Module SOCM002A for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
SOCM002A: Philosophy of the Social Sciences 1
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 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:
- What is philosophy of social science?
- Social and institutional ontology: the nature and conditions of the social and cultural world
- Holism and individualism: the nature of collective action and collective responsibility
- Structure and agency: social determinism and individual agency
- Realism and social constructionism: the debate over reality and social construction (race, class, gender, sexuality, scientific knowledge)
- The Idea of a social science: the Wittgensteinian critique and its critics
- Social science, ethics and the fact-value distinction
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
22 | 128 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activites | 22 | 11 x 2 hour seminars |
Guided Independent Study | 10 | Time preparing for 750 word summary |
Guided Independent Study | 68 | Time doing weekly readings |
Guided Independent Study | 40 | Time preparing summative essay(s) |
Guided Independent Study | 10 | Independent study |
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 assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Literature summary and critical response | 750 words | 1-10 | Written |
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.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
EITHER Essay | 100 | 4,000 words | 1-10 | Written feedback |
OR 2 Essays | 0 | Each of 2,000 words | 1-10 | Written feedback |
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 assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
EITHER 1 Essay | EITHER Essay (4,000 words) | 1-10 | August/September re-assessment period |
OR 2 Essays | OR 2 Essays (2,000 words each) | 1-10 | August/September re-assessment period |
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.
I. Hacking, The Social Construction of What?, Harvard University Press, 1999.
M Hollis The philosophy of social science: an introduction, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
J Searle, The Construction of Social Reality Penguin, 1995.
P Winch, The Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy, Routledge, 1990