Module Descriptors
SELF AND OTHERS LEVEL 6
PHIL60242
Key Facts
School of Creative Arts and Engineering
Level 6
15 credits
Contact
Leader: David Webb
Email: D.A.Webb@staffs.ac.uk
Hours of Study
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 23
Independent Study Hours: 127
Total Learning Hours: 150
Assessment
- COURSEWORK -ESSAY weighted at 30%
- COURSEWORK - SECOND ESSAY weighted at 70%
Module Details
Module Learning Strategies
Teaching and learning will be delivered in a weekly workshop, involving tutor-led introductions, small group work and discussion of pre-arranged topics.
Module Indicative Content
The module will examine the question of how to understand the self and its relations to others following the collapse of the Cartesian subject and any conception of universal human nature. Specific questions addressed may include: Is there such a thing as an essential self? Is the self merely determined by its biological and/or socio-historical conditions? What do we mean by the 'Other'? Can the 'Other' be understood at all? Beginning with a historical outline of the general problem, the module will go on to consider themes and philosophers such as: cultural difference, social constructivism, and relevant themes in the work of writers such as Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Emmanuel Levinas and Alain Badiou. Underlying these considerations will be the question of conditions exist for a possible ethics in the wake of the breakdown of classical paradigms of the self and of human nature and in the light of scepticism regarding the viability of a discourse of universal human rights.
Module Texts
A Badiou, Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil (Verso, London, 2001)
P Bourdieu, Practical Reason: on the Theory of Action (Stanford University Press, 1998)
J Butler, Giving and Account of Oneself (Fordham University Press, 2005)
J Butler, The Judith Butler Reader, ed. S Salih (Blackwells, Oxford, 2004)
E Cadava, P Connor, J-L Nancy, Who Comes After the Subject (Routledge, London, 1991)
E Levinas, Basic Philosophical Writings, eds. S Critchley, A Peperzak, R Bernasconi (Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1996)
E Levinas, Humanism of the Other (University of Illinois Press, 2003).
M Foucault, Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984, Vol 1: Ethics (Penguin, London, 2001)
P Bourdieu, Practical Reason: on the Theory of Action (Stanford University Press, 1998)
J Butler, Giving and Account of Oneself (Fordham University Press, 2005)
J Butler, The Judith Butler Reader, ed. S Salih (Blackwells, Oxford, 2004)
E Cadava, P Connor, J-L Nancy, Who Comes After the Subject (Routledge, London, 1991)
E Levinas, Basic Philosophical Writings, eds. S Critchley, A Peperzak, R Bernasconi (Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1996)
E Levinas, Humanism of the Other (University of Illinois Press, 2003).
M Foucault, Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984, Vol 1: Ethics (Penguin, London, 2001)
Module Resources
Library, IT facilities, and space for individual and group study.
Module Additional Assessment Details
1. A 1000 word essay identifying a concrete example where the conception of self is problematic today and explaining why it is so. The example may be drawn from contemporary ethical, social or political issues, or from literature or art. [Learning Outcome 1]
2. A 3000 word essay providing a theoretical reflection on a concrete example of the problematic nature of the self using material covered in the course. The example may be the one identified in the first assessment. [Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3]
2. A 3000 word essay providing a theoretical reflection on a concrete example of the problematic nature of the self using material covered in the course. The example may be the one identified in the first assessment. [Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3]