Special Topics - Heideggers Being and Time.docVIP

Special Topics: - Heidegger’s Being and Time (Dr. Tze-wan Kwan) Course Code: PHIL 3592 Venue: LSK 308 Time: Wed 07-09 Course description: This course undertakes an intensive reading as well as detailed analysis of Heidegger’s monumental work Being and Time (Sein und Zeit). In the first few weeks, the course will start with introductory lectures in which the main objectives and major conceptual distinctions of the work are discussed. Special emphasis will be put on the question how Heidegger’s Being and Time fits in to the scenario of the phenomenological movement as a whole. Classes will then be held in the form of seminar. The text of Being and Time will be excerpted and divided into several major clusters and assigned to participants, who are expected to make active contribution through presentation (in groups) and discussion of assigned passages of the text. To facilitate conceptual analysis, a ‘lexical field’ approach guided by a self-implemented computer programme will be adopted so that Heidegger’s terminologies can be treated in as systematic a manner as possible. Among various topics of interest, the following issues will be focused for discussion: doctrine of existentials, worldliness, temporality, historicity, the hidden “schematism” of life, problem of individuation, theoretical structure of Being Time, the problem of its ‘shipwreck’, retrospective assessment of Being Time by Heidegger himself, relation of Being and Time to Heidegger’s subsequent development, overall impact of the text, etc. To meaningfully benefit from this course, a good knowledge of the general history of western philosophy is a prerequisite. Some knowledge of German is a definite advantage. Toward the end of the semester, a paper on a topic previously agreed upon is required. Assessment will be made on class presentation, on readiness for discussion in class, as well as on the final paper. Main Text: Heidegger, Martin, Sein und Zeit, zw?lfte, unver?nderte Auflage (Tübingen: