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 aim of the module is to introduce students to the thinking of some of the most important and influential figures in recent (post-1930) French philosophical debate; also to 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.

• understand some of major developments in modern French philosophy
• acquire a range of concepts that both extend and challenge their existing knowledge of philosophy
• deal with largely unfamiliar material, to characterise its main lines of argument and to assess their philosophical merits

• 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 module is assessed by 100% exam.

The formative assessment for this module will take the form of essays of a length between 1,500 and 2,000 words.

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.

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

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).