Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL2001: Phenomenology

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

The aim of this module is to introduce you to the place of phenomenology in the history of philosophy. Furthermore, the module aims to critically explore and investigate the challenges associated with the practice and method of phenomenology and how phenomenology sits in relation to other leading philosophical schools of thought such as metaphyscis, existentialism, naturalism and empiricism. In addition, the module aims to encourage you to be able to reflect phenomenologically about your own lived experience and to explore the contemporary relevance of the phenomenolgical approach to a variety of topics and disciplines. 

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 Skills1. Identify and cogently discuss the key methods, questions, themes and topics within the phenomenological tradition
2. Critically distinguish and evaluate various approaches to phenomenology, and related critiques, within the 20th century
Discipline-Specific Skills3. 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 Skills5. Demonstrate a significantly expanded philosophical vocabulary and understanding with respect to key ideas in twentieth century European philosophy
6. Conduct research independently engaging with complex ideas and problems
7. Engage in complex argumentation both orally and through writing

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:

Core module texts:

  1. Dermot Moran & Tim Mooney, eds., The Phenomenology Reader (New York: Routledge, 2002).
  2. Dermot Moran, Introduction to Phenomenology (New York: Routledge, 2000).

In addition, extracts from the following philosophical works will be discussed in lectures and tutorials:

  1. Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness
  2. Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
  3. Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception
  4. Emmanuel Levinas, Totality and Infinity
  5. Martin Heidegger, Being and Time
  6. Edmund Husserl, The Crisis of the European Sciences
  7. Edith Stein, On the Problem of Empathy