About this course
- Entry year: 2012/13
- Course code: V59012
- Applications: University
- Level: Postgraduate
- Department: Arts
- Campus: St Matthias
- Duration: Full-time: two teaching blocks of 12 weeks starting in September. The MA concludes in August the following year. Part-time: four teaching blocks over two years, commencing in September and concluding in January following the end of the second year.
- Delivery: Full-time, part-time
- Programme leader: Dr Darian Meacham
Introduction
The MA in European Philosophy focuses on the great traditions of modern European philosophy from Kant onwards, along with its most important contemporary tendencies. Uniquely giving equal weight to all these tendencies, the course is taught by published and research-active experts in many branches of post-Kantian philosophy: German Idealism and dialectics, phenomenology, Kant and Transcendental Philosophy, twentieth century French philosophy (from existentialism to the French epistemological tradition) and Contemporary Speculative philosophy.
The awards serve equally as complete and self-contained programmes of advanced study in European (or 'Continental') Philosophy, and as a grounding in Philosophical research for those wishing to progress to PhD.
You will gain experience of research practices in planning and executing both written (papers, a dissertation) and live (conference presentation and organisation) research. The MA concludes each year with a student-run international Graduate Conference.
Philosophy at UWE is a branch member of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and has a lively, year-round programme of research seminars and invited speakers, which has hosted philosophers from the universities of Paris XI, New York, Oxford, London, and Cairo. The thriving student-run Philosophy Society also invites speakers and hosts events throughout the year including weekly socials. In 2011-12, UWE Philosophy is also hosting conferences on Phenomenology and Naturalism, Kant and the Transcendental, and The Self.
Find out more about what Philosophy at UWE has to offer in terms of teaching quality, staff expertise and student experience.
Student's view
I have gained valuable experience in research practice, writing and giving papers, in the study of philosophical texts and developing arguments. The course highlights are the inspiring tutors, a highly productive environment and the support in organising conferences and events.
Tobias
Structure
Content
Students enrol on five M-Level modules (see below) and are required to write a 15,000-word dissertation. A Postgraduate Diploma and Postgraduate Certificate are also available. For the diploma, students take two core and two optional modules (no dissertation); for the certificate, students take one core and one optional module.
Emphasis is placed on close interaction and collaboration between students and staff. Masters teaching is conducted in small, informal seminar and tutorial groups. There is an excellent staff-student ratio and all students receive a great deal of individual guidance and supervision.
UWE Philosophy is a branch of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and holds an annual graduate conference organised by our MA students. Past topics have included 'phenomenology' (2010-11) and 'the self' (2011-12).
UWE Philosophy also hosts a series of talks sponsored by the Royal Institute of Philosophy on a different theme each year. These events form an additional component of the MA programme. The theme in 2011-12 was 'Medicine and Society'. MA students are also encouraged to participate in the department's work in progress and research seminars.
The thriving student-run Philosophy Society also invites speakers and hosts events throughout the year, including weekly socials. Bristol benefits from being a lively student city with many cultural activities.
MA Modules
Kant’s Critical Philosophy
The main aim of this module is to offer an in-depth reading of Kant's Third Critique - the Critique of Judgement. Kant is, by near universal agreement, the philosopher who has had the greatest impact on modern European philosophy. He synthesised the thought of many who wrote before him and nearly all philosophy after him is in some way a response to his work. The Third Critique is a particularly important text for a range of later philosophers, including, Fichte, Schelling and Kierkegaard. In this module, we read carefully through the whole text, first covering the analytic of the Beautiful and the analytic of the sublime. We then examine the detailed accounts of teleological causation in the second half of the work. Particular emphasis is given to the question of why Kant labelled teleological judgements 'reflective' judgements. We also look at recent discussions of autopsies and compare these with Kant's discussion of living organisms.
The Post-Kantian Tradition
Core text: G.W.F. Hegel, The Difference between Fichte’s and Schelling’s System of Philosophy, trans. Walter Cerf and H.S. Harris (Albany NY: State University of New York Press, 1977)
Although Hegel’s first published work, and simply a survey of, as he puts it, ‘the forms occurring in contemporary philosophy’, the Difference essay provides unparallelled access not merely to German Idealism, but also to a moment at which his, Fichte’s and Schelling’s audacious philosophical systems were in the process of being realised. It is both a document of its philosophical times and of a philosophical creativity unseen in Europe since ancient Greece. This module explores the problems of nature, freedom and reason bequeathed to Hegel by Kant, and which Hegel, his contemporaries and ours, set out to resolve under three different rubrics:
- ‘nature’ is a product of our cognitive freedom (Fichte)
- cognition is a product of the nature of which we are part (Schelling)
- nature and freedom are objects of reason (Hegel)
The module looks not only how these solutions are contemporarily adopted, but also asks after the source of the philosophical creativity so extraordinarily exemplified by the post-Kantian tradition.
