Admission requirements
Admission to this course is restricted to:
BA students in Philosophy, who have successfully completed their first year, and who have also completed at least 10 EC’s of the mandatory components of their second year, including: Political Philosophy, and Philosophy of Mind.
Pre-master’s students in Philosophy for whom this course has been specified on their admission statement.
Description
The course will follow the evolution of Merleau-Ponty’s political thinking from his early work of the late forties to 1959’s Signs. It will pay particular attention to the systematic unity between his theoretical thought and his political thought, Merleau-Ponty’s relations to Marxism, and his efforts to create a positive notion of political moderation.
Course objectives
This course aim to provide the students with a clear view of:
the trajectory of Merleau-Ponty’s political thought;
the context within which Merleau-Ponty’s political views arose;
the relations between Merleau-ponty’s theoretical philosophy and his political philosophy;
the relevance of Merleau-Ponty’s political thought for current debates.
Students who successfully complete the course will have a good understanding of:
the legacy of post-Marxism for current political thinking;
the relations between phenomenology and political philosophy;
some important aspects of the relations between ethcis and philosophy.
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
critically understand and interconnect Merleau-Ponty’s major political texts with each other and with those of Marx, Lukacs, Koestler, Lefort, Foucault and others;
present a consistent view of the problems that motivated Merleau-Ponty’s political thinking.
Timetable
See: BA Filosofie
- Filosofie, BA3 – BA Plus-traject or Standaardtraject
Mode of instruction
- Seminars
Class attendance is required.
Course Load
Total course load 10 EC x 28 hours = 280 hours
Attending lectures and seminars (13 weeks x 3 hrs): 39 hours
Preparation for seminars: 40 hours
Study of literature: 80 hours
Assignment: 38 hours
Preparation of presentation: 20 hours
Preparation final paper: 63 hours
Assessment method
Oral reading report on a primary text and abstract (30%)
Abstract for final paper (5%)
Final paper on a question agreed in advance based on abstract submitted (65%)
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determination of the weighted average of several subtests. A subtest can be graded as unsatisfactory.
Resit
The resit consists of one examination for all parts at once. No separate resits will be offered for mid-term tests. The resit will be a thoroughly demanding survey take-home exam covering the entirety of the course materials, and including a text commentary, a series of short questions and an argumentative essay. The mark will replace all previously earned marks for subtests.
Satisfactory completion of practical assignments (presentation,abstract) is a prerequisite for taking the resit.
Students who have obtained a satisfactory grade for the first examination cannot take the resit.
Exam review
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for:
- posting texts, general information documents (syllabus etc), assignments and updates.
Reading list
We will conduct the course in English, using Engish translations of Merleau-Ponty’s texts. The students are invited to acquaint themselves with the French whenever possible.
Merleau-Ponty’s texts:
Sense and Nonsense
Humanism and Terror
Adventures of the Dialectic
Signs
Secondary texts:
Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon
Gyorgy Lukacs, History and Class Consciousness
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website
Students are strongly advised to register in uSis through the activity number which can be found in the timetables for courses and exams.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable.
Contact
Remarks
Not applicable.