Twentieth-Century Philosophy: Existentialism, Phenomenology, and Hermeneutics (AP9160C)

Postgraduate, 24.0 points

Content

How has philosophy evolved between the 19th century and today? How have developments in philosophy affected how we think about theology? This unit examines developments in post-Kantian continental philosophy from the 19th century until now. The unit examines key thinkers and frameworks for contemporary thought about philosophy itself, the possibility of faith, metaphysics, and God: thinkers who may include Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau Ponty, Camus, Gadamer, Stein, Deleuze, Habermas, Marion, and Meillassoux. Particular attention will be given to major texts covering early and later phenomenology, hermeneutics, influential postmodern thinkers, and the theological turn in contemporary French thought.

Unit code: AP9160C

Unit status: Approved (Major revision)

Points: 24.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Elective

Unit discipline: Philosophy

Proposing College: Catholic Theological College

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Learning outcomes

1.

Give an account of the philosophical positions studied in the unit that explains their relation to the development of postmodern thought during the twentieth century.
2.

Outline the philosophical context for the texts studied in the unit, and reflect on the issues they seek to address.
3.

Compare the key characteristics of the philosophical positions studied in the unit.
4.

Appraise the significance of the philosophical positions studied in the unit.
5.

Assess critically the arguments in the texts studied in the unit.
6.

Demonstrate the capacity to research a specific topic in a critically rigorous, sustained and self-directed manner.

Unit sequence

One unit of Philosophy

Pedagogy

Lectures and tutorials

Indicative Bibliography

  • Copleston, Frederick C. A History of Philosophy. Vols 7 and 9. London: Burns & Oates, 1963 and 1975.
  • Critchley, Simon, and William Schroeder. A Companion to Continental Philosophy. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.
  • Cutrofello, Andrew. Continental Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy. London: Routledge, 2005.
  • Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Truth and Method. 2nd ed. Translated by William Glen-Doepel. Translation revised by Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall. New York: Crossroad, 1992.
  • Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time: A Translation of “Sein und Zeit”. Translated by Joan Stambaugh. Revised by Dennis J. Schmidt. State University of New York Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010.
  • Husserl, Edmund. The Idea of Phenomenology. Collected Works. Vol. 8. Translated by Lee Hardy. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 1999.
  • Levinas, Emmanuel. “Philosophy and the Idea of Infinity.” In Collected Philosophical Papers, Translated by Alphonso Lingis, 47–59. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1998.
  • Sokolowski, Robert. An Introduction to Phenomenology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  • Stein, Edith. On the Problem of Empathy. 3rd Rev ed. The Collected Works of Edith Stein, V. 3. Translated by Waltraut Stein. Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1989.
  • West, David. Continental Philosophy: An Introduction. New ed. Cambridge: Polity, 2010.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)

Variant 1

Tutorial Paper/Seminar Paper

2 x 1000 word seminar papers (2 x 15%)

 2000 30.0
Skeleton Argument

1000-word skeleton argument

 1000 10.0
Essay

4000-word essay

 4000 60.0

Variant 2

Skeleton Argument

1000-word skeleton argument

 1000 10.0
Essay

6000-word essay

 6000 90.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Prof Albert Haddad on 16 Aug, 2022

Unit record last updated: 2022-08-16 15:27:27 +1000