DePaul University Course Schedule

Spring Quarter 2021

  • Philosophical Inquiry: Philosophy of Race (100 level Honors).
  • Decoloniality, Wynter, and the Aporia of the Secular (Graduate seminar).

Recent Courses

Liberation Philosophy

This seminar is an overview of the Latin American philosophical tradition known as “liberation philosophy.” While inclusive of thinkers such as Juan C. Scannone, Rodolfo Kusch, Horacio Cerutti, Hugo Assmann, among others, this seminar will focus primarily on the philosophical production of the main exponent of liberation philosophy: Enrique Dussel. We will start with a philosophical analysis of the Conquest of the Americas, which outlines the task of liberation philosophy. We will then immerse ourselves in the most important work of early Dussel: The Philosophy of Liberation, which potently summarizes the movement’s various commitments and positions. We will then look at liberation philosophy’s engagement with the Frankfurt School, as a Latin American engagement with European philosophy. From all these studies, we will arrive at the present stage of liberation philosophy: the articulation of South-South inter-cultural dialogues towards transmodernity.  Instruction will consist of lectures and classroom discussion.

Philosophy of Race 

This course introduces students to philosophical inquiry by way of recent philosophical work on the concept of race. We will start by outlining the task of philosophy and the value of philosophizing through lived experience. Subsequently, we will focus on race as a lens through which to do philosophy. We will therefore explore the metaphysics of race, the place of race in the history of modern Western philosophy, the phenomenological and existential import of race, as well as ethical, political, and aesthetic considerations such as the morality of racism and racial injustice, and the racialization of beauty. Instruction will consist of brief lectures and classroom discussion.

French Existentialism in a Historical Context

This course is an introduction to existentialism through a study of its historical foundations and principal exponents. We will start with a historical grounding in the works of Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Martin Heidegger, all of whom were influential sources in what would go on to become 20th century existential philosophy. In the remaining part of the course, we will explore the work of three leading existential philosophers: Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Frantz Fanon. Our analysis will center on some of the principal concepts of existential philosophy, such as freedom, meaninglessness, alienation, authenticity, faith, and death. Instruction will consist of brief lectures and classroom discussion.