Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Unit Convenor
Mark Kelly
Contact via mark.kelly@mq.edu.au
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Credit points |
Credit points
3
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
39cp or admission to GDipArts
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
Continuing the inquiry commenced in PHL254, this unit explores in more depth how social transformations might both foster and hinder the realisation of our freedom and human potential. Economic growth is generally taken to be an unquestionable good but what are its costs at a social and environmental level? Modern technology is taken to be the key to the future but what impact does it have on our relationships with nature? A successful career is often accepted as essential to happiness but is contemporary work a fully rewarding experience? Are the economic inequalities generated by contemporary social and economic transformations justifiable in a democratic society? This unit addresses these questions first by examining the social philosophy tradition (the Frankfurt School of critical theory), focusing on key themes such as the economic rationalisation of society, the effects of this rationalisation on individuals and communities, and the prospects for social freedom in an economically rationalised world. The second part of the unit then turns to contemporary approaches in social philosophy (Axel Honneth) that offer critical analyses and possible alternatives to some of the most pressing issues we face, including economic and social injustice, the environmental crisis, and social pathologies arising from new work conditions and career demands.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Name | Weighting | Due |
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Online quiz | 10% | Friday 28th March |
Case Study | 30% | Friday 25th April |
Philosophical Essay | 45% | Monday, 16th June |
Tutorial Participation | 15% | Throughout semester |
Due: Friday 28th March
Weighting: 10%
An online quiz to be done in Week 4. This quiz will involve writing short answers to questions based on the weekly topics covered in the first three weeks of the course. The quiz will be available online and accessible to students for one week; once a student commences the quiz there will ba set time period to complete the quiz (20-30 mins).
Due: Friday 25th April
Weighting: 30%
This assignment tests your ability to explain and apply some of the philosophical ideas and theories that you have been studying. You will be given a problem or 'case study' scenario and asked to choose among a number of theoretical approaches to analyse and explain this problem or case study. You may also be asked to compare and contrast different theoretical approaches, and to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, or to defend your choice of theory against competing alternatives. The aim will be to give you practice in analysing and applying philosophical ideas to concrete situations and to be able to argue for or against particular theoretical approaches.
Due: Monday, 16th June
Weighting: 45%
These major assignments are designed to test your ability to engage with a topic in depth. Writing an essay tests your ability to express, analyse and organise key ideas clearly and systematically, and to develop an argument or point of view in a sustained and coherent manner. Essays are also the primary mode in which philosophical research is conducted; hence writing essays in philosophy units helps enhance students' abilities to analyse, interpret, and propose philosophical points of view on a variety of topics and problems.
Due: Throughout semester
Weighting: 15%
Tutorials are an important site of individual and group learning. Philosophy tutorials involve students in active discussion with the tutor and fellow students, raising and responding to questions, analysing problems, and engaging in individual and group learning activities with the tutor. Students will also prepare a brief essay plan/opening paragraph for your final essay as part of your tutorial participation. Students are expected to attend at least 75% of classes.
Weekly tutorials will begin in WEEK 2 and continue until Week 13. Tutorials revolve around questions. Firstly, students are expected to bring questions to the tutorial about the reading, including things students find difficult to understand, criticisms you may have of the reading, or points you think require clarification. The expectation is that students attempt to answer their questions on the reading yourselves and bring your tentative answers to the tutorial for discussion. Secondly, there will also be questions set to guide your reading and guide tutorial discussion.
Students will be judged by the quality of their contributions rather than sheer quantity, but there is an expectation that each student should contribute questions or answers to at least two tutorial discussions in the course of the semester. Each student will be given ample opportunity to do this in later weeks if they have not fulfilled this requirement earlier in the semester. To this end, students are encouraged to prepare answers to set discussion questions in a written format, which can then be submitted if need be as evidence of work done.
10% of the 15% tutorial participation mark will be on the basis of quality of engagement with discussions. The remaining 5% will be for an essay plan produced in advance of the essay.
External students will be required to participate in weekly online tutorials where set questions will also be discussed and interaction between students will be fostered. The course convenor will also participate in these discussions from time to time, mainly in a facilitating and moderating role.
Technology Used and Required
This unit uses an ilearn website and Echo360 lecture recordings (https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/login/MQ/). The website contains links to lecture notes, ilecture recordings, and other learning materials you might require for the course.
PHL351 will be delivered using a combination of lectures (live and pre-recorded) and tutorial/seminar discussion groups. Most weeks there will be live lectures that will be recorded via the ECHO360 recording system and made available via the website. On some weeks there will be pre-recorded lectures that I will upload via ECHO360 on the website. Students will be informed as to which lectures will be live and which will be pre-recorded for viewing or listening via the website. Students will therefore require access to a computer and a good internet connection in order to participate in the unit effectively.
