What is the nature of existence?

    What is the nature of existence?   instructions and the book we are reading is Heart of Darkness and the secret sharer by Joseph Conrad Throughout the semester, students will produce short 3-page papers specifically addressing one of the four basic thematic questions of the semester: “What is the nature of existence?” “Who am I?" “Am I free?" and “How do I live?" - they may do so in explicit response to any of the covered philosophical works, to the in-class readings, or both (works should be actively referenced here; and, should avoid focus on independent reading novels here, as other students will be responding to these and should have common knowledge upon which to base their response). These short papers will essentially allow students to take a more specific, (mostly) self-generated question relating to the overall topic, and elaborate upon a possible, personal response- Due dates will be staggered throughout the semester, so that seminars will emphasize different aspects of the reading and/or the class content. Students will do a ‘seminar reading’ of their papers, and will be expected to know the content well enough to be able to answer questions from both the class and the teacher at the end of their reading- Papers will be graded by philosophical and literary content, depth of insight and analysis, format and language.