Nietzsche’s Saying “God is Dead” is one of the most famous expressions of what Max Weber called “the Disenchantment of the World”. Modern Western culture is largely based on the idea that the universe does not tell us the meaning of human existence. The question how to live human life without relying on revelation or cosmic meaning has been a central theme in 20^th century thought and writing.

The course will first present the historical framework and some basic positions in 5 introductory lectures to create a baseline for further reading and discussion.

We will then read and examine more closely texts of the following positions:

 I) Existentialism and the God-Shaped Hole

Heidegger, Sartre, Jaspers

II) Freud’s Psychoanalysis: Naturalism without Meaning

 IIa) Romantic Psychoanalysis: Jung’s Gnosticism and Winnicott on Authenticity

 III) Modern Conservatives: T.S. Eliot, Leszek Kolakowski, Charles Taylor

 VI) Postmodern Options:

Richard Rorty and Relational Psychoanalysis

 The course is run as a seminar: there will be weekly readings and each participant will post 1-2 pages of thoughts, major questions and two quotations on the Course-Moodle, and after brief historical introduction, discussion will focus on these quotations / questions

The final assignment can either be a shorter paper for those who want course credit or a full seminar paper for those who want seminar credit.