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During the late 19th and early 20th century German thinkers, artists and writers reacted to what they saw as an overemphasis on rationalism, mechanistic worldviews, and the dominance of industrialisation by refocusing on what for them were key elements of life, and human life specifically: the (ecstatic) life experience, intuition, subjectivity, becoming and (self)creation. This module will investigate some major ideas in this intellectual development that later became known as life philosophy (Lebensphilosophie). We will trace the movement from its philosophical beginnings with Nietzsche through its systematic unfolding with thinkers like Dilthey or Simmel and reflect on some of the major criticisms raised. We will finish with how its ideas ‘lived on’ in major philosophical disciplines such as phenomenology, hermeneutics, or existentialism with special focus on 21st century transhumanism.
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INTRODUCTION TO LIFE PHILOSOPHY
