This semester’s version of the “Issues in Phenomenology” course will centre on the issue of spirituality. Drawing on its German roots in Hegel and Husserl, the phenomenological notion of spirituality [geistigkeit] is understood to be a (perhaps THE) constitutive factor in all human social activity. The course will look at the introduction of this notion of spirituality in Hegel and its crucial re-development in Husserlian phenomenology. It will then trace the development of that term through Derrida’s reading of Heidegger in Of Spirit and into Michel Henry’s use of spirit in his notion of a “barbaristic” culture that he finds to be currently dominant in Western culture. We will end by examining the implications of this account of spirituality for our understanding of religion and of oppression (especially sexism and racism).
*Attention TST students: if you are interested in taking this course for credit, you must petition your college of registration to count the course credit toward your degree program.
