Module PHIL3051: 20TH-CENTURY EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY

Department: Philosophy

PHIL3051: 20TH-CENTURY EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY

Pre-requisites

Corequisites

Excluded Combinations

Aims

• To provide students with a critical acquaintance with the most important movements in 20th Century European Philosophy, such as transcendental phenomenology, existential phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical theory, structuralism and deconstruction.

Content

• The authors covered are from a list including: Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Weber, Adorno and the Frankfurt School, Habermas, Gadamer, Foucault, Kristeva and Derrida. Topics are from a list including:
• Husserl, the epoche and the transcendental ego
• Empirical science and the lifeworld
• Heidegger on being-in-the-world
• Sartre and Heidegger on mood, angst and 'the nothing'
• Sartre on interpersonal understanding and interaction
• Merleau-Ponty on the phenomenological role of the body
• understanding and the project of hermeneutucs
• the hermeneutic circle
• archaeologies of madness, the clinic and incarceration
• genealogy of knowledge
• knowledge and power
• truth, lies and hoaxes
• critique of logocentrism
• deconstruction
• bureaucracy
• the dialectic of the enlightenment
• the culture industry
• political art
• politics and discursive rationality

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module students will have knowledge and understanding of some of the most important movements in recent European Philosophy, and of the historical and cultural contexts in which these have developed.

• correctly utilise specialist vocabulary
• grasp, analyse, evaluate and deploy subject-specific concepts and arguments
• locate, understand, assess and utilise pertinent philosophical (and, where appropriate, historical) sources
• interpret and criticise relevant texts

• express themselves clearly and succinctly in writing
• comprehend complex ideas, propositions and theories
• defend their opinions by reasoned argument
• seek out and identify appropriate sources of evidence and information
• tackle problems in a clear-sighted and logical fashion.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures deliver basic module-specific information and provide a framework for further study
• Tutorials provide opportunities for students to test their own understanding of the material studied, and defend and debate different opinions
• The Formative essays provide the opportunity for students to test their understanding and knowledge of the module content, and their ability to present and critically evaluate relevant arguments and interpretations, uninhibited by the demands of summative assessment.
• The unseen examination tests students' overall knowledge and understanding of the module content at the end of the module, and their ability to bring it to bear on new problems under pressure of time.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment

Two essays of approximately 2000 words.