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2015/16 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

PIED3607 Radical Political Ideas: Marx, Nietzsche, Schmitt, Foucault

20 creditsClass Size: 30

Module manager: Graham M Smith
Email: ipigms@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2015/16

Module replaces

PIED 3601 Exploring Political Theory

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

What are the radical alternatives to conventional politics? What would it mean to imagine something different to the established politics of equality, liberalism, democracy, and the state? In what ways in our thought about these ideas limited - and how can a radical transformation be realised?This module focuses on four thinkers (Marx, Nietzsche, Schmitt, and Foucault) who have offered both unsettling criticisms about the way that things are, and challenging solutions for the way things ought to be.Marx wished to see a radically transformed society with no state at all where humans could work cooperatively free of exploitation (the communist alternative). For Nietzsche the greatest problem for politics is nihilism (the emptying of certainty and values). He focused on the creative potential of humans who strive to find value in their own existence, and to impose it on others (radical aristocracy). Schmitt argued that a political community is recognised by its sovereign ability to define its friends and fight its enemies (sovereign decisionism). Foucault explored the complex role of power in shaping politics and its subjects, creating a kaleidoscopic vision of the possibilities of the interplay between power and freedom (postmodernism).We connect the ideas of these thinkers to the problems which they identified with the conventional ways of doing and thinking about politics - and try to think through the relevance of their ideas for ourselves. We are confronted by each thinker's radical transformation, of our understandings and practices of equality, liberty, democracy, and the state - and challenged to respond to their criticisms and solutions.This module will engage anyone who has ever tried to think about the alternatives to the established ways of doing things - and offer an invitation to those who have not.

Objectives

To introduce students to the thought and writings four seminal figures and their radical political ideas.

To introduce students to the complexities and challenges of thinking about radical alternatives to the political status quo (and especially our understandings of equality, liberty, democracy, and the state).

To enable students to development an ability to critically engage with complex ideas through reading and analysing both primary texts and secondary sources.

To develop students' understanding (i.e. a knowledge of structure and connections and an ability to ask new and relevant questions about this structure) of the links between the radical ideas reviewed here, and wider philosophical, religious, and social problems in which they are often situated.

To challenge students to develop a more critical view of both conventional political arrangements and their alternatives.

Learning outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to demonstrate:

- A knowledge of key ideas and texts of the thinkers under review, and the traditions of thought that they represent.
- An understanding of how the primary political ideas of those thinkers link together, and how they also link with wider problems/aspects of the radical alternatives under review.
- An understanding of the problems that the texts are seeking to identify and address, and their relevance for contemporary and conventional views of politics.

On completion of this module students should also have developed :

- The ability to produce a reasoned argument and synthesise relevant information and use communication and information technologies to retrieve and present information.
- Exercise critical judgement, and manage and self-critically reflect on, their own learning and make use of constructive feedback.
- Be able to communicate effectively and fluently in spoken and written English.

Syllabus

Week 1: Conventional Politics and Radical Alternatives
Weeks 2 and 3: Marx and the Communist Alternative
Weeks 4 and 5: Nietzsche and Radical Aristocracy
Weeks 6 and 8: Schmitt and the Sovereign Decisionism
Weeks 9 and 11: Foucault and the Power of the Subject

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	11	1.00	11.00
Seminar	11	1.00	11.00
Private study hours			178.00
Total Contact hours			22.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

Students are asked to read excerpts from the core texts listed in the module bibliography in preparation for seminar discussions, their formative work, and their essay.

Students will be provided with lecture and reading notes.

Students will be provided with voluntary 'worksheets' to help guide them through the texts.

Students will be given the opportunity to submit an essay plan and a sample of writing and to receive and discuss written/verbal feedback on this writing.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

This module uses both formative and summative assessment.

Formative assessment (which is voluntary and does not count towards the final grade):
Student contributions to class discussion.
Weekly worksheets guiding students through the readings and enabling them to identify the key points.
Tutor-led peer discussion in seminars.
Opportunities for individual discussions outside seminar times.
Opportunity to submit a short essay plan and to receive written/verbal feedback and guidance.
Opportunity to submit a 1000 word sample of an essay and to receive written/verbal feedback and guidance.

Summative assessment (which is compulsory and does count towards the final grade):

A single 4000 word essay after the module has been completed. The essay will take the form of a comparative question around either the juxtaposition of two thinkers, or the engagement with a theme (e.g. power, violence, liberation) which students will be asked to address in a critical fashion using the thinkers on discussed on the module.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1 x 4,000 (End of Term)	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 22/07/2015

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