Course Syllabus

Semester & Location:	Summer 2025, Session 2 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Philosophy, Literature
Prerequisite(s):	None
Minor Disciplines:	Ethics, Religious Studies
Study Tour:	The French Riviera/Provence
Faculty Member:	Nan Gerdes, please contact via Canvas Inbox
Time & Place:	Time: 9:00AM-12:00PM. Changes may apply (see below in the course summary and in the course calendar) Room: V23-401 (Vestergade 23, room 401)

Description of Course

Learning Objectives

Together, we will be aiming to: (1) enter into dialogue with European philosophical, literary, and artistic traditions that have grappled with existential questions; (2) acquire academic skills in navigating and interpreting philosophical works and artworks; (3) develop abilities in nuancing and articulating our own views and positions in dialogue with those of others; (4) build a deeper understanding of how mind, body, intellect and creativity connect with different types of natural landscapes; (5) relate our particular lived experience of the search for the good life to universal philosophical concepts that elucidate the human condition.

Faculty

Nan Gerdes, PhD (Comparative Literature, University of Copenhagen with research stay at UC Berkeley, 2017). Diploma in educational theory and practice (University of Copenhagen, 2016). Postdocs (2014-) at University of Copenhagen, Roskilde University (in collaboration with Stockholm University) and Aarhus University in literature, philosophy and drama. Recent publications on early environmental fiction and philosophy and gender and politics in epics. Lecturer in Danish as Second Language since 2019. With DIS since 2018.

Readings 

All readings are printed, either as a hard copy or as a handout

• Beauvoir, Simone de. The Ethics of Ambiguity. New York: Open Road, 2018 (selections, hard copy).
• Beauvoir, Simone de. The Prime of Life. London: Penguin Books, 1965  (selections; study tour readings)
• Brinkmann, Svend. "Living Well and Living Right". In Hill et al. Critical Happiness Studies. Oxon & New York: Routledge, 2020, pp. 131-143 (handout).
• Camus, Albert. The First Man. London: Penguin Books, 2001 (selections; study tour readings)
• Camus, Albert. The Myth Of Sysyphus. London: Penguin Books, 2000 (selections, hard copy)
• Camus, Albert. The Plague. London: Penguin Books, 2020 (selections; study tour reading) 
• Gosetti-Ferencei, Jennifer Anna. On Being and Becoming: An Existentialist Approach to Life. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021 (selections, handout)
• Kaag, John. Hiking with Nietzsche: On Becoming Who You Are. New York: Farrar, Straus and Grioux, 2018, ISBSN  9787-1-78378-494-3 (selections; handout)
• Kierkegaard, Søren. Either/Or, I and II. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987 (selections, handout).
• Kierkegaard, Søren. The Concept of Anxiety. London: W.W. Norton, 2015 (selections, hard copy).
• Kierkegaard, Søren. The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016 (selections, handout)
• Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy. London: Penguin Books, 1993 (selections, hard copy, study tour reading)
• Nietzsche, Friedrich. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. London: Penguin, 2003 (selections, hard copy, study tour reading)
• Solnit, Rebecca. "Walking and Thinking and Walking" in Wanderlust. A History of Walking. London: Granta Publications, 2022, p. 23-26 (handout)
• Witt, Emily. "A Six-Day Walk Through the Alps, Inspired by Simone de Beauvoir." The New York Times Style Magazine, October, 13 2013 (study tour readings)

Study Tour to the French Riviera/Provence

On this week-long study tour, our classroom moves to the French Riviera and Provence along the southern coast of France, as we follow this course’s authors, thinkers, and artists in search of the good life. People drawn to the Mediterranean are, like their “Nordic” counterparts, known for cultivating the art of living, though in contrasting ways. Some writers saw northern Europe as the land of the cold "philosopher kings," while Mediterranean civilization embodied for them the pursuit of well-being. While modern humans can seem out of touch with lived life, bound up in representational modes of thinking and instrumental ways of engaging the world, southern France inspires a rare ability to capture a raw and genuine experience of bodily encounter with the world.

Our pilgrimage starts in the idyllic ancient town Orange from where we explore secluded mountain villages and sanctuaries where philosophers from our syllabus hiked and found refuge. Next, our private bus takes us eastward to connect with the Mediterranean Sea and with the beautiful Alpes-Maritimes city of Nice, originally founded by the Greeks, and refuge to artists and thinkers since the nineteenth century. We will be visiting a region where nineteenth- and twentieth-century philosophers, writers, and artists sought solitude and rejuvenation, where they lived and wrote, and, not least, where they loved and died.

Please remember to pack the following for the tour:

• The Study Tour Reader
• Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy textbook.
• Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra textbook.
  
