Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL3002: Existentialism

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

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 assessmentSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Tutorial Participation Fortnightly1-7Oral

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.

CourseworkWritten examsPractical exams
10000

...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.

Form of assessment% of creditSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Glossary Entry401,000 words1-7Written
Essay603,000 words1-7Written

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 assessmentForm of re-assessmentILOs re-assessedTimescale for re-assessment
Glossary EntryGlossary Entry (1,000 words)1-7August/September reassessment period
EssayEssay (3,000 words)1-7August/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:

  1. Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness
  2. Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea
  3. 3.   Jean-Paul Sartre, ‘Existentialism is a Humanism’
  4. 4.   Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
  5. Simone de Beauvoir, The Blood of Others
  6. Martin Heidegger, Being and Time
  7. 7.   Albert Camus, The Outsider
  8. Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus
  9. Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks
  10. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground
  11. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science
  12. Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
  13. Soren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death
  14. Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man

Selected Secondary Texts:

  1. A Companion to Phenomenology and Existentialism – edited by H.L. Dreyfus and M.A. Wrathall (Blackwell Publishers)
  2. The Cambridge Companion to Existentialism ­– edited by S. Crowell (Cambridge University Press)
  3. Iris Murdoch – Sartre: Romantic Rationalist
  4. Iris Murdoch – Essays on “Encountering Existentialism” from Existentialists and Mystics.