Consciousness, Rationality, Identity, and the Human Condition

The course focuses on dimensions of the self. The first part of the course will focus on shame. On many standard readings, shame is a distinctly human emotion that targets and involves the self in its totality. But what does the fact that we can feel shame tell us about the nature of self and about our need for recognition and approval? What is the difference between shame and guilt, and between shame, embarrassment, and humiliation? We will discuss texts by both classical phenomenologists and more contemporary authors. The second part of the course pertains to personal identity. What is the nature of personal identity over time, i.e., how do persons persist over time despite the physical and psychological changes they undergo along the way? And what is the prudential and moral significance of personal identity? We will read texts by, among others, Derek Parfit. The third and last part of the course will discuss human identity and how it is related to human temporal being. More specifically, how it is related to the human form of time that we call history. This part will draw especially on the concept of transcendental history that has been developed in the transition from phenomenology to deconstruction. We will read texts by, primarily, Giorgio Agamben.

The two first parts of the course will be taught in English, and the last part in Danish. Nevertheless, it is possible for non-Danish speakers to take the course as the exam requirements allow students to engage only with two of the three parts of the course.