The purpose of the seminar is to examine three forms of modern nihilism that condition our understanding of finitude and its original positivity. They represent, in different ways, the antithesis of a metaphysics and a theology of gift called forth by the Second Vatican Council (Gaudium et spes, nos. 22-24). The seminar examines the absorption of the finite by the infinite in Hegel’s elucidation of the absolute spirit (classes 1-6); it then studies Nietzsche’s anthropology (classes 7-10); and concludes with an approach to Heidegger’s perception of finitude as man’s encompassing horizon (classes 11-13).