Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL3041: Feminist Philosophy

This module descriptor refers to the 2016/7 academic year.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

 

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

- The beginnings of feminist theory in the 18th and 19th Century

- The developments in 20th Century and current Feminism

- Feminist Epistemology

- Theories of Difference

- Standpoint Theory

- Feminist Ethics

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching ActivitiesGuided independent studyPlacement / study abroad
22128

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled learning activity 1111 x 1 hour lectures
Scheduled learning activity 1111 x 1 hour seminar
Guided independent study666 x 11 hrs weekly reading and working through assigned articles and books
Guided independent study20Preparing presentation and handout
Guided independent study42Independent research and writing of course essay

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

How this Module is Assessed

In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.

Formative Assessment

A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.

Form of assessmentSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Contribution in seminar discussionsThroughout the course1-5, 7Oral

Summative Assessment

A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.

CourseworkWritten examsPractical exams
80020

...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.

Form of assessment% of creditSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Individual presentation and handout on a course reading 2010 minutes, 500 words1-5, 7Oral and written
Essay804500 words1-7Oral and written
0
0
0
0

Re-assessment

Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.

Original form of assessmentForm of re-assessmentILOs re-assessedTimescale for re-assessment
Presentation and summary/seminar handout 1000 word essay on a course reading 1-7August/September assessment period
Essay4500 words1-7August/September assessment period

Re-assessment notes

The credits for the reassessments are as above, 20% for the short essay, 80% for the long essay – which has to be on a different course topic. 

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Basic readings include the following sources:

-       Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) online at: http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdfs/wollstonecraft1792.pdf.

-       Harriet Taylor-Mill: The Enfranchisement of Women, (1851), in: Ann Robson: Sexual Equality, A John Stuart Mill, Harriet Taylor Mill, and Helen Taylor Reader (1994), Toronto University Press. See reference at http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/awrm/doc15.htm.

-       Donna Haraway: Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective (1988), Signs Vol. 14, pp. 575–599.

-       Stephen Pinker: The Blank Slate (2002), Penguin Books, Chapter 18.

-       Helga Satzinger, ‘The Politics of Gender Concepts in Genetics and Hormone Research in Germany, 1900–1940’ (2014) Gender & History, Vol. 24 No.3, pp. 735–754.

-       Dephine Gardey: ‘The Reading of an Œuvre. Donna Haraway: The Poetics and Politics of Life’ in: Feminist Studies, May 2014, pp. 86-100.

 

And sections/chapters from

-       Simone De Beauvoir: The Second Sex. Women as Other (1949), Vintage Classics 1997.

-       Angela Craeger, Elisabeth Lunbeck, and Londa Schiebinger (eds): Feminism in Twentieth-Century Science, Technology, and Medicine (2002), University of Chicago Press.

-       Carol Gilligan: In A Different Voice (1982), Harvard University Press.

-   Seyla Benhabib, Judith Butler, Drucilla Cornell and Nancy Fraser: Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange (Thinking Gender) (1995), Routledge.

-       Sandra Harding (ed): The feminist theory standpoint reader: Intellectual and political controversies (2004) New York: Routledge.

-       Uma Narayan and Sandra Harding (eds.): Decentering the Center: Philosophy for a Multicultural Postcolonial and Feminist World (2000), Indiana University Press.

 ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/