PHIL 318 - (P) Sex, Love, and God: Augustine and His Philosophy

3 cr.

(Prerequisites: PHIL 120 and PHIL 210 unless a waiver for special reasons is approved by the instructor)

St. Augustine of Hippo is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the Western history of philosophy. His influence reaches far beyond the Christian tradition and has impacted the thinking of such noted thinkers as Rene Descartes, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Marion, and others. This course will examine some central themes of Augustine’s thought while paying special attention to his struggle as a young man riddled with existential anxiety and how he matured as a thinker and a person in his understanding of faith and reason, the meaning of human community and its relation to God, and the tension and the complexity surrounding the issues of embodiment, sexuality, and the sexes. Arendt’s existential interpretation of Augustine and the contemporary feminist appropriations of his view on women and sexuality will also be explored.