Undergraduate Course: Decolonising Ethics (PHIL10236)
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 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Analytic ethics and metaethics, as taught and practiced in many UK and US universities, involves a range of assumptions and concepts, involving power, equality, ideal theory, universality, and humanity, for instance. These assumptions and concepts have been critically engaged with by decolonial scholars, afropessimist scholars, and critical race theorists. This course will directly engage with both traditions of thought. Students will study a range of critical approaches, then study some canonical approaches in ethics and metaethics, and then consider the application of the criticisms to the canonical approaches. |
| Course description |
Students can expect to engage with a wide range of different kinds of texts, offering critical conceptual tools and perspectives from Africana philosophy, the critical theory tradition, and contemporary analytic philosophy. Students will be assumed to have some experience of canonical analytic ethics and/or metaethics. These texts will be studied from the perspective of decolonialist critique.
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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. **Please note that Philosophy honours courses are in high demand, meaning that they have a very high number of students wishing to enrol in a very limited number of spaces.** 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 2025/26, 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 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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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 |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of decolonial theorists
- Critically evaluate normative assumptions
- Analyse the social history of our normative assumptions
- Critically evaluate a range of 'canonical' views in Western analytic ethics
- Critically evaluate a range of 'canonical' views in Western analytic metaethics
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Reading List
Sample List:
Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee, Decolonizing Deliberative Democracy
Duncan Bell, John Stuart Mill on Colonies
Aníbal Quijano, A. (2007). Coloniality and modernity/rationality.
Serene Khadar, Decolonising Universalism, A Transnational Feminist Ethic
Horkheimer & Adorno, Dialectic of Englightenment
Nikita Dhawan, N. Decolonizing Enlightenment: Transnational justice, human rights and democracy in a postcolonial world.
Prasad, A. (Ed.). (2003). Postcolonial theory and organizational analysis: A critical engagement. Palgrave Macmillan/St. Mar- tins Press.
Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), 140.
Estes, N. (2019). Our history is our future. Verso.
Miranda Fricker, Epistemic injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing
Frank B. Wilderson III, Afropessimism
Olúfmi Táíwò, Against Decolonisation: Taking African Agency Seriously
Leonard Harris, A Philosophy of Struggle
Maria Lugones Lugones Toward a decolonial feminism.
Along with a selection of canonical texts in ethics and metaethics, to be held up against decolonialist critique.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Students will enhance their skills at critical and reflective thinking about a phenomenon that they are seemingly familiar with. They will improve their written communication skills. Through reflection on a crucial phenomenon in their lives, they will be able to make a positive difference in the world by improving not only their own lives but also those of their friends. This will enhance their autonomy and effectiveness in engaging justly and charitably with others. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Barry Maguire
Tel: (0131 6)51 3083
Email: bmaguire@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Joan MacKenzie
Tel:
Email: jmacken8@ed.ac.uk |
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