BASS Politics and Sociology

Phenomenology is the study of the structure of experience. In this course unit we will examine aspects of the work of some of the most important Twentieth Century phenomenologists: Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Edith Stein, Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Topics covered may include: the nature of intentionality, perception and imagination; our awareness of self, body and others; and our consciousness of time. We shall also look at what is distinctive about the methods of phenomenological philosophy.

The course aims to:

- introduce students to the philosophical writings of the Twentieth Century phenomenologists;

- present the historical and philosophical context in which phenomenology was developed;

- explore in detail some central concepts of phenomenology: intentionality, reduction, constitution, transcendental ego, time-consciousness, embodiment, intersubjectivity, etc;

- show how phenomenology relates to issues in metaphysics, epistemology and the philosophy of mind.

On successful completion of this course unit, students will be able to demonstrate:

- an ability to identify the main philosophical questions arising in phenomenological texts;

- an ability to engage with some of the major issues in the interpretation of the phenomenological tradition in philosophy;

- an ability to evaluate the significance of phenomenological philosophy;

- an ability to relate the work of Husserl, Heidegger, Stein, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty to other philosophical disciplines.

One 2-hour lecture and one 1-hour tutorial per week.

Please note the hours in the Scheduled activity hours are subject to change.

The School of Social Sciences (SoSS) is committed to providing timely and appropriate feedback to students on their academic progress and achievement, thereby enabling students to reflect on their progress and plan their academic and skills development effectively. Students are reminded that feedback is necessarily responsive: only when a student has done a certain amount of work and approaches us with it at the appropriate fora is it possible for us to feed back on the student's work. The main forms of feedback on this course are written feedback responses to assessed essays and exam answers.

We also draw your attention to the variety of generic forms of feedback available to you on this as on all SoSS courses. These include: meeting the lecturer/tutor during their office hours; e-mailing questions to the lecturer/tutor; asking questions from the lecturer (before and after lecture); presenting a question on the discussion board on Blackboard; and obtaining feedback from your peers during tutorials.

Smith, J. 2016. Experiencing Phenomenology. Abingdon: Routledge.

Moran, D. & Mooney, T. Eds. 2002. The Phenomenology Reader. London: Routledge.

Moran, D. 2000. Introduction to Phenomenology. London: Routledge.

Cerbone, D. 2006. Understanding Phenomenology. Chesham: Acumen.