Module SOCM002B for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
SOCM002B: Philosophy of the Social Sciences
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
The module aims to promote a reflective attitude to the nature and foundations of social scientific and related forms of social inquiry in general, and to your own domain of inquiry and research interests in particular. It introduces and familiarises you with a range of central philosophical concepts and ideas that will aid this endeavour. Through learning how to think philosophically and to pose philosophical questions on the nature and possibility of social inquiry the module aims to enable you to come to see more clearly the theoretical and philosophical foundations and presuppositions of your discipline and to facilitate reflection and clarity on the nature, limits and possibilities of social scientific knowledge and understanding.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge and understanding of central philosophical concepts pertaining to the ontological, epistemological and normative foundations of social inquiry. 2. Show how philosophical analysis offers insight into the fundamental nature of the social world and identifies explanatory and interpretive issues in seeking to know and understand it. 3. Illustrate how philosophical analysis can aid the assessment and evaluation of the findings and claims of, and theoretical and methodological disputes within, social scientific inquiry. 4. Draw on philosophical concepts and ideas in to illuminate explanatory and interpretive issues in students own domain of inquiry |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 5. Recognise and debate the contested and provisional nature of knowledge and understanding 6. Identify and evaluate approaches to problem-solving 7. Enhanced capacity to think philosophically and theoretically and to apply this ability to the students own research questions. |
Personal and Key Skills | 8. Undertake independent/self-directed learning (including time management) to achieve consistent, proficient and sustained attainment 9. Work as a participant or leader of a group and contribute effectively to the achievement of objectives. 10. Reflect on the process of learning and evaluate personal strengths and weaknesses. Apply ideas to new situations. |
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 | 278 |
...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 Activity | 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 | 100 | Time preparing summative essay 1 |
Guided Independent Study | 100 | Time preparing summative essay 2 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Essay 1 | 50 | 4,000 words | 1-10 | Written feedback |
Essay 2 | 50 | 4,000 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 |
---|---|---|---|
Essay 1 | Essay 4,000 words | 1-10 | August/September re-assessment period |
Essay 2 | Essay 4,000 words | 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