This unit is devoted to the systematic examination of the basic presuppositions, concepts and theoretical frameworks that have shaped the Western philosophical understanding of human personhood. The topics covered in this unit include nature, agency and subjectivity; the relation between the human body and language; knowledge, freedom and the personal capacity for transcendence; ethics and sexual difference. A number of contemporary approaches to the understanding of human nature will be discussed in relation to the human person as a moral and social subject.

Prerequisites

none

Requirements

3 hours per week

Assessment

Bibliography

• Dupre, Louis K. Transcendent Self-Hood: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Inner Life. New York: Seabury, 1976.
• Emonet, Pierre-Marie. The Greatest Marvel of Nature: An Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person. Translated by Robert R. Bauer. New York: Crossroad, 2000.
• Levinas, Emmanuel. Ethics and Infinity: Conversations with Phillipe Nemo. Translated by Richard A. Cohen. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 2001.
• Macquarrie, John. In Search of Humanity: A Theological and Philosophical Approach. London: SCM, 1982.
• Matthew, Eric. Twentieth Century French Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
• Moran, Dermot. Introduction to Phenomenology. London: Routledge, 2000.
• Scheler, Max. Man’s Place in Nature. Translated and introduced by Hans Meyerhoff. Boston: Beacon Press, 1961.
• Stevenson, Leslie. The Study of Human Nature: A Reader. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
• Taylor, Charles. Human Agency and Language. Vol. 1. of Philosophical Papers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
• Trigg, Roger. Ideas of Human Nature: An Historical Introduction. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1999.