Module PHL2002 for 2018/9
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
PHL2002: Existentialism
This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.
Module Aims
The aim of this module is to introduce you to the place of existentialism as a philosophical tradition, while also exploring the cultural movement of existentialism that flourished in Europe during the 20th century. The module will situate existentialism within the history of philosophy and critically explore and investigate the challenges associated with the practice and method of existentialism as a philosophical movement. In addition, the module will explore the intersections between philosophical existentialism and literary existentialism. A further aim is to encourage you to be able to reflect existentially about your own lived experience and to explore the contemporary relevance of the existential approach to a variety of topics and disciplines.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
---|---|
Module-Specific Skills | 1. Identify and cogently discuss the key methods, questions, themes and topics within the existential tradition 2. Critically distinguish and evaluate various approaches to existentialism, and related critiques, within the 20th century |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. Demonstrate a high level of understanding of the interrelation between theories, values and lived experience 4. Demonstrate sound knowledge of different types of philosophical analysis |
Personal and Key Skills | 5. Demonstrate a significantly expanded philosophical vocabulary and understanding with respect to key ideas in twentieth century European philosophy 6. Engage in complex arguments both orally and through writing 7. Conduct research independently engaging with complex ideas and problems |
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
:
- Introduction to Existentialism & Soren Kierkegaard
- Friedrich Nietzsche – The Gay Science
- Martin Heidegger – Being & Time – Dasein, Authenticity and being-towards-death
- Jean-Paul Sartre – ‘Existentialism as Humanism’
- Jean-Paul Sartre – Nausea
- Simone de Beauvoir – Feminist Existentialism and The Ethics of Ambiguity
- Simone de Beauvoir – The Blood of Others
- Albert Camus – The Outsider and The Myth of Sisyphus
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Notes from Underground
- Frantz Fanon – Black Skins, White Masks
- Ralph Ellison – The Invisible Man
- Soren Kierkegaard – Fear and Trembling and The Sickness Unto Death
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 |
---|---|---|
21.5 | 128.5 | 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 Activities | 16.5 | 11 x 1.5 hour lectures. Lectures provide you with detailed overview and analysis of key thinkers and texts in the existential tradition; lectures cover more ground than is possible in tutorials, and are designed to establish a context in which to think about the themes, thinkers and texts discussed in tutorials. |
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 5 | 5 x 1 Hour Fortnightly tutorials. A specific reading is assigned, and you are provided with a list of key issues to identify and discuss for each tutorial. Texts are carefully chosen as classic exemplars of the core course themes. |
Guided Independent Study | 45 | Preparation for lectures and tutorial participation including reading and planning. |
Guided independent study | 83.5 | Independent research for glossary entry and essay. |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
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 |
---|---|---|---|
Tutorial Participation | Fortnightly | 1-7 | Oral |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Glossary Entry | 40 | 1,000 words | 1-7 | Written |
Essay | 60 | 3,000 words | 1-7 | 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 assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Glossary Entry | Glossary Entry(1,000 words) | 1-7 | August/September reassessment period |
Essay | Essay(3,000 words) | 1-7 | August/September reassessment period |
Re-assessment notes
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.
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.
Indicative Reading List:
Readings will primarily come from the following two anthologies:
1. Basic Writings of Existentialism, edited by Gordon Marino (Modern Library, 2004)
2.Existentialism Basic Writings, Second Edition, Edited by Charles Guignon and Derk Pereboom (Hackett Publishing, 2001).
Indicative readings will include extracts from the following philosophical and literary works:
- Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness
- Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea
- 3. Jean-Paul Sartre, ‘Existentialism is a Humanism’
- 4. Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
- Simone de Beauvoir, The Blood of Others
- Martin Heidegger, Being and Time
- 7. Albert Camus, The Outsider
- Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
- Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground
- Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science
- Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
- Soren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death
- Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man
Selected Secondary Texts:
- A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism – edited by H.L. Dreyfus and M.A. Wrathall (Blackwell Publishers)
- The Cambridge Companion to Existentialism – edited by S. Crowell (Cambridge University Press)
- Iris Murdoch – Sartre: Romantic Rationalist
- Iris Murdoch – Essays on “Encountering Existentialism” from Existentialists and Mystics.