Unit Guide

General Information

Unit convenor and teaching staff	Unit convenor and teaching staff Loughlin Gleeson loughlin.gleeson@mq.edu.au Jean-Philippe Deranty jp.deranty@mq.edu.au
Credit points	Credit points 3
Prerequisites	Prerequisites (12cp at 100 level or above) or admission to GDipArts
Corequisites	Corequisites
Co-badged status	Co-badged status
Unit description	Unit description ‘Freedom' is the most important norm for modern societies, but what do we really mean when we appeal to freedom? Is there more freedom in modern liberal societies than in other forms of society? If so, does this make them better? What about the negation of freedom, the experience of domination? How are we to define it, what are the structures and the forms of domination in modern society? This unit explores these questions by studying four key philosophical reference points in the modern reflection on the nature and conditions of freedom and domination. We begin by examining the culmination of the Enlightenment conception of freedom in the political and historical writings of Kant. We then explore Hegel’s criticism of Kant and his emphasis on the social condition of freedom. In the second part of the course, we explore two equally influential critiques of modern society that challenge the claim that modern individuals are genuinely free: first Marx’s analysis of the economic and political origins of social domination; and finally, Nietzsche’s diagnosis about the crisis of meaning in modern culture and his radical challenge to Enlightenment ideals.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

A well-developed understanding of the modern, philosophical concepts of 'freedom' and 'domination'.
A good understanding of the relevance of these concepts to broader philosophical, social and political debates.
An ability to understand and analyse arguments and concepts in moral, social and political philosophy.
An ability to articulate ideas clearly, cogently, and convincingly through critical analysis, interpretation, and appropriate forms of written expression.
An ability to actively participate in group discussions and learning activities in tutorial sessions and online.

General Assessment Information

Extensions and Special Consideration

Requests for extensions must, normally, be made in writing before the due date. Extensions of up to 3 days can be granted by your convenor if reasonable grounds are given, and some written documentation can be produced. Work load from other units, or from employment, are not considered reasonable justification.

Requests for extensions of more than 3 days should be submitted via a Special Consideration request, which is available in the http://ask.mq.edu.au portal. Your request should be accompanied by appropriate documentation, such as a medical certificate. Please see the Special Consideration policy in the list of policies at the end of this document for further details.

Read the policy closely as your request may be turned down if you have not followed procedure, or if you have not submitted a request in a timely manner.

Late Submission Penalty

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – two (2) marks out of 100 will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments – e.g. quizzes, online tests.

Academic Honesty

In Philosophy, academic honesty is taken very seriously. Misrepresenting someone else's work as your own may be grounds for referral to the Faculty Disciplinary Committee. If you have questions about how to properly cite work or how to credit sources, please talk to one of the teaching staff and see also the Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

Please note that the policy also prohibits resubmitting work you have already submitted in another unit or unit offering. This counts as self-plagiarism. To avoid self-plagiarism, if you have done this unit previously, you should write on another topic this time. If this presents you with any problems, please contact the unit covenor as soon as possible.

For information about extensions, late penalties and special consideration, see Policies and Proceduressection below.

Assessment Tasks

Name	Weighting	Hurdle	Due
Short Answer Questions	5%	No	Week 3
Critical Analysis	30%	No	Week 5
Major Essay	50%	No	Week 12
Tutorial Participation	15%	No	Weekly

Short Answer Questions

Due: Week 3
Weighting: 5%

In Week 3, you will be asked to respond to a series of short answer questions in your allocated tutorial session. These questions will be based on concepts covered in Weeks 1 and 2, as well as the readings from Week 2. These questions are aimed to test your engagement with the course in its early stages, and at the same time help provide you will some initial feedback. External students will complete the questions online.

On successful completion you will be able to:

An ability to understand and analyse arguments and concepts in moral, social and political philosophy.

Critical Analysis

Due: Week 5
Weighting: 30%

This is a short, analytical piece of writing to be completed by week five. The point of this exercise is for you to explicate, examine and ultimately assess a passage from one of the initial week’s readings. Length 1,000 words.

On successful completion you will be able to:

A well-developed understanding of the modern, philosophical concepts of 'freedom' and 'domination'.
A good understanding of the relevance of these concepts to broader philosophical, social and political debates.
An ability to understand and analyse arguments and concepts in moral, social and political philosophy.
An ability to articulate ideas clearly, cogently, and convincingly through critical analysis, interpretation, and appropriate forms of written expression.

