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Module Specifications.

Current Academic Year 2024 - 2025

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Date posted: September 2024

Module Title Philosophy: Selfhood, Narrative & Recognition
Module Code HD214 (ITS) / HDE1017 (Banner)
Faculty DCU Institute of Education School Human Development
Module Co-ordinatorDavid Gibson
Module Teachers-
NFQ level 8 Credit Rating 5
Pre-requisite Not Available
Co-requisite Not Available
Compatibles Not Available
Incompatibles Not Available
Coursework Only
Description

This module invites students to examine key philosophical ideas and debates in the history of thought. This builds on engagement in 1st year with philosophical approaches to childhood, to examine influential and distinctive approaches to theorising the human condition. The issues explored offer distinctive ways to thinking about the self in/and society. The module is orientated around a set of questions pertinent to the study of human development, including but not limited to: a) what is free will and how is it distinct from freedom & liberty, b) what is the basis of personal identity and what importance should be afforded to identity, c) what importance do stories have in human experience and is it possible to live outside of narrative, d) what is the importance of recognition (by self and others) for selfhood and agency. Paradigmatic theorists from philosophy will be critically explored with students at an advanced level and with close readings of primary texts. Notably, the module seeks to identify conceptual and ethical issues associated with how the self is theorised which are often overlooked in professional contexts (law, medicine and education). Secondary literature will be incorporated with a specific aim of a more diverse and inclusive set of authors/commentators. Students are expected to develop their understanding of significant philosophical issues in the history of thought that have influenced the intellectual and political development of Western Thought, to critically evaluate and compare different philosophical approaches, and to develop their ability to engage in philosophical argument and writing.

Learning Outcomes

1. Define and critically discuss how different philosophical themes in the history of philosophy offer alternative understandings of the self.
2. Understand, analyse and evaluate rival approaches in the areas of personal identity, free will, recognition and epistemic injustice
3. Appreciate and interrogate some of the philosophical underpinnings and challenges of contemporary discourse in disciplines of law, medicine and/or education.
4. Distinguish and analyse narrative approaches to identity and selfhood, demonstrating understanding of the importance afforded to others, institutions and time
5. Examine and defend a position, informed by exposition or explanation of key theorists on this course (Ricoeur, Schechtman, LIndemann, Nussbaum, Fricker, Locke, etc.) with reference to the contemporary world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.



Workload Full-time hours per semester
Type Hours Description
Total Workload: 0

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment100% Examination Weight0%
Course Work Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
AssignmentAssignment40%n/a
AssignmentAssignment + Recorded Presentation60%n/a
Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories:
Resit category 1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
Resit category 2: No resit is available for a 100% continuous assessment module.
Resit category 3: No resit is available for the continuous assessment component where there is a continuous assessment and examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a Continuous Assessment/Examination split; where the module is 100% continuous assessment, there will also be a resit of the assessment
This module is category 1
Indicative Reading List

  • Helen Beebee: 2013, Free Will: An Introduction, Palgrave Macmillan,
  • Harry Frankfurt: 1970, Demons, Dreamers, & Madmen: The Defence of Reason in Descartes's Meditations, Princeton University Press (2008),
  • Miranda Fricker: 2007, Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing,
  • Simon Kirchin: 2012, Metaethics, Palgrave Macmilan,
  • Hilda Lindemann: 2014, Holding and Letting Go: The Social Practice of Personal Identities, Oxford University Press,
  • John Perry: 1978, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality, Hackett Publishing,
  • Marya Shechtman: 1996, The Constitution of Selves, Cornell University Press,
  • Marya Shechtman: 2017, Staying Alive: Personal Identity, Practical Concerns, and the Unity of a Life, Oxford University Press,
  • J.M. Fischer, R. Kane, D. Pereboom, & M. Vargas: 2007, Four Views on Free Will, Blackwell Publishing,
  • Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth: 2004, View large Redistribution or Recognition?: A Political–Philosophical Exchange, 978185984492
  • Axel Honneth: 2007, Disrespect: The Normative Foundations of Critical Theory,
  • Young, Iris M: 1990, Justice and the Politics of Difference,
  • Charles Taylor: 1994, ‘The Politics of Recognition’. Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition,
Other Resources

None

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