55-01.202.411 Twentieth-Century Continental Philosophy (T/P)

Lehrende: Dr. Rachel Anna Aumiller

Veranstaltungsart: Hauptseminar

Anzeige im Stundenplan:

Semesterwochenstunden: 2

Credits: 4,0

Unterrichtssprache: Englisch

Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: 1 | 25

Kontingentschema: Phil_Standard_WS1415

Weitere Informationen:
Für den erfolgreichen Besuch dieser Veranstaltung im Rahmen des Fachspezifischen Wahbereichs werden 4 LP angerechnet.

Kommentare/ Inhalte:
Twentieth-century world wars and atomic warfare introduced the experience of crisis on a global scale. Today we again encounter crisis on a global scale in the form of the environmental disaster and the rise of fascism. 

The experience of global crisis—touching vulnerable populations as well as the elite—can be seen as an opportunity to fight for a global ethics. However, global crisis also shows us that although we belong to a common world, our experiences of this shared planet are very different. 

Thus, global crisis gives rise to a deep skepticism toward grand narratives about who we are as individuals, as nations, and as human beings. 

Continental philosophy attends to social and political inequality and injustice. It analyzes the historical context of philosophical concepts and logical structures that are presented as universal. It reveals power structures that are deeply embedded in symbolic orders, institutional structures, and language. In response to global crisis and trauma, continental philosophy fights for global justice and political action while questioning the myth of single human experience.

What connects us? What divides us? What kinds of political landscapes can protect our differences while offering greater unity and equality?  

This course offers an introductory overview of the main schools of philosophy belonging to twentieth-century Europe: Phenomenology, Existentialism, Critical Theory, Structuralism, Postmodernism, and Psychoanalysis.
 
By analyzing the relationship between twentieth-century history and philosophy, we will question the role of philosophy in response to today’s global crises. 

Lernziel:

Objective 1: to obtain an overview of figures, methods, and concepts that are central to continental philosophy  

Objective 2: to question philosophy’s capacity to respond to global crisis and trauma, by examining the relationship between twentieth-century European philosophy and history 

Objective 3: to take a stance on philosophy’s role in relationship to the global crises of the twenty-first-century 

Literatur:
Questioning the World-Stage
[phenomenology, existentialism] 

 Heidegger. An Introduction to Metaphysics. excerpt

 Sartre. Being and Nothingness. excerpt 
 
Ethics after Auschwitz 
[phenomenology, existentialism]

 Beauvoir. The Ethics of Ambiguity. excerpt

 Levinas. Time and the Other. excerpt 

 
Reconciling the Past and Future
[critical theory, structuralism]

 Arendt. Between Past and Future. excerpt

 Adorno. “The Meaning of Working Through the Past.” 

 Althusser.  Reading Capital. excerpt 

 
Voicing Today’s Crises
[postmodernism, psychoanalysis]

Cixous. Coming to Writing. excerpt

Derrida. Monolingualism of the Other. excerpt

Kristeva. Hatred and Forgiveness. excerpt

Zusätzliche Hinweise zu Prüfungen:
Studienleistungen:

• aktive Teilnahme
  
• sorgfältige Vor-/Nachbereitung der Seminarsitzung
  
• weitere Studienleistungen werden ggf. am Anfang der Veranstaltung bekannt gegeben
  

• Hausarbeit (o.ä.)