. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Oxford; New Yor : Oxford University Press, 2009. Epicurus, Letter to Meneoceus, in The Internet Classics Archive, http://classics.mit.edu/Epicurus/menoec.html Jean Paul Sartre, Existentialism is Humanism, New Haven: Yale University Press. 2007, e-book. (in KHAS library) Immanuel Kant, “An answer to the question: 'what is enlightenment?'”, in Political Writings, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. (in KHAS library) J. S. Mill, Utilitarianism, (ed.) Roger Crisp, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. (in KHAS library) Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, The Marx-Engels Reader, (ed.) Robert Tucker, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1978. (in KHAS library) Plato, Apology, in Great Dialogues of Plato, New York: Mentor, 1956. Plato, Republic, (trans.) Benjamin Jowett, New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 2010. (in KHAS library) Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, London: Penguin, 2002. (in KHAS library) Simone de Beauvoir, “Introduction to Second Sex,” The Second Sex, (excerpts), London: Vintage Books, 2011. (in KHAS library) |
OTHER COURSE RESOURCES
| Matrix I, Wachowski Brothers,1999, Netflix Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin, Mubi. |
ASSESSMENT METHODS AND CRITERIA
| Semester Requirements | Number | Percentage of Grade (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance / Participation | 14 | 20 |
| Homework Assignments | 8 | 20 |
| Midterms / Oral Exams / Quizes | 1 | 20 |
| Final Exam | 1 | 40 |
| Total: | 24 | 100 |
WORKLOAD
| Events | Count | Duration (Hours) | Total Workload (hour) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Hours | 14 | 3 | 42 |
| Practice / Exercise | 12 | 1 | 12 |
| Extra-Class Activities (reading,individiual work, etc.) | 12 | 3 | 36 |
| Midterms / Oral Exams / Quizes | 1 | 15 | 15 |
| Final Exam | 2 | 10 | 20 |
| Total Workload (hour): | 125 | ||
1 ECTS = 25 Hours Workload
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES (LO) AND PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS (PQ)
| # | PQ1 | PQ2 | PQ3 | PQ4 | PQ5 | PQ6 | PQ7 | PQ8 | PQ9 | PQ10 |
| LO1 | ||||||||||
| LO2 | ||||||||||
| LO3 | ||||||||||
| LO4 | ||||||||||
| LO5 |
Contribution: 1 Low, 2 Average, 3 High