Confronting Death

PHIL 3357: Spring Semester 2025

Class Meetings: Monday and Wednesday, 11:30am-12:45pm
Class Location: FN 2.302

Instructor: Dr. Katherine Davies

Office Hours: Monday 9:30-10:30am, Wednesday 4-5pm (drop-in), and by
appointment
Office Hours Location: JO 5.104
Email: [email protected]

Course Description
At the beginning of the Western philosophical tradition, Plato wrote, “to
practice philosophy…is to practice for death and dying.” Perhaps clarifying
what Plato may have meant, Emmanuel Levinas writes, “the end is but a
moment only of death, a moment whose other side would be not
consciousness or comprehension but the question, and a question distinct
from all those that are presented as problems.” The question of death
remains pressing, both for the one dying and those who survive the death of
the other. Because it can only appear as a radically open-ended question,
contending with death unfolds a certain affinity with philosophizing—with
how we grapple with our infinite capacity to desire despite (or perhaps
because of) our finite existential situation. No one can die for us, yet we can
also never be present for our own death. When our death has arrived, we
have departed. As such, we confront the inevitability of our approaching
death and grapple with the deaths of those around us, which includes
attending to how not all deaths are permitted to matter—or even to be made
legible—as deaths. This course will examine philosophical questions
surrounding death and dying, covering difficult and potentially distressing
topics such as grief, funeral rites, murder and attempted murder, suicide,
the prison system, violence against women, genocide and mass death, and
broader intersections of race and gender with death. This course is open to
students with upper-division standing, any previous philosophy course, or
instructor consent.

Required Texts
Phaedo, Plato. Translated by Brann, Kalkavage, and Salem (Focus
Philosophical Library, ISBN: 978-

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 0941051699).
Western Attitudes toward Death: From the Middle Ages to the Present,
Philippe Ariés. Translated by Ranum
(Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN: 978-0801817625).
The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy. Translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky
(Vintage, ISBN: 978-
0307951335).
Antigonick, Anne Carson (New Directions, ISBN: 978-0811222921).

Available for purchase at the UTD Bookstore. Please purchase physical

books (not eBooks). Alternate translations or editions are not adequate. All
other materials will be provided via eLearning

Learning Outcomes
In addition to exploring the topics described above, students will learn how
to:
1) Read, understand, and evaluate complex philosophical texts (including
for arguments, presuppositions, perspective, and purpose)
2) Formulate a thesis by identifying, developing, and clearly presenting
their own perspective on a problem, question, idea, or text, and
making clear its context and significance
3) Support a thesis with appropriate evidence (argument and exegesis),
using philosophical sources to support and situate an interpretation of
a text and/or stand on an issue
4) Organize and effectively communicate ideas to both philosophical and
non-philosophical audiences

Course Assignments

(1) Weekly Discussion Board Reflections and Responses

25%
There will be a Discussion Board available for each of our class meetings.
Students are responsible for posting one Reflection each week (for the
class session of their choosing) and posting two Responses to other
students’ Reflections each week.

Reflections are due one hour before our class meeting, so 10:30am on
either Monday or Wednesday, according to student preference. The

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Reflection should be approximately one short paragraph in length,
reflecting on the reading for the upcoming session. It must contain at least
one quote from the reading and must take one of the following three
formats.

1) Clarifying—This type of Reflection asks a question about an idea or

position raised in a reading. This cannot simply take the form of “I
don’t know what X means when she writes Y,” but must attempt to
work through potential answers to the question raised and show why
there is no answer readily available.

2) Critical—This type of Reflection outlines a disagreement with or

counterargument to an idea or position raised in a reading. This
cannot simply take the form of stating an opinion like “I disagree with
X’s idea when she writes Y,” but must develop a reason or reasons
that explain why this disagreement is justified.

3) Constructive—This type of Reflection connects an idea or position

raised in a reading with a previous reading, with other relevant texts
or sources you’ve encountered outside our course, or with broader
social or political issues you understand to be implicated by the
course reading(s). This cannot simply take the form of remarking
upon a similarity in two (or more) texts or sources but must further
show how recognizing or thinking about this similar idea or position
illuminates the meaning’s context differently.

You MUST choose one of these three formats for each Reflection. The
format you choose ought to be obvious to your reader. The Reflection will be
graded pass/fail based on adherence to one of these three formats and
considering appropriate length and style. The instructor will review
Reflections before class and students ought to come to meetings prepared
to discuss their Reflections with the class.

