Module Identifier IP38020  
Module Title POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND MODERNITY  
Academic Year 2004/2005  
Co-ordinator Professor Howard L Williams  
Semester Semester 2  
Course delivery Lecture   11 Hours (11 x 1 hour)  
  Seminars / Tutorials   11 Hours (11 x 1 hour)  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam2 Hours  60%
Semester Assessment Essay: 1 x 3,000 words  40%
Supplementary Exam Students may, subject to Faculty approval, have the opportunity to resit this module, normally during the supplementary examination period. For further clarification please contact the Teaching Programme Administrator in the Department of International Politics. 

Learning outcomes

The objectives of this module are:

- to develop in students an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments of key modern political theorists
- to encourage students to evaluate critically their own views on politics in the light of the ideas of major theorists.


Brief description

A continuation and examination of the issues introduced in Political Ideas and Ideologies (Year 1) and Modern Political Theory (Year 2 &3). Particular attention is paid to the Enlightenment and the issue of the nature of modernity.

Aims

The aims of this module are to take further the study of some principal texts in late modern political thought by looking closely at the main political writings of Marx, Hegel, Nietzsche, Lenin and Gramsci and to develop a critical awareness of the complexities and problems of modernity. The thinkers looked at will vary from time to time.

Content

The module will look first at the idea of civil society in the political theories of Kant Hegel, Marx and Gramsci. Hegel's political philosophy will then be explored as accounts of the relation between individuality and society. Finally Marx and Lenin's understanding of the relation between modernity and capitalism will be critically evaluated. In the session 2004-5 the module will focus primarily on the political philosophies of Hegel and Marx.

Transferable skills

This module will provide the opportunity for students to develop their oral, intellectual and communication skills. In the lectures emphasis will be placed on understanding, following the argument and summarizing it concisely. In the seminars emphasis will be placed on developing clear, cogent and persuasive arguments. The seminars offer the opportunity for students to show independent reasoning and judgement. Essay writing will encourage students to carry out research on their own initiative and to develop their IT presentation skills. The examination will test knowledge retention, comprehension and skills of analysis under conditions of time constraint.

10 ECTS Credits

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
Hegel, G.W.F. (ed A.Wood) Philosophy of Right LUP
H Williams/D Sullivan/G Matthews Francis Fukuyama and The End of History
Lawrence and Wishart Karl Marx 1818-1883. Selected Works in One Volume - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Immanuel Kant (1999) What is Enlightenment in Kant's Practical Philosophy Cambridge University Press

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6