BASS Social Anthropology and Criminology

This course introduces central arguments in the political and social philosophy of Hegel and Marx.

The unit aims to: 

This course aims to introduce the work of Hegel and Marx. The approach taken is philosophical rather than historical, and will involve examining critically their claims and arguments about such matters as the alienation, exploitation, justice and human labour, and the possibility of mutual recognition and community.  It is expected that students will engage with the original texts, formulate the central arguments to be found in them and to assess their cogency.

One two-hour lecture and one one-hour tutorial per week.

Students should be able to:

• State and critically respond to the central arguments Hegel’s social and political philosophy;
• State and critically respond to the central arguments Marx’s economic and political philosophy.

Students should be able to:

• Analyse the argument of key primary texts;
• Formulate their own informed responses to these arguments studied.

Students should be able to:

• Use research tools to effectively select resources in the preparation of assessments on Hegel and Marx;
• Clearly communicate ideas about Hegel and Marx.

Essay (2000 words) 50%

Exam (2 hours) 50%

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 time 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 Canvas; and obtaining feedback from your peers during tutorials.

• Hegel G. W. Philosophy of Right 
• Hegel G. W.  The Phenomenology of Spirit 
• Knowles, D. Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Hegel and the Philosophy of Right. 
• Wood, A.  Hegel's Ethical Thought 
• Beiser, F. Hegel 
• Marx, K. Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts 
• Marx, K. Preface to A Critique of Political Economy 
• Marx, K. Capital Volume 1 
• Cohen G. A. Karl Marx's Theory of History 
• Wood A. Karl Marx 
• Lukes S. Marxism and Morality 
• Geras, N. 'On Marx and Justice' New Left Review, 150, 1985, pp.47-85. 
• Wolff, J.  Why Read Marx Today?