Over the course of the week, students must respond to two Reflections
posted by other students. The Response should be one-half to one
paragraph in length with the goal of continuing a good-faith philosophical
conversation about the topic of the original Reflection. Likely, the Response
may also take one of the three forms outlined above. You may choose to
provide more evidence from a reading that supports or disputes the original
author’s Reflection. Responses are also graded pass/fail and are due by
7pm each Thursday.

Late Reflections or Responses will not be accepted. Students may elect not
to submit one Reflection and two Responses over the course of the
semester.

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 (2) Midterm Assignment 20%

Choose from one of two options:

Option A: Critical Reading Reflection—Due March 6

In 2-3 double-spaced pages, develop a critical close reading of a passage

from our course readings. You may examine the presuppositions at work in
the passage, implications that can be drawn from the claims in the passage,
or how different passages enhance or contest one another. Detailed
instructions will be provided.

Option B: In-Class Critical Reading Presentation—Sign-Up by

February 10

In 7-10 minutes of class time, deliver an oral analysis of a passage from our
course reading assigned for that day. The passage of text selected ought to
be, in the presenter’s estimation, a key passage for understanding a central
philosophical point developed in the reading. The selection is at the
student’s discretion and may range from one sentence to one paragraph.
Detailed instructions will be provided.

(3) Effort and Improvement 20%

The reading that MUST be completed before our class meetings is dense
and difficult. Our class is discussion-based and thus requires substantial
student participation in preparing for and motivating philosophical
conversations during our meetings. Effort thus counts for something. This
may take the form of exemplary class participation (predicated on
attendance), extra work on your writing, or meetings during office hours
with the professor to further discuss the course material. This grade is
intended to reward effort, improvement, and the quality of engagement with
the course, beyond merely completing the explicit assignments.

(4) Optional Extra Credit Creative Assignment +5%

This optional creative assignment provides the opportunity to put
philosophical material from the course into conversation with a wide variety
of social or cultural artifacts or representations such as literature, film, a
television series, music, theatre, other artistic expressions, medical
practices, or historical or current events. You may choose to complete this
assignment individually or in a group. There is no minimum or maximum
page count or even a required format for this assignment. The only

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requirement is to use our course readings to creatively analyze some
philosophical aspect of society or culture not directly discussed in class.
This optional assignment is due on May 9th by 7pm on eLearning. It may
raise your final course grade by as much as 5%.

(5) Optional Final Paper Proposal

Students may submit a proposal for the Final Paper. This proposal should
include 1) an explicit question or “prompt” which the paper will pursue and
2) an indication and elaboration of how readings from the course will be
involved to response to that question. The instructor will provide individual
feedback on these optional Final Paper Proposals, which may be taken into
consideration when planning and composing the Final Paper. Completing
this assignment is highly recommended, especially for those who have
minimal experience composing philosophy papers. Due May 1st by 7pm on
eLearning.

(6) Final Paper: 35%

A final paper of 6-8 double-spaced pages on a topic of the student’s
choosing and exclusively (or very nearly exclusively) engaging readings
from the course is required. This assignment invites students to exercise
their writing skills beyond the short writing assignments, to develop a
sustained interpretation and argument pertaining to larger philosophical
conversations staged by the readings discussed during the semester. This
assignment will rely upon careful exegetical analysis of the texts it employs
to support the claims it will develop. However, the question and ideas which
drive the paper ought to be the student’s original contribution. Due May
14th by 7pm on eLearning.

Course Mechanics

(1) Attendance

Regular attendance is a requirement for this course and will be reflected in

the “Effort and Improvement” portion of the final course grade. The
professor will take attendance at the beginning of each class meeting. More
than five unexcused absences will affect this portion of the final course
grade. If absences exceed nine, no credit for the “Effort and Improvement”
portion of the final grade will be earned. Excused absences must be
arranged with the professor well in advance.

(2) Late Paper/Extension Policy

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Assignments are due at the time and date specified on the syllabus.
Assignments will be submitted online only via the eLearning course site.
Assignments submitted within 24 hours after the time and date specified
will be penalized one-half letter grade (-5 points). Late assignments will be
penalized by an additional full letter grade (-10 points) for each additional
24-hour period they are late. Assignments more than 72 hours (3 days) late
will not be accepted. Extensions for extenuating circumstances must be
requested at least one week before an assignment is due.

