Undergraduate Module Descriptor

ANT3035: Philosophical Anthropology

This module descriptor refers to the 2020/1 academic year.

Module Aims

Everybody has an opinion about ‘human nature’. In this class you will learn how to draw upon empirical sciences in making arguments that are not just opinions but claims that are accountable to evidence and logic. You will learn how to cross disciplinary boundaries in drawing and amalgamating evidence from different empirical sciences as well as from phenomenological analysis. You will gain insights into how biology, culture and history influence each other in the course of hominin/human becoming. You will gain experience in thinking about the relationship of descriptive to normative dimension in human understanding and you will write essays that enable you to address real contemporary problems in areas such as the bioethics of genetic engineering from the perspective of an empirically informed philosophy.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the basic ideas of Philosophical Anthropology as a tradition and school of thought. 2. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the basic ideas of several leading contemporary scientific investigators whose work bears directly on general questions of what it means to be human.
Discipline-Specific Skills	3. skilfully and critically interrelate philosophical ideas with empirical findings 4. skilfully apply your knowledge of human nature to problems in any other area of philosophy
Personal and Key Skills	5. critically engage at a high level with assigned readings 6. lucidly communicate concepts and ideas both orally and in writing 7. demonstrate an ability to work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task.

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 module will begin with an overview of the basic ideas of philosophical anthropology beginning with Kant and Herder and ranging through 20 ^th and 21 ^st century work.

Two Elephants in the Room – Human Cooperativity and Human Juvenilisation.

1. Arnold Gehlen and Clive Bromhall

2. Michael Tomasello

Evolutionary and historical evidence

3. Sarah Hrdy
4. Merlin Donald
5. Ian McGilchrist

Contemporary Evidence

6. Heidegger’s phenomenology
7. Hubert Dreyfus on skill

A Synthetic Model – the Hybrid Hominin

8. Lenny Moss

Philosophical Debate

9. The Dreyfus-McDowell debate I
10. The Dreyfus-McDowell debate II

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
24	126	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 Activity	22	Weekly two-hour lecture/seminars will consist of a lecture introducing key theories and issues and seminar discussion
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity	2	One-to-one meetings with Tutor to discuss essay topics and progress
Guided Independent Study	42	Reading and Preparation for Seminars
Guided Independent Study	14	Preparation of Seminar Presentation
Guided Independent Study	70	Researching and Writing Essay

Online Resources

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

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.

Readings will be derived from the following volumes along with assorted journal articles and manuscripts:

Clive Bromhall, The Eternal Child, 1988

Merlin Donald A Mind so Rare, W.W. Norton 1971.

Merlin Donald, Origins of the Modern Mind, Harvard, 1991

Hubert Dreyfus, Skillful Coping, 2014

Arnold Gehlen, Man, Columbia, 1988

Philip Honenberger, Naturalism and Philosophical Anthropology, 2016

Sarah Hrdy, Mothers and Others, Belknap 2011

Joseph Shear (ed) Mind, Reason and Being-in-the-World: The McDowell-Dreyfus Debate, 2013

Michael Tomasello, Why We Cooperate, Boston Review 2009