Module PHL2012 for 2020/1
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
PHL2012: Social Philosophy
This module descriptor refers to the 2020/1 academic year.
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
One 90 minute lecture per week and one tutorial per fortnight. Lectures provide you with a broad overview of the core philosophical issues and the problems they raise; they cover more ground than is possible in tutorials, and are designed to establish a context in which to think about the issues discussed in 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.
1. Freedom & determinism / moral agency & responsibility.
2. Collective responsibility?
3. The Marxian view of morality.
4. & 5. Social context and moral ignorance.
6. & 7. Social change and moral agency: the case of slavery, abolition and emancipation.
8. Inequality, functional importance and incentives.
9. Personal/political agency & collective responsibility (1): Rich egalitarianism?
10. Personal/political agency & collective responsibility (2): Duties to alleviate absolute poverty?
11. Moral saintliness & the demandingness of morality.
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 activity | 16.5 | Weekly 1.5 hour lectures. Lectures provide you with a broad overview of types and ways of social analysis; they cover more ground than is possible in tutorials, and are designed to establish a context in which to think about the issues discussed in tutorials. |
Scheduled Learning and Teaching activity | 5 | 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 tutorial participation including reading and planning |
Guided independent study | 83.5 | Preparation for essay, library, research etc. |
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.
T. Bender (ed.) (1992) The antislavery debate: capitalism and abolitionism as a problem in historical interpretation
G. Cohen (2000) If You’re an egalitarian, how come you’re so rich?
M. Moody-Adams (1997) Fieldwork in familiar places: morality, culture, and philosophy.
N. Pleasants (2008) ‘Institutional wrongdoing and moral perception’ Journal of Social Philosophy 39 (1), 96–115.
ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/