Lecture and Tutorial Times
There are two lectures per week:
Monday 2pm–3pm C5C 209
Thursday 11am–12pm W5A 205
Students should attend both lectures, and one tutorial.
There are two tutorial classes scheduled:
Monday 3pm–4pm W6B 282
Thursday 12pm–1pm W5C 302
Weekly tutorials will begin in WEEK 2 and will continue until Week 13. There will also be weekly discussion questions that students are asked to answer.
External students will be required to participate in online tutorials where set questions will be discussed and interaction between students will be encouraged across the semester. I will also participate in these discussions from time to time, maninly in a facilitating role.
Learning and Teaching Strategy
This unit will driven by student-centred learning strategies, combining lectures with active seminar-style discussion. Learning technologies such as ilearn websites, lecture recordings, and other electronic resources will be used throughout to facilitate learning. Active participation and group learning activities will be emphasised throughout the semester. Student feedback concerning the content and delivery of the course will also be encouraged.
The unit is taught through lectures and tutorials (two lectures and one tutorial per week). Tutorials will be run as weekly workshops dealing with questions and problems arising from the weekly readings and lecture material. Students will be expected to attend the weekly lectures and to read set readings in preparation for tutorials. Active participation is encouraged: asking questions, making comments, raising issues for discussion by the group, etc. Students are also encouraged to relate the lecture and reading material to other areas of study and to broader social, cultural and political debates. External students are required to participate in online discussions.
Information about iLearn and other resources:
Very useful information and resources for using ilearn can be found at this website:
http://www.mq.edu.au/iLearn/
The web page for this unit can also be found at the mq ilearn website:
https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/login/MQ/
Changes since the last offering of this unit:
Since last being offered this unit has undergone the following changes:
Revision of learning activities, outcomes, and assessment tasks;
Curriculum mapping of relationship between activities, outcomes, and graduate capabilities;
Addition of new course content including new topics and more updated weekly readings.
Required and Recommended Texts and/or Materials
PHL351 Social Philosophy will be using electronically available readings, either via e-reserve at the library or via online open access websites.
Recommended websites, articles, and video clips will also be made available via the PHL351 website. A guide to further reading/recommended bibliography will also be posted for students.
Week 1 (3rd March): Enlightenment
The origins of critical reflection on society.
Further reading
The rest of S. Lotringer , ed., The politics of truth, 2nd edn. (New York: Semiotext(e) , 2007).
Week 2 (10th March): Fetishism
Lukács’ extension of the Marxist diagnosis of ‘inversion’; contemporary society as a ‘society of the spectacle’; media in contemporary economies.
Further reading
Week 3 (17th March): Repression
Adorno and Horkheimer’s idea of a ‘dialectic of Enlightenment’; the paradox of a rational progress leading to self-destruction; late capitalism as ‘total administration’ of life. Marcuse’s diagnosis of ‘new forms of control’; technology; the repression of nature within and without; the idea of a ‘liberation of nature’.
Week 4 (24th March): Ideology
Althusser’s theory of ideology; subjectivity and capitalist reproduction.
Week 5 (31st March): Power
Foucault’s ‘cutting off the head of the king’ in political theory.
Further reading
Week 6 (7th April): Biopolitics
Mid-semester break 12 - 27 Apr 2014
Week 7 (28th April): Lifeworld
Jürgen Habermas’ key intervention in social philosophy; the increase in complexity of contemporary society; system versus lifeworld.
Background reading
Week 8 (5th May): Recognition
Problems with the ‘colonisation thesis’; recognition as core mechanism of social integration; the spheres of recognition: love, rights, social esteem; modernity as moral progress; the centrality of social movements for social progress.
Further reading
Week 9 (12th May): Autonomy
Cornelius Castoriadis’s psychoanalytic theory of societal development and freedom.
Week 10 (19th May): Nation
Étienne Balibar on racism and nationalism in modern Europe.
Further reading
Week 11 (26th May): Human Rights
The question of human rights and globalisation. Challenges for liberal democracies in a globalised world: human rights, the global economy, liberal democracy. Habermas and Ranciere on rights, politics, and democracy.
Week 12 (2nd June): Ethics
Is the ethical-moral critique of human rights' violations under conditions of globalisation enough? Badiou's critique of human rights discourse and liberal democracy. The relationship between philosophy, politics, and democracy.
Further reading: rest of Ethics
Week 13 (9th June): Reading Week
No scheduled lectures: tutorials will be devoted to essay writing workshops.
Essay due Monday, 16th June (first week of exam period)
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html
Assessment Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html
Grading Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html
Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html
Grievance Management Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grievance_management/policy.html
Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.
In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.
Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.
For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au
For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://informatics.mq.edu.au/help/.
When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.
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