Video Transcript for Why you should take Dr. Lou Caton's Existentialism as Literary Art course

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:20:26

Dr. Lou Caton

[Dr. Caton is sitting in his office with three books on existentialism on the table in front of him with a small empty table top sign easel on the table.] Hello, my name is Lou Caton. I'll be teaching a course on existentialism in March. And today, for the next two or three minutes, I'm going to give you the top five reasons why you should do that. And this will be a little bit lighthearted. Have a little fun with this. Okay. Reason number five. [Dr. Caton puts a sheet of paper on the easel with the handwritten words, “5: Ice Breaker!”] It's the perfect icebreaker for the next time you meet somebody.

00:00:20:27 - 00:00:44:05

Dr. Lou Caton

Not quite sure what to say, and you exchange niceties. There's a lull in the conversation. Now you can exclaim, say, do you know anything about existentialism? It's a great way to get the conversation started. Okay. Related to that. Reason number four, [Dr. Caton puts a sheet of paper on the easel with the handwritten words, “4: Impressive!”] you have an opportunity to impress your friends. So next time you're at a gathering and all your friends are together.

00:00:44:11 - 00:01:03:07

Dr. Lou Caton

Often the question goes around, what are people reading? What's on your nightstand? Now you can say, oh, just the most important German writer in the 19th century, a man called Friedrich Nietzsche. And then you can lean back smugly and wait to see if they can match that they won't be able to. So you have that going for you.

00:01:03:09 - 00:01:26:22

Dr. Lou Caton

Okay. Still not convinced? Let's go to reason number three. [Dr. Caton puts a sheet of paper on the easel with the handwritten words, “3: God is Dead?”] It'll be a course that will understand philosophy in a way, has to do with the most important phrases and sentences that came out of the 19th century. And one of those was God is dead. Friedrich Nietzsche made that, an important cultural moment. And we'll talk about the backstory and why that's such an important phrase.

00:01:26:25 - 00:01:50:11

Dr. Lou Caton

Okay. If you're still not convinced. Reason number two, [Dr. Caton puts a sheet of paper on the easel with the handwritten words, “2: Philosophy as Literature!”] we'll be able to read philosophy as literature and literature as philosophy. So as you're as we were reading, short story writers like Ernest Hemingway and Kate Chopin, we'll look at those as kind of philosophical statements, and then we'll read philosophy with, Friedrich Nietzsche and Albert Camus, and we'll read those as a kind of literature.

00:01:50:11 - 00:02:09:13

Dr. Lou Caton

So we'll go back and forth between the two. Okay. Still not convinced. The number one reason why you should take this course. [Dr. Caton puts a sheet of paper on the easel with the handwritten words, “1: Existential Crisis!”] You'll be able to understand why journalists and pundits are always saying we're in an existential crisis. This is the course that will make that clear. So I'm looking forward to seeing as many as possible in March.

00:02:09:15 - 00:02:11:24

Dr. Lou Caton

Please consider my course. Thank you.