Module PHL3042 for 2020/1
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
PHL3042: 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.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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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 20th and 21st 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).
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 |
---|---|---|---|
Seminar Class Presentation | 10 Minutes | 1-6 | Verbal and Class Feedback |
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 | 2,000 words | 1-6 | Written |
Essay 2 | 50 | 2,000 words | 1-7 | Written |
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 (2,000 words) | 1-6 | August/September re-assessment period |
Essay 2 | Essay (2,000 words) | 1-7 | 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.
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