Major Essay

Due: Week 12
Weighting: 50%

The course’s major assessment is an extended, formal response. You will be given a set of questions, all of which stem from the course’s central focus-area and asked to respond to one. Alternatively, I will consider requests for self-chosen essay topics on an individual basis provided it aligns with the course’s expectations. Length: 2,500 words.

On successful completion you will be able to:

A well-developed understanding of the modern, philosophical concepts of 'freedom' and 'domination'.
A good understanding of the relevance of these concepts to broader philosophical, social and political debates.
An ability to understand and analyse arguments and concepts in moral, social and political philosophy.
An ability to articulate ideas clearly, cogently, and convincingly through critical analysis, interpretation, and appropriate forms of written expression.

Tutorial Participation

Due: Weekly
Weighting: 15%

A participation mark is awarded on the basis of your participation in the weekly tutorials. Participation means actively engaging with the materials set for each week, and contributing to discussions throughout the semester. You will be graded above all on the quality of your contributions to discussions.

On successful completion you will be able to:

An ability to actively participate in group discussions and learning activities in tutorial sessions and online.

Delivery and Resources

PHL254 will be delivered using a combination of interactive lectures and tutorial/seminar discussion groups.

This unit uses the PHL 254 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 will require for the course.

Lecture and Tutorial Times

Lecture: Friday 12-2pm

6 Eastern Road- 316 Tutorial Room

Tutorials: 2-3pm; 3-4pm

4 Western Road- 310 Tutorial Room

Studying Externally

External students will be required to listen to each week's lectures, as well as contribute to their weekly workbooks in place of tutorial engagement.

Unit Schedule

Week 1: Introduction: Freedom and Domination

Overview of different conceptions of freedom, including MacCallum's triadic notion, Berlin's distinction of positive and negative freedom and the notion of relational freedom. Overview of different conceptions of domination, including interference, heteronomy and alienation. Criticisms of freedom(s).

Background Readings:

Gerald MacCallum, ‘Negative and Positive Freedom’

Isaiah Berlin, ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’

Axel Honneth, ‘Three, Not Two, Concepts of Liberty: A Proposal to Enlarge Our Moral Self-Understanding’ (audio lecture available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wslFRjaGyRQ)

Charles Taylor, ‘What’s Wrong with Negative Liberty?’

(ed.) David, Miller, The Liberty Reader

(ed.) John Christman, Autonomy and the Challenges to Liberalism

Week 2: Modern, Kantian ‘Autonomy’

Kant's modern conception of freedom as autonomy. The historical background and overall systematic position of his decidedly moral conception of freedom. Kant's notion of domination as heteronomy and the social and political implications of autonomy.

Required readings

Kant, ‘What is Enlightenment?’

——,Critique of Pure Reason, pp. 464-79

——, Groundwork, pp. 44-5; 49-62

Further reading

Gleeson and Ikaheimo, ‘Hegelian Perfectionism and Freedom’

Neuhouser, 'Hegel's Social Philosophy', in The Cambridge Companion to Hegel and Nineteenth-Century Philosophy

Week Six: Hegel's 'Critical Potential'

A Hegelian model of normative criticism. The various kinds of concrete un-freedom; namely, domination and alienation with respect to constitutive others.

Required readings

Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, §§ 382; 428; 433-35;

——, Phenomenology of Spirit, §§198-201

Further reading

Kauppinen, 'Reason, Recognition and Internal Critique'

Honneth, Pathologies of Individual Freedom: Hegel’s Social Theory

Week 7: From Idealism to Materialism: Hegel on History, Feuerbach on Religion

Hegel's account of history and modernity in particular. Feuerbach's critique of Hegel, his materialist approach and account of religious alienation.

Required readings

Hegel, ‘Introduction’ to Lectures on the Philosophy of World History

Feuerbach, ‘Introduction’ to The Essence of Christianity

——, Principles of Philosophy of Future, §§, 52, 59-60

Further reading

Pinkard, Does History Makes Sense?

Deranty, 'Feuerbach and the Philosophy of Critical Theory'

Week Eight: Marx’s Critique of (Capitalist) Alienation

Marx's critique of Hegel and Feuerbach. Introduction to his early writings, its conceptual and methodological premises. Outline of his four-fold account of human alienation under capitalism.