(3) Technology Policy

Cell phones, tablets, laptops, and all other electronic devices are highly
discouraged in the classroom. When electronic materials are distributed
via the eLearning site, please print those materials and bring hard copies to
class meetings. It is expressly prohibited to record audio or video
components of this course without professor consent. Distribution or
dissemination of any component or aspect of this course is prohibited and
would constitute a violation of the intellectual property rights of the
instructor and the UT system.

(4) Discursive Practices and Academic Integrity

This course will operate on the basis of open communication and respect.
Demonstrated disrespect for others on the basis of race, gender, sexuality,
class, age, disability, etc., will not be tolerated. Because a significant
objective of this class is to make you a better reader and writer, plagiarism
and cheating will not be tolerated. Please familiarize yourself with UTD’s
policy: https://www.utdallas.edu/conduct/dishonesty/ All submitted
assignments must be the work of the author/creator and all sources must be
properly cited, including ANY use of AI. Submission of any uncited use
of AI will lead to immediate failure of assignment and/or course.

(5) Accommodation Policy

This course is designed with all students in mind, but we are not all the
same. The professor would like to work with each student so that the course
and its requirements fit with their abilities. If you would like to discuss such
matters, please contact the instructor during the first week of class. Under
UTD policy, for an accommodation to be officially considered, students must
register with the AccessAbility Resource Center. Contact this office here:
https://www.utdallas.edu/studentaccess/

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Schedule of Readings
This schedule may be modified as the semester progresses. Updated
versions of the syllabus will be made available should such changes be
deemed necessary.
*pdf provided on eLearning

January 22: Course Introduction and Syllabus Overview

The Politics of Death (and Desire)

January 27: Plato, Gorgias* 481b-488b

January 29: Gorgias 488b-497a

February 3: Gorgias 497a-506b

February 5: Gorgias 506b-513d

February 10: Gorgias 513d-527e and Deadline for Presentation Sign-Up

(Optional) by 10am on eLearning

The (illegible) History of Death

February 12: Plato, Phaedo 57a-75e

February 17: Phaedo 76a-95e

February 19: Class Canceled

February 24: Phaedo 95e-118a

February 26: Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail”* and
Audre Lorde, “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”*
from Sister Outsider

March 3: Philippe Ariès, Western Attitudes toward Death: from the Middle
Ages to the Present, “Tamed Death” and “One’s Own Death” pp. 1-52

March 5: Ariès, “Thy Death” and “Forbidden Death” pp. 55-107

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March 6: Critical Reading Reflection Due (Optional) at 7pm on
eLearning

March 10: Robert Pogue Harrison, “The Earth and its Dead”* from The
Dominion of the Dead

March 12: Saidiya Hartman, “The Dead Book”* from Lose Your Mother: A
Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route

March 17-23: Spring Break

Being-Towards-(the Other’s)-Death

March 24: Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, chapters I-VI, pp. 1-34

March 26: Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, chapters VII-XII, pp. 35-53

March 31: Martin Heidegger, Sections 46 and 47 of Chapter I, Division II of

Being and Time *

April 2: Heidegger, Sections 49, 50, and 51 of Chapter I, Division II of Being

and Time *

April 7: Heidegger, Sections 52 and 53 of Chapter I, Division II of Being and

Time *

April 9: Hannah Arendt, “We Refugees”* from The Jewish Writings

April 14: Emmanuel Levinas, “Ethics and the Face”* and “The Will and
Death”* from Totality and Infinity

(Outliving) Social Death

April 16: Anne Carson, Antigonick

April 21: Judith Butler, “Beside Oneself: On the Limits of Sexual Autonomy”*
from Undoing Gender

April 23: Orlando Patterson, “The Constituent Elements of Slavery”* from

Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study

April 28: Lisa Guenther, “An Experiment in Living Death”* from Solitary
Confinement: Social Death and its Afterlives

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April 30: Guenther, “Dead Time: Heidegger, Levinas, and the Temporality of
Supermax Confinement”* from Solitary Confinement

May 1: Optional Final Paper Proposal Due at 7pm on eLearning

May 5: Susan Brison, “Outliving Oneself”* from Aftermath: Violence and the
Remaking of the Self

May 7: Robert Pogue Harrison, “Preface” to The Dominion of the Dead and
Concluding Thoughts

May 9: Optional Extra Credit Creative Assignment Due at 7pm on

eLearning

May 14: Final Paper Due at 7pm on eLearning