R380 Faith, Revelation, and Reason: Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Blondel (3
Cr.) * COAS Intensive Writing Course (requires registration in W 333) -
Hart  TR 2:30-3:45 SY 004

What these three thinkers have in common is that they wrote philosophies
where the will is featured as the basic way of understanding human life,
indeed of understanding all there is.  Schopenhauer, who wrote mostly in
the mid 19th century developed a kind of Buddhist philosophy of life,
heavily influenced by a reading of Kant.  Nietzsche, who wrote in the late
19thcentury and who began as a professed follower of Schopenhauer, wrote a
philosophy of life which regarded supernaturalism as a kind of vampire and
detraction from the proper affirmation of life.  Blondel, some years
younger than Nietzsche, wrote a philosophy of life which attempted to show
how the supernatural or divine is intimated in the everyday life of the
willing.  The course is an opportunity to think about the "sense of life"
through three very different thinkers, each of whom is regarded as a fine
writer.  The course may also be regarded as an introduction to
phenomenology.  Readings:  Schopenhauer, Selections, The World as Will and
Representation, both volumes.  Nietzsche, Selections, Thus Spake
Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil.  Blondel, Selections from Action
(1893).