Undergraduate Course: Social Philosophy (PHIL10204)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course covers issues and questions in social philosophy - philosophy that treats our socially-embeddedness as something which philosophers should explore and try to understand, and also as a crucial starting point for philosophical inquiry. |
| Course description |
People do not typically live as isolated individuals, but as part of larger social groups; families, communities, groups, and societies. This may seem like an obvious point, but some areas of philosophy have been accused of neglecting our fundamentally social nature, and of failing to treat this as worthy of philosophical attention in its own right. Social philosophy treats our socially-embeddedness as something which philosophers should explore and try to understand, and also as a crucial starting point for philosophical inquiry. It includes areas such as feminist philosophy, critical race theory, philosophy of race, and philosophy of disability, but social approaches in areas like ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, political philosophy, and the philosophies of language and mind. For example, social metaphysics asks what social groups are, how social practices categorize people, and what ethical and political consequences follow, and social epistemology looks at the ways in which we can gain knowledge from others through testimony, how we can identify experts, how our views can be challenged by disagreement with others, and the distorting effects of systems of oppression, prejudices, and ideologies on what people do or don't believe and what they do or don't know. This topics-based course introduces student to issues in social philosophy, either generally or through attention to particular social groups. The precise focus of the course within social philosophy will shift from year to year, depending on the interests and expertise of the course organiser.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Mind, Matter and Language (PHIL08014) AND
Knowledge and Reality (PHIL08017)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Students studying on MA Cognitive Science (Humanities) are permitted to take this course without having met the pre-requisites of Mind, Matter and Language (PHIL08014) and Knowledge and Reality (PHIL08014). However, it is advisable that students discuss the suitability of the course with their PT and the course organiser before enrolling. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have completed at least 3 Philosophy courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission. These enrolments are managed strictly by the Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department, and all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. It is not appropriate for students to contact the department directly to request additional spaces. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 32,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
164 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Midterm Essay (40%)
Final Essay (60%) |
| Feedback |
Guidance will be given in advance of each assignment. Depending on the year, this may be in the form of an in-class discussion, a handout, or a formative work, or discussion of a component of the assessed work. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Explain key issues and controversies in social philosophy.
- Explain and analyze various theories and arguments in social philosophy with reference to a particular case or cases.
- Understand the relationship between social philosophy and other areas of philosophy.
- Develop and explain their views of social philosophy.
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Reading List
The following readings are for illustrative purposes, since the course content and the readings will change from year to year.
Ásta. 2018. Categories We Live By: The Construction of Sex, Gender, Race, and Other Social Categories. Oxford University Press.
Barnes, Elizabeth. 2016. The Minority Body: A Theory of Disability. Oxford University Press.
Collins, Patricia Hill. 2000. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Routledge.
Curry, Tommy. 2017. The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood. Temple University Press.
Fricker, Miranda. 2007. Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford University Press.
Glasgow, Joshua, Sally Haslanger, Chike Jeffers, Quayshawn Spencer. 2019. What is Race? Four Philosophical Views. Oxford University Press.
Goldman, Alvin. 1999. Knowledge in a Social World. Oxford University Press.
Goldman, Alvin and Dennis Whitcomb, eds. Social Epistemology: Essential Readings. Oxford University Press.
Haslanger, Sally. 2012. Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique. Oxford University Press.
hooks, bell. 2000. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Pluto Press.
Khader, Serene. 2018. Decolonizing Universalism: A Transnational Feminist Ethic. Oxford University Press.
Lackey, Jennifer, ed. 2014. Essays in Collective Epistemology. Oxford University Press.
Langton, Rae. 2009. Sexual Solipsism: Philosophical Essays on Pornography and Objectification. Oxford University Press.
Manne, Kate. 2017. Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny. Oxford University Press.
Mills, Charles. 1997. The Racial Contract. Cornell University Press.
Mills, Charles. 2017. Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism. Oxford University Press.
Ritchie, Katherine. 2014. ¿What are Groups?¿, Philosophical Studies 166: 257-72.
Tremain, Shelley. 2017. Foucault and Feminist Philosophies of Disability. Michigan University Press.
Witt, Charlotte. 2011. Feminist Metaphysics: Explorations in the Ontology of Sex, Gender and the Self. Springer Verlag. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
In this course, students will gain and practice core philosophical skills. Through seminars, tutorials and readings, they will learn how to critically read and analyse difficult texts; how to look for the wider context; how to critically evaluate arguments; how to articulate cogent arguments; how to allow themselves to be challenged by views they may disagree with. They will also learn how to view and apply philosophical theories in a modern social context, and they will practice adopting an open mind to the different perspectives and interpretations of an argument before deciding their stance. Through the assessments, students will learn how to write clear and structured arguments; how to show an understanding of the materials; how to do research; and how to manage time and workload.
Core skills gained or developed on this course:
Adapting presentation or writing tone/style to audience; Being open to different perspectives; Challenging own perspectives and assumptions; Critical thinking; Critical analysis and evaluation; Formulating original arguments and justifying it; Independence; Preparation, planning and organisation; Academic reading skills; Research skills; Resilience; Self-reflection; Time management; Understanding broader perspectives; Workload management; Written communication; Writing clearly and concisely. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Matthew Kinakin
Tel:
Email: mkinakin@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Joan MacKenzie
Tel:
Email: jmacken8@ed.ac.uk |
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