哀思:哲學與臨床觀點

Course Description: Grief is a complex emotion typically felt in response to another person’s death. Given the nature of human life, loss is something that all of us will typically experience. As such, grief is a universal human experience. Yet it is also one of the most painful and difficult experiences that we face. In fact, the experience of grief may not be the same for everyone. Grief has been described as a shapeshifter, something that can overwhelm us but that is hard to pin down and describe precisely. When we suffer grief, everything about the world may seem changed – time, the world, our bodies, even ourselves. To overcome grief, we may have to relearn the world. A number of interesting philosophical and practical questions arise in connection to grief. What experiences does grief typically consist of and how we should best understand grief? Is grief best described as an emotional state or something else? Grief is typically felt when we lose a loved one, but it also seems that we can grieve for things other than people. If so, what are the proper objects of grief? Is there something that unites all our grief experiences even if we can grieve over different things? In fact, evidence from clinical contexts shows that we can experience grief before the loss of another person: we can experience anticipatory grief. In what contexts can we experience anticipatory grief, and what are the mechanisms that may give rise to this puzzling emotional experience. How can we experience grief before we’ve lost someone? Course Goal: The goal of the course is to further students’ familiarity with some of the fundamental (philosophical and clinical) issues in understanding the experience and nature of grief. By the end of the course students should be comfortable discussing some of the central problems in this field, offering critical responses to proposed solutions to these problems, and using their understanding to engage critically with the theories. Specifically, students should will be able to: Demonstrate an awareness of central problems in the philosophy of grief, and an understanding of some of the issues raised by thinking about grief in a clinical context. Understand and analyse arguments in the relevant literature. Critically evaluate these theories and arguments. Develop their own views or perspectives through consideration and analysis of the views and arguments presented in the unit, and to present their own views with clarity and rigour. Develop clarity of thought; clarity of verbal expression; clarity of written expression and exposition.

Grading: Undergraduate students: In-Class Presentation 25% Weekly Discussion Questions and Comments 30% Term paper (1500 words) 35% Attendance 10% Graduate students: In-Class Presentation 20% Weekly Discussion Questions and Comments 20% Term paper (3000 words) 50% Attendance 10% Attendance Policy YM campus students: Required to attend in-person every session, unless students have a compelling excuse to attend online (e.g., Covid quarantine). Students who want to attend online must get permission from the instructors in advance. Every student at most can apply to attend online three times. Students who fail to comply with this attendance policy will receive a grade penalty. CT campus students: Can attend online or in-person. Note: If there are no YM campus students enrolled in the course (no in-person students), this course will transform from a hybrid course to a fully online course. Please note that, according to the Ministry of Education’s regulations, credits gained from taking fully online courses cannot count for more than half of the total number of credits required for graduation.

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