PHIL213 - Postmodern European Philosophy

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

PHIL100 Philosophy: the Big Questions or PHIL102 Theories of Human Nature or PHIL104 Introduction to Ethics or PHIL107 Philosophy of World Religions or PHCC102 Being Human or PHCC104 Ethics and the Good Life

Incompatible

PHIL213 Postmodern European Philosophy

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

This unit investigates a series of movements in recent 'Continental'/European philosophy, such as phenomenology, existentialism, structuralism, hermeneutics, postmodernism and other contemporary movements that have been of such importance for developments in metaphysics, epistemology, the philosophy of language and meaning, ethics, philosophical theology and political philosophy. In considering the thought of figures such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Gadamer, Foucault, Habermas, Levinas, Lyotard, Derrida and Deleuze, the unit will also explore the implications of these traditions of thought for science, theology, social and literary theory. The unit aims to assist students to develop an understanding of key concepts and theories developed in recent Continental/European thought, and to apply these perspectives to contemporary philosophical debates. It also looks to enhance further students' skills in critical reflection on experience, the analysis of arguments, and the formulation and communication of coherent positions of their own.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - identify and accurately explain some of the central problems and major contributions of recent Continental philosophy (GA5)

LO2 - critically analyse selected themes and debates in the Continental philosophical tradition, and develop coherent and consistent positions on the contribution of particular figures or Schools of thought to the development of western philosophy (GA4; GA8);

LO3 - demonstrate appropriate skills in philosophical research, and clear use of philosophically effective English expression (GA5; GA9). 

Graduate attributes

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

Content

Topics will include:

• critical interpretations of enlightenment, rationality, modernity and postmodernity; 
• self, world, and the possibility of metaphysics
• the meaning and limits of human freedom, and the possibility of authentic existence;
• hermeneutics and the universality of interpretation;
• language, text and meaning;  
• sources of ethical and/or political thought.

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit involves 150 hours of focused learning, or the equivalent of 10 hours per week for 15 weeks. The total includes formally structured learning activities such as lectures, tutorials and online learning. The remaining hours typically involve reading, research, and the preparation of tasks for assessment. The unit has been designed as a blend of a blend of collaborative learning and project-based learning approaches, combined with direct instruction to introduce and draw out new and unfamiliar concepts and theories. The collaborative context of the unit is focused especially on the weekly tutorial, during which the emphasis is on small group discussion of the weekly readings. The project-based aspect relates to the research project on which students work throughout the second half of the unit, culminating in their research essay.

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment strategy for this unit is designed to facilitate broad engagement across the topics covered, while also requiring deeper engagement with one of the unit topics in particular. The tutorial oral and accompanying short written task requires students to demonstrate skills in attentive and accurate reading of a key text, and to explicate it in clear and concise oral and written formats. The short, written task that follows requires students to explicate and analyse another text at greater length. Finally, the research essay task provides students with the opportunity to undertake sustained philosophical reading and research, culminating in an extended piece of formal writing that examines their capacity to develop a coherent argument in response to an important philosophical question.   

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Cohen, R. (2010). Levinasian Meditations: Ethics, Philosophy, and Religion. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.

Deutscher, P. (2014). How to Read Derrida. London: Granta Books.. 

Leiter, B. (2014). Nietzsche on Morality. 2nd ed. London: Routledge. 

Mulhall, S. (2013). The Routledge Guidebook to Heidegger's Being and Time. London: Routledge.  

Pattison, G. (2015). The Philosophy of Kierkegaard. London: Routledge. 

Russell, M. (2006). Husserl: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Continuum.

Sartre, J. (2007). Existentialism is a Humanism. Macomber, (trans). New Haven: Yale University Press.

Nietzsche, F. (2000). Basic Writings of Nietzsche. Ed. (W. Kaufmann, trans). New York: Modern Library. 

Schirato, T, et al. (2012). Understanding Foucault: A Critical Introduction. 2nd ed. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

West, D. (2010). Continental Philosophy: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Polity.