Learning Outcomes:
An appreciation of core themes in continental philosophy. The ability to participate in high-level, critical discussions of complex theoretical texts. A familiarity with all of the required primary readings and critical engagement with the work of the philosophers under consideration. Ability to draw connections between the primary readings and to compare and contrast them as appropriate.
Indicative Module Content:
How do we understand what is it to be a self or person? What is the relation between subjectivity and intersubjective life? How are embodied-minded subjects constituted in relations and dynamics between self and other? This module examines different philosophical perspectives for analysing encounters between self and other, and investigates alternative theories of recognition and intersubjectivity in the tradition of continental philosophy. Themes covered will include the subject, intersubjectivity, recognition, self/other relations, embodied-mind and notions of the self/person.
To address these questions, we generally begin by tracing major theories of intersubjectivity and recognition in the German philosophical tradition, such as those developed by Fichte and Hegel. We contrast these to phenomenological accounts such as those offered by Husserl, Merleau-Ponty and Sartre, and phenomenologically informed accounts of embodied-mind. We also consider accounts of recognition and relationality offered by contemporary philosophers such as Honneth and Foucault, as well as postcolonial and feminist philosophers. We not only consider different accounts of embodied-minded subjects but also consider the ways in which intersubjective relations are constitutive of subjects. We examine the way in which patterns of interaction form a background of norms and meanings that constitute the lifeworld, as well as the ways in which recognition is employed as a means of understanding forms of human relationality and sociality.