Phenomenology
This seminar traces the development of a central concept in the phenomenological tradition from its pre-phenomenological development through to its full blossoming in the phenomenological movement of the twentieth century. In 2010-11 the seminar examined the development of the concept of ‘Umwelt’ or surrounding world in Jakob von Uexküll, Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty. In 2011-12 the topic is ‘effort and will’. We will read texts by Maine de Biran, Felix Ravaisson, and Paul Ricoeur. In examining the development of these ideas we also bring into focus the concepts and styles of thinking that bind together the various strands of phenomenology. In 2012-13 the topic of the seminar will be ‘intersubjectivity and the body’.
Contemporary French Philosophy
This course explores some important currents in 20th century French philosophy. We take texts from Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze as typical of the late development of this tradition. We examine the influences of Marx, Nietzsche, structuralism, and psychoanalysis on these thinkers. We also investigate their relationship to Kant and post-Kantian thought in general - including the relation to phenomenology. The French epistemological tradition is also an infrequently acknowledged yet formative influence on Foucault's philosophy. We explore what difference it makes to our understanding of late twentieth century and early twenty-first century French thought if we take this epistemological undercurrent as foundational. In this context, we examine a number of texts by Georges Canguilhem.
Research in Philosophy
This module focuses on key research and writing skills. Students are given the opportunity to present dissertation topics, and then to discuss and assess their research progress with peers and tutors over the course of the year. The module also introduces students to some practical aspects of studying and preparing for a career in philosophy, including applying for PhD programmes and funding in the UK and abroad. Workshops are also given by people who work in philosophy related careers outside the university. The module incorporates a ‘journal club’ where students share views on what are best practices in academic writing.
Part-time students take Kant in their first semester and Phenomenology in the second; the Post-Kantian Tradition in the third, and Contemporary French Philosophy in their fourth semester, along with the Dissertation.
Hear what our students think about their time at UWE.
Teaching and learning
MA seminars run for three hours per module per week, usually in the late afternoon or early evening from Tuesdays to Thursdays. Assessment for each taught module is typically by a single 4000-5000 word essay, but also involves oral presentations and research planning tasks. During the second semester, you will work with your advisor, who will be a specialist in your research area and will offer guidance in planning and writing the dissertation.
We are also planning a Distance Learning provision. For further information please contact the address at the end of this page.
Key MA Teaching Staff
Our students are taught by inspiring research-active staff. Lecturers work with an 'open-door policy' that students see as a real strength of the programme. In the most recent National Student Satisfaction Survey, 100 percent of our students found the course intellectually stimulating and 91percent said that staff had made the subject interesting. The Philosophy staff at UWE has a wide range of expertise including: Political philosophy, Philosophy of Medicine, Bioethics, Phenomenology, Ancient and Medieval philosophy, German and British Idealism, twentieth century French philosophy, and philosophy of technology.
Dr Darian Meacham (Course Leader,BA McGill; PhD Leuven)
Research: Phenomenology, Embodiment and Enhancement; Political Philosophy, Merleau-Ponty, Patocka, Husserl.
Professor Alison Assiter (BA Oxford; PhD Sussex)
Research: Political philosophy; Kierkegaard and the Metaphysics of Politics; Althusser and Althusserianism; Epistemology, Feminist Philosophy.
Dr Havi Carel (BA Tel Aviv; PhD Essex)
Research : Phenomenology and Health; Philosophy and Medicine; Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and the Phenomenological Tradition; Philosophy and Film.
Dr Iain Grant (BA Reading; MA, PhD Warwick)
Research: Kant, post-Kantian Idealism and the Philosophy of Nature; Schelling and German Idealism; Contemporary Speculative Philosophy; Metaphysics, Philosophy of Nature, Philosophy of Technology.
Dr John Sellars
Research: Ancient Philosophy, especially Socrates and Stoicism; Ethics and the Art of Living; Early Modern Philosophy; Recent French Philosophy, especially Foucault and Deleuze.
Dr Sean Watson
Research: Philosophy, Science and Complexity; Idealism and the Sciences; the French Epistemological Tradition; Neuroscience, Bergson, Whitehead and Deleuze
Study time
MA classes run in the late afternoon or early evening on Mondays to Thursdays in both semesters.
Assessment
Assessment for each taught module is typically by a single 5,000 word essay, but may also involve oral presentations and research planning tasks.
Entry
Entry requirements
Normally a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in Philosophy or a related discipline.
Fees
Full details of fees for this course can be found on our postgraduate fees pages.
For funding options, please see our funding and scholarships information.
For further information
Page last updated 14 December 2011