RELG 392 - Ethics After Nihilism

FC ARHU WINT

4 credits
God is dead, and we have killed him…But what does that mean? And what comes next? This seminar approaches such questions through an investigation of philosophical and ethical nihilism, a position which asserts that there are no certain values or foundations to guide human morality. Is it possible to overcome nihilism? Might we articulate new norms for human existence after the death of God, thus transforming nihilist crisis into ethical opportunity? Students will engage these problems in conversation with the traditions of existentialism, Marxism, and phenomenology, paying particular attention to nihilism’s intersection with themes of death, transcendence, technology, and violence.