Philosophical Anthropology: Human Nature, Freedom, and Existence
Competing accounts of the human being
Know the classical definitions: Aristotle's rational animal (zoon politikon), the Cartesian dualism of mind and body, the materialist reduction of mind to brain, and existentialist accounts (existence precedes essence). Be able to contrast essentialism (a fixed human nature) with historicism and constructivism.
Freedom and determinism
Distinguish hard determinism, libertarianism (free will as incompatible with determinism and real), and compatibilism (freedom as acting according to one's own desires without external constraint). Understand the consequence argument and the difference between freedom of action and freedom of will.
Existence and meaning
Know Kierkegaard's stages (aesthetic, ethical, religious), Nietzsche's critique of morality and the Übermensch, Heidegger's Dasein, being-toward-death, and authenticity, and Sartre's radical freedom and bad faith. Understand the problem of alienation (Hegel, Marx) and the meaning of life as a philosophical question.
Traps
(a) Treating existentialism as nihilism - it denies given meaning, not the possibility of meaning; (b) confusing compatibilism with determinism; (c) attributing "existence precedes essence" to Heidegger rather than Sartre; (d) reducing freedom to absence of coercion.
Rule of thumb
When asked whether a view is compatible with determinism, ask: does it require the ability to have done otherwise, or only the ability to act on one's own reasons?
Worked example: A person acts on a compulsive desire they endorse. A compatibilist may count this as free if it flows from their character; a libertarian may deny it because the desire was determined. Specify the criterion before judging.