Admission requirements
Admission to this course is restricted to:
BA students in Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives, who have successfully completed at least 70 ECTS credits of the mandatory components of the first and second year of their bachelor’s programme, including Philosophical Skills and one of the following combinations: Philosophy of Culture and Concepts of Selfhood OR World Philosophies: Greek and Roman Antqiuity and Language and Thought.
BA students in Filosofie, who have successfully completed at least 70 ECTS credits of the mandatory components of the first and second year of their bachelor’s programme, including Filosofische vaardigheden and one of the following combinations: Cultuurfilosofie and Continentale filosofie OR Griekse en Romeinse filosofie and Medieval Philosophy.
Pre-master’s students in Philosophy who are in possession of an admission statement and who have to complete an advanced seminar.
Description
This course provides an introduction to phenomenology via its basic project, its basic authors and its basic concepts. It is framed in terms of four general questions:
(I) What is phenomenology? In this sequence, we discuss competing and common definitions of phenomenology (as description, as first-person account, as idealism, as reduction, as theory of intentionality), and inquire under which conditions they are compatible.
(II) What is experience? In this sequence, we ask how the focus on experience changes most traditional questions, via a redefinition of the notion of subject (as body, transcendental ego, or existential person), the notion of object (as qualitative, and inherently meaningful) and the introduction of an emphasis on the notion of intentionality.
(III) What is the world? Begins with the contrast between world and being on the one hand, and world and universe on the other. It continues with a discussion of being-in-the-world and existential phenomenology.
And (IV) What is it to be? Is an analysis of the systematic relations between the first three questions and the question of ontology, and the strategic function of the focus on ontology for providing a unifying account that doesn’t fall into the objectivism and relativism rejected by phenomenology at the outset.
The course aims to establish the knowledge necessary to enable students to achieve a phenomenological vision that is generally applicable and enlightening beyond the usual areas of traditional phenomenology.
Course objectives
Students who successfully complete this course will:
Have an understanding of the place of phenomenology from the point of view of the history of philosophy as a whole
Have basic knowledge of the key authors of the phenomenological tradition as well as some of their differences
Have a basic understanding of the key and most typical concepts and arguments of phenomenology
Be able to creatively put to to work the phenomenological insight in new situations or in response to new questions (in particular, political and moral questions).
Timetable
The timetables are available through [My Timetable] (https://rooster.universiteitleiden.nl/schedule).
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
There are three items of assessment:
Attendance (including reading, preparation and participation): Pass/Fail
Written midterm examination (2-hours) including closed and open questions: 30%
Written final paper on a question chosen from a set list: 70%
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
The resit will be a thoroughly demanding survey take-home exam covering the entirety of the course materials, and it may include a text commentary, a series of short questions and an argumentative essay. The mark for the resit will replace all previously earned marks for subtests. No separate resits will be offered for subtests.
Class participation and completion of practical assignments such as the oral presentation is a mandatory requirement for taking the resit. Students who have obtained a satisfactory grade for the first examination cannot take the resit.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
The reading list will be available on the syllabus (links) and on Brightspace (fair use texts).
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga
Remarks
Not applicable.