Contemporary Philosophy
Course Code: PHI 3101
Course Unit: 3
Course Description:
The course introduces students to an organized vision of contemporary philosophical trends and
helps them to understand the foundations of these systems of thought. The study considers the
background of contemporary philosophy derived from idealistic, materialistic, positivistic and
evolutionistic philosophies and from problems induced by science and socio-political conditions,
particularly those in Africa. In its comprehensive survey of the central areas of current
philosophy the course appraises, among others, existentialism (g. Marcel, J.P. Sartre, K. Jaspers),
phenomenology (E. Husserl, F. Brentano, M. Heidegger, M. Scheler, N. Hartmann),
hermeneutics (P. Ricoeur, H.G. Gadamer), pragamatism (W. James, J. Dewey), evolutionism (H.
Spencer, H. Bergson, T. de Chardin), the analytic school (G.E Moore, C.L. Stevenson, R.M.
Hare, A.J. Ayer, L. Wittgenstein, G. Ryle), logical positivism, neo-positivism (The Vienna
Circle), and critical theory (M. Horkheimer, T. Adorno