INTR 316(S) Nothing, God, Freedom (Same as Religion 316 and Philosophy 316)
What "is" nothing? Is God nothing? Is nothing God? Can nothing be figured?
Can the void be represented? Are nothingness and emptiness the same? Is nothing an absence? How is nothing related to loss, lack and disaster? Is silence nothing? Is nothing freedom? Is freedom divine? Does creativity presuppose nothing? Is nothing nihilistic? Throughout history, nothing has assumed many guises
and evoked a variety of responses in different religious and cultural contexts.
While in some traditions nothingness is the void deemed divine or the sacred
plenitude in which everything is grounded and from which creativity emerges,
in others nothingness is an emptiness that leads to nihilism. In this seminar, we
will explore the interrelation of nothing, God and freedom in religious, philosophical, literary, and artistic texts. Special attention will be given to the questions nothingness poses for strategies of representation and signification. Is nothing representable or unrepresentatble? Can nothing be signified? Is nothing silent or is silence nothing? Is nothing visible or is the invisible nothing? Is nothing
destructive or creative? Why is nothing important now? Might nothing be the
guise of the divine in a world from which the gods have fled? And might such a
divine be the groundless ground of freedom? Works to be considered include:
Poe, Haunted (CD), Igmar Bergman, Persona (film), Gary Hill, Incidence of
Disaster (video), Paul Auster, City of Glass; F.W.J. Schelling, Ages of the World,
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, Nishida Kitaro, Nothingness and the
Religious World View, Jean-Luc Nancy, The Experience of Freedom, Soren
Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety, Jacques Derrida, "How to Avoid Speaking," Edgar Alan Poe, "Ms. Found in a Bottle," Edmond Jabès, El, or The Last
Book, John Cage, Silence, Maurice Blanchot, Awaiting Oblivion, John Cage, Silence, Brian Rotman, Signifying Nothing, Mark Danielewski, House of Leaves.
Format: seminar. Course requirements: active participation in every seminar
session, regular participation in online discussion, initiation of one seminar session, and a term paper.
Prerequisites: Religion 101 or Philosophy 101 or permission of
instructor. Enrollment limit: 20. (expected: 20). Preference given to juniors and
seniors.