Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL2112: Politics and Its Discontents

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 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:

  • Key elements of Nietzsche’s thinking: the death of god, perspectivism and genealogy, the transvaluation of all values.
  • A close reading of The Genealogy of Morality.
  • Key elements of Freuds thinking: the unconscious (via dreams and parapraxes), the metapsychology of repression, and the struggle between the pleasure principle of the unconscious and the reality principle of the conscious.
  • A close reading of Civilisation and its Discontents.
  • A reading of The Mass Psychology of Facism, and a concluding comparison of the theories of Nietzsche and Freud.

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
221280

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

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activity2211 x 2-hour seminars
Guided Independent Study50Private study – reading and preparing for seminars
Guided Independent Study78Preparation for textual analysis assignments and essay – including researching and collating relevant sources; planning the structure and argument; writing up the essay

Online Resources

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