Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
| Master in philosophy (120 ECTS) | 5 crédits | |||
| Master in philosophy (60 ECTS) | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
Coordinator
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The teaching unit is divided into three parts, preceded by a general introduction.
Two introductory sessions will be dedicated to the detailed explanation of the objectives of the course and the presentation of its conceptual framework. In particular:
a) the relationship between modern natural right theories and the French Revolution
b) the dissolution of the society divided into states (Sieyès)
c) the relationship between constituent power and constituted power.
The first part of the course (Hegel and his critique of modern political concepts) is dedicated to Hegel's thought, approached by the point of view of how he problematizes the modern political concepts generated into the framework of modern natural right theories (Hobbes and Rousseau) and historically disseminated since the French Revolution (freedom, equality, sovereignty, people, representation). Students will be leaded through fundamental texts of Hegel's philosophy, in order to show how he criticizes the notion of formal freedom that is the basis of natural right theories, and also how he tries to overcome the dualism between individuals and state in the sphere of ethics.
The second part of the course (Marx: the question of emancipation) will analyse the way in which Marx detaches his thought from Hegel's one. This part will be dedicated to understanding the Marxian critique of politics inaugurated by the French Revolution, starting with the criticism of the Bourgeois state and of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (the notion of freedom with its formal character, indissolubly linked to the notion of private property). The crossing of Marx's historical-political texts will enable us to consider a different conception of emancipation that is no longer focused on the figure of the individual and, at the same time, a specific approach to history as practice of political historiography.
The third part of the course (Sartre's uses of the French Revolution) will be dedicated to the analysis of the French Revolution proposed by Sartre in the Critique of Dialectical Reason. In particular, we will question the epistemological status that this historical event acquires in the Sartrean work, which makes it both an example and the matrix for the key concepts of its analytic of power. We will also analyse Sartre's criticism to the device for the representation-authorization of power and of the idea of legal-formal universality. Through Sartre's use of the French Revolution we will question the political implications linked to a certain way of thinking historical time, the possible uses and reactivation of the "broken" sequences of history
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
The course aims to provide, through a direct and specific confrontation with the texts, conceptual tools to problematize the representative state shaping of political action. To do this, we will start from the fracture historically and conceptually produced by the French Revolution, which marks the transition from a society divided into states, composed by orders and corporations, to modern society based on the equality and freedom of individuals. In the analysis of these questions, a special attention will be dedicated to the temporal structures and the historical criteria of temporalization which underlie the modern political conceptuality (passage of the plural to the collective singular History, question of the historical progress, self-representation of the modern epoch as a transition time, future-centred approach to historical time, etc.).
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
None
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
In the first phase, the course provides historical-conceptual tools for understanding the general framework of the issues and the authors analysed. The second phase of the course provides a commented reading of philosophical texts. Through the class discussion, students would be asked to discuss on specific topics emerging from the texts. During the course the teacher aims to build an active relationship with the students, with the goal of establishing with them a practice of philosophical dialogue.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
Face-to-face
Recommended or required readings
Required readings
For each book, the parts or sections that will be the subject of the final exam will be indicated at the start of the course:
- E.-J. Sieyès, Qu'est-ce que le Tiers état? Genève, Librairie Droz, 1970
- J. Derrida, Déclarations d'Indépendance, in Otobiographies, Paris, Galilée, 1984, p. 13-32
- L. Jaume, Le nom du peuple dans la Révolution Française et sa représentation politique, in « Cahiers du CEVIPOF », n. 57, 2014, p. 43-52
- P. Rosanvallon, Le Peuple introuvable. Histoire de la représentation démocratique en France, Paris, Gallimard, 1998, chapitres I-II, p. 33-129
- G.W. F. Hegel, Des manières de traiter scientifiquement du droit naturel, trad. B. Bourgeois, Paris, Vrin, 1990
- Id., Principes de la philosophie du droit, éd. J.-F. Kervégan [1998], coll. Quadrige, PUF, Paris, 2013
- K. Marx, Critique de la philosophie du droit de Hegel, Introduction (1844), in Id., Philosophie, éd. M. Rubel, coll. Folio, Gallimard, Paris, 2003, p. 89-108
- Id., Le manifeste communiste (1848), ibid., p. 395-440
- Id., Sur la question juive, présentation et commentaires de D. Bensaid, Paris, La Fabrique, 2006
- Id. Le 18 Brumaire de Louis Bonaparte (édition à préciser)
- Id. Les luttes des classe en France de 1848 à 1850 (édition à préciser)
- J.-P. Sartre, Questions de méthode, Paris, Gallimard, Tel, 1986
- Id., La Critique de la Raison dialectique, tome I, Théorie des ensembles pratiques, Paris, Gallimard, 1960, p. 381-615
Assessment methods and criteria
The evaluation will take into account: degree of learning of the proposed contents; adequacy of the used vocabulary; argumentative capacity; ability to autonomous critical re-elaboration of topics.
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
The course will be provided:
Every Tuesday, starting from 25.09.2018, 08.00-10.00
Room: PHILO I
Contacts
chiara.collamati@uliege.be