Postgraduate Course: Decolonising Ethics MSc (PHIL11257)
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 11 (Postgraduate) |
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. The goal is to bring these literatures and perspectives into closer dialogue with one another.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| 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) |
Essay 1: 30%, 2,000 words
Essay 2: 70%, 3,000 words
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- critically evaluate existing research from decolonial perspective and communicate these evaluations to others.
- demonstrate a critical understanding of classic and contemporary criticisms of analytic ethics
- present and defend written arguments.
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Reading List
The course will likely include readings along the following lines:
- Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang, 'Decolonization is not a metaphor'
- Frantz Fanon, 'Black Skin, White Masks'
- Pauline Kleingeld, 'Kant's Second Thoughts on Colonialism'
- Elena Yi-Jia Zengm, 'The Role of Philosophy in Hume's Critique of Empire'
- Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee, 'Decolonizing Deliberative Democracy: Perspectives from Below.'
- Jakeet Singh: 'Decolonizing Radical Democracy'
- Olúfemi O. Táíwò, 'Against Decolonisation: Taking African Agency Seriously'
- Charles Mills, 'Ideal theory as Ideology'
- Amia Srinivasan, 'Genealogy, Epistemology, and Worldmaking.'
- Emmanuel Eze, 'The Color of Reason: the idea of 'Race' in Kant's Anthropology'
- Leonard Harris, 'A Philosophy of Struggle'
- Tommy Curry, 'The Man-Not'
- Frank B. Wilderson III, 'Afropessmimism'
And a selection of pertinent 'canonical' representation from analytic ethics |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course will develop curiosity for learning that makes a positive difference; courage to expand and fulfil student potential; passion to engage locally and globally; critical and reflective skills; and skills at contributing generously, attentively, and effectively. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Barry Maguire
Tel: (0131 6)51 3083
Email: bmaguire@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Olivia Coltman
Tel:
Email: ocoltman@ed.ac.uk |
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