This double module is devoted to the study of texts by (among others) Sartre, Camus, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze, Lyotard, and Badiou.  The approach will combine a broad-based introduction to these thinkers’ work in its historical, intellectual, and cultural context with a detailed analysis of particular passages chosen for their representative character.  It will also emphasise the various high-profile philosophic debates – like those between Camus and Sartre, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty, or Deleuze and Badiou – which have been such a prominent feature of post-war French intellectual life.

The module will introduce students to the thinking of some of the most important and influential figures in recent (post-1930) French philosophical debate. It will also make them more aware of the many points of contact - as well as the differences - that exist between the 'Continental' and 'analytic' (i.e. mainstream Anglo-American) traditions of thought.  The approach will be partly historical-comparative, and partly based on the close reading of individual texts.  It will cover a wide range of inter-related concerns, among them epistemology, philosophy of science, ethics, and politics.  There will also be cross-reference to developments in adjacent fields such as literary theory, anthropology, and historiography.

·         demonstrate knowledge and understanding of some major developments in modern French philosophy

·         demonstrate skills in acquiring a range of concepts that both extend and challenge their existing knowledge of  philosophy

·         demonstrate critical abilities to deal with largely unfamiliar material, to characterise its main lines of argument and to assess their philosophical merits

·         demonstrate the ability to evaluate concepts, arguments, theories, and conjectures through a process of disciplined analysis and critique.

Teaching will be through a combination of lectures and seminars (both discussion sessions led by a member of staff and discussion sessions where students are required to make presentations and/or lead discussion), the balance being decided from year to year with regard to student numbers.

The module will be taught using printed books and journal articles available online (e.g. via Learning Central) or from the library.

Timetabled sessions will be supplemented with written material in the form of a skeletal  outline of the session content. This supplementary material will be provided on Learning Central after the session.

Audio will be used in this module as part of the core module resources.

Images, diagrams, video or other multimedia resources will not be used in this module.

Students will develop employability skills which include the ability to synthesise information, operate in group-based discussions which will involve negotiating ideas, and will be able to produce clear, informed arguments in a professional manner.

The summative assessment for this module will take the form of a 3-hour written examination (two essays) with a wide range of topic choices.

This module is assessed according to the Marking Criteria set out in the Philosophy Course Guide. There are otherwise no academic or competence standards which limit the availability of adjustments or alternative assessments for students with disabilities.

THE POTENTIAL FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

In common with University regulations, students are allowed two attempts at retrieval of any failed essay, with the cap on the individual essay set at 40.

Week 1            What is distinctively ‘French’ about modern French philosophy?

Week 2            The early Sartre: phenomenology and existentialism

Week 3            The later Sartre:  Marxism and psychoanalysis

Week 4            Albert Camus: philosophy and fiction

Week 5            Merleau-Ponty: phenomenology, language, and politics

Week 6            Structuralism

Week 7            Post-Structuralism

Week 8            Marxism and Psychoanalysis

Week 9            Foucault and Deleuze        

Week 10          Derrida and Badiou

(Note: each week there will be two lecture-periods (running consecutively from 3 to 5 p.m. every Friday), so each of the broadly specified topics listed below will be subject to fairly lengthy discussion. The seminars are scheduled for the periods immediately before and after the lectures, i.e., at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.)

Preliminary Reading:

Eric Matthews, Twentieth Century French Philosophy (Oxford University Press, 1996)

Alan Montefiore (ed.), Philosophy in France Today (Cambridge University Press, 1983)

Gary Gutting, French philosophy in the twentieth century, (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).