Philosophy 189

Philosophy 189: The Phenomenology of Action

This course will consider what the phenomenological tradition has contributed to the philosophical understanding of action. We will focus on the basic structures of everyday practical activity, various states of absorption, mastery, and breakdown, and the role and limitations of intentional content and practical reasoning. Readings mainly from Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, McDowell, and Dreyfus, with attention to related neo-Aristotelian and neo-Kantian views, time permitting. Prerequisite: one upper-division course in phenomenology or ethics, or permission of the instructor.