PHIL20730 Revelation and Reason

Academic Year 2022/2023

Our Module will critically assess and interpret the age-old question, in philosophy, of the complex relation between revelation and reason. From Kant to Levinas, we shall propose an explication of the following questions: What constitutes rationality? What informs revelation? Is revelation comprehensible within the scope and the horizon of rational understanding or does revelation remain radically heterogeneous to rationality? Far from being mutually exclusive and yet entirely irreducible one to the other, revelation and reason will be seen to engage philosophical thinking in a confrontation with its own foundational concepts: freedom, subjectivity, objectivity, ethics, meaning, truth and history.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

Critically assess and interpret foundational texts in German Idealism (from Kant to Hegel).
Critically assess and interpret foundational texts in phenomenology (Husserl, Heidegger, Levinas).
Develop excellent understanding and comprehension of foundational concepts in the Continental philosophical tradition.
Critically evaluate different philosophical positions on the status of rationality and the meaning of revelation in Modern and Contemporary philosophy.

Indicative Module Content:

Key concepts which will be studied and critically assessed include:
subjectivity and objectivity, knowledge and belief, rationality and revelation, teleology and theology, freedom and truth, manifestation and representation,

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

30
Tutorial

8
Total

38
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
The Module will be based on lectures and reading of primary literature. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Assignment: In Class Assignment: critical assessment of chosen excerpt(s) from primary literature. Week 12 n/a Graded No

25
Assignment: In Class Assignment: critical assessment of chosen excerpt(s) from primary literature. Week 6 n/a Graded No

25
Essay: Final Essay Submission on a predetermined question with the Module coordinator End of trimester MCQ n/a Graded No

50

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback will be given to all students individually both prior and after each assessment in a F2F meeting with the Module coordinator.

Kant, Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason
Kant, Critique of Judgment
Fichte, Critique of Revelation
Schelling, Essay Concerning Human Freedom
Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit
Heidegger, The Phenomenology of Religious Life
Levinas, Totality and Infinity