Required readings

Marx, ‘From the Paris Notebooks (1844)’, pp. 71-8

——, ‘A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction’, pp. 57-60

——, ‘On Feuerbach’, pp. 116-118

Further reading

Allen Wood, Karl Marx, Part One

Gyorgy Márkus, Marxism and Anthropology, pp. 36-50

Week Nine: Marx's Alternative Vision of (Communist) Freedom

Marx's vision of human freedom as deeply 'romantic' (self-realisation) and relational (relations to others, nature and society). Political implications of this model. Marx's vision of history. A brief sketch of 'commodity fetishism.'

Required readings

Marx, ‘From the Paris Notebooks (1844)’, pp. 78-83

——, ‘Human Relations as Complementarity: from Comments on James Mill’, pp. 93-9

——, Communist Manifesto

Further reading

Robert B. Pippin, 'Nietzsche’s Alleged Farewell: The premodern, modern, and postmodern', in The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche, Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Stanley Rosen, “Nietzsche’s Revolution” from his The Ancients and the Moderns.

Week Eleven: Nietzsche's Vision of Individual Freedom

Nietzsche's critique of traditional conceptions of freedom. His radical vision of individual self-realisation. The social and political implications of this a-moral, heavily individualistic picture.

Required readings

——, Human, All Too Human, §§39, 225

——, Beyond Good and Evil, §§24, 29

Further reading

Oaklander, ‘Nietzsche on Freedom’

Nietzsche on Freedom and Autonomy, eds. Ken Gemes and Simon May

Week 12: Contemporary Heirs to the 19^th Century, German Philosophical Tradition

Freedom today: the Autonomy-debate, Honneth, Jaeggi and Foucault

Required readings

Axel Honneth, Freedom’s Right (selected passages)

Rahel Jaeggi, Alienation (selected passages)

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Academic Appeals Policy
Academic Integrity Policy
Academic Progression Policy
Assessment Policy
Fitness to Practice Procedure
Grade Appeal Policy
Complaint Management Procedure for Students and Members of the Public
Special Consideration Policy (Note: The Special Consideration Policy is effective from 4 December 2017 and replaces the Disruption to Studies Policy.)

Undergraduate students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

If you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/.

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

Commitment to Continuous Learning

Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

An ability to understand and analyse arguments and concepts in moral, social and political philosophy.

Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills

Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

A well-developed understanding of the modern, philosophical concepts of 'freedom' and 'domination'.
A good understanding of the relevance of these concepts to broader philosophical, social and political debates.
An ability to understand and analyse arguments and concepts in moral, social and political philosophy.

Assessment tasks

Short Answer Questions
Critical Analysis
Major Essay

Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

A well-developed understanding of the modern, philosophical concepts of 'freedom' and 'domination'.
An ability to articulate ideas clearly, cogently, and convincingly through critical analysis, interpretation, and appropriate forms of written expression.

Assessment tasks

Short Answer Questions
Critical Analysis
Major Essay

Problem Solving and Research Capability

Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

A well-developed understanding of the modern, philosophical concepts of 'freedom' and 'domination'.

Assessment tasks

Short Answer Questions
Critical Analysis
Major Essay

Effective Communication

We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

An ability to articulate ideas clearly, cogently, and convincingly through critical analysis, interpretation, and appropriate forms of written expression.
An ability to actively participate in group discussions and learning activities in tutorial sessions and online.

Assessment tasks

Critical Analysis
Major Essay
Tutorial Participation

Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens

As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

A good understanding of the relevance of these concepts to broader philosophical, social and political debates.
An ability to actively participate in group discussions and learning activities in tutorial sessions and online.

Socially and Environmentally Active and Responsible

We want our graduates to be aware of and have respect for self and others; to be able to work with others as a leader and a team player; to have a sense of connectedness with others and country; and to have a sense of mutual obligation. Our graduates should be informed and active participants in moving society towards sustainability.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

A good understanding of the relevance of these concepts to broader philosophical, social and political debates.

Changes from Previous Offering

Since last being offered this unit has undergone the following changes:

Revision of learning activities, outcomes, and assessment tasks.

Changes since First Published

Date	Description
25/07/2019	updated late submission policy information