Unconsciousness Studies in Philosophy and Psychoanalysis: You Really Are Dead Inside

This course, originally conceived as "Unconsciousness Studies in Philosophy and Psychoanalysis: Why Realizing You Really Are Dead Inside is the Key to Transforming Inhuman Misery Into Ordinary Unhappiness," will ask what happens when we center deadness and repetition in our self-conception and concept of the human self. Reading key canonical texts in both philosophy and psychoanalytic theory, we will talk about challenging concepts like the unconscious, negativity, the death drive, and more. We will read these as alternatives to self-help or guides to success. We will read selections from Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Freud, Beckett, Lacan, Adorno, and contemporary interlocutors. (All students are welcome, but the program is designed for those with some prior experience with dense texts in the humanities or philosophy.)

The first session 8-credit offering will involve immersive reading punctuated by small assignments, with a single day dedicated to in-person seminar conversations and writing labs per week. 16-credit students will continue in second session, choosing texts to revisit and complete (with the option to add just one new major text in consultation). These students will work through prompts and exercises to produce a substantial essay and presentation at the end.

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:

4 - Philosophy: Seminar on Death and Subjectivity

4 - Interdisciplinary Psychoanalytic Theory: Seminar on the Unconscious and the Death Drive

4 - Individual Research

4 - Critical Writing: the Essay as Form