• Notebook and pencils/pens
• Shoes that are appropriate for moderate hikes
• Small backpack (for water bottle, snacks, notebook, pencils and readings)
• Sun protection (sunscreen, sunglasses, hat)
• Water bottle
• Swim wear
• Small towel
• Entertainment for bussing

Study Tour Student Groups

On our study tour you will participate in one of the five study tour groups. Each group is responsible for leading one of our reading sessions that will take place on site in France. As responsible for a reading session, you and your group will coordinate the session, read the assigned texts thoroughly, select passages to be read out loud, and prepare a brief introduction to give direction to the discussion and questions to discuss with the other students about the passages you have selected for reading out aloud. One reading session should take maximum 30 minutes. Your engagement and facilitation will feed into your study tour participation grade. 

General Approach to Learning

Our method of study includes a close study of texts and persistent exploration of concrete life, always with a goal of raising everyday experience to a reflective level. We will employ an array of short lectures, student presentations, dialogue between partners, small group activities, full-class discussions, and assignments out and about. Our approach involves working together to mutually question assumptions, clarify positions, and help each other give birth to new thoughts and ideas. The focus is not so much on final answers as on good questions that open up further possibilities for inquiry. We are complementing our work in the classroom with a number of outdoor activities.

Accommodations 

Students with accommodations should reach out to faculty as soon as they wish to make use of their accommodations.

Expectations of Participants

Active participation in all activities is essential for the success of the course and for your outcome of the course.

Full preparation before sessions includes close textual readings, note-taking, writing of session reflections (see below), and reflection on possible directions for our dialogue once we are together. 

In each meeting, whether in the classroom or on tour, you are asked to raise questions in relation to the assigned texts or other material, to respond to your peers’ contributions, and to collaborate in group work. Academic dialogue in relation to class involves curiosity, questioning, clarity and respect for views that are different than our own. A helpful measuring bar is to consider our procedure as tending toward questioning rather than asserting.

Absence

Attendance in all classes, field studies and the study tour is mandatory. If you miss 2 classes (excused or unexcused) Academic Support at DIS will be notified. 

You must do all preparations for all classes, also classes you miss. If you miss a class, find another student from class who will share their notes with you. Also go over the slides from class (and other material if relevant) in the 'Slides from Class' folder in 'Files.' 

Tech Policy

To aid learning and dialogue, computers and phones are not allowed in the classroom or during course related activities unless you have accommodations. Failure to comply will affect your participation grades. You may of course use the camera on your phone to take pictures when appropriate, for instance on our study tour, or use devises if this is a required part of a learning activity. You will be provided with a notebook for handwritten notes.

It is not permitted to use AI to generate text for assignments in this class. The course aims to support you in creating your own philosophical ideas in dialogue with the larger discourse of the course through your unique use of language.

Evaluation

No previous experience in the discipline of philosophy is required, and classes serve to guide you in the learning process. The class as a whole aims to challenge you to apply yourself in developing your fluency in the particular branch of philosophy that we are engaging with, both intellectually and creatively.

The purpose of the written course assignments is to deepen and nuance your understanding of particular topics that interest you, while acquiring tools for philosophical thinking useful across life and to communicate them by demonstrating good academic practice.

Participation assessment

Note that you will receive two participation grades for this class, one for your class participation in Copenhagen, and one for your participation on the study tour. In addition to the expectations outlined in the 'Expectations of Participants' section, your respect and consideration for the well-being and functionality of our shared learning community will positively contribute to your participation grade, both in class and during the study tour. While on tour, demonstrating individual responsibility for the overall logistics is particularly crucial to the success of the experience.

Session Reflections

To support your learning journey and to assist you in identifying and nurturing your particular interest in the subject matter, you are asked to contribute with a written reflection post on Canvas in connection with each class. Unless the calendar event for a given session instructs you otherwise, you will post your reflections on the reading(s) assigned for the class in paragraph form after having engaged with the material, but before we meet in class. The session reflections serve as preparatory work for your final paper. More info in 'Assignments'.

Final Paper

The final paper (5-7 pages + a reference page) will draw from and comprise content from your own session reflections. The paper is an opportunity for you to bring together your reflections on the various themes we have touched upon throughout the course – into one paper. While the content of your final paper can overlap with your previous submissions (what you wrote in your posts), you must write a unique introduction and conclusion, edit the paper for clarity, and update your reflections wherever relevant to make it coherent. To that aim, include a unifying idea, addressed in the introduction and conclusion, and emphasized throughout wherever relevant, for instance by making new transitions between ideas or formulations from your session reflections.

 

Grading Breakdown

Assignment	Percent
Attendance & Participation:	25%
Study Tour participation	25%
Session Reflections:	30%
Final Paper:	20%

Academic Regulations  

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on: 

• Course Enrollment and Grading  
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code 

 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org