A coursework essay [Learning Outcomes 1-3]
A second coursework essay [Learning Outcomes 1-3]

Cottingham, J On the Meaning of Life, Routledge, 2002
Hanfling, O (ed) Life and Meaning: A Reader, Blackwell, 1987
Sartre, J-P Existentialism and Humanism, Methuen, 1973
Schacht, R (ed) Nietzsche: Selections, MacMillan, 1993
Sprigge, T L S Theories of Existence, Penguin, 1984
Trigg, R Ideas of Human Nature, Blackwell, 1988

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A coursework essay of 1250 words (50%). (Learning Outcomes 1-3)
A coursework essay of 1250 words (50%). (Learning Outcomes 1-3)

The module is motivated by some central questions in the Western philosophical tradition relating to the human condition such as: in what sense does life matter?, does life have meaning and significance? Students will be introduced to how a number of major philosophers have responded to questions about how the human condition should be understood. The general aims of the module are to enable students to grasp what is involved in these responses, what grounds they rest on, what merits they might have, and what implications they might have for how we should view our lives. The content of the module ranges over the history of western philosophy, drawing on ideas from ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and the formation of the idea of the self in early modern philosophy to the undermining of that project in the work of Darwin and Nietzsche, and the emergence of a revised understanding of the human condition in movements prominent in 20th century philosophy such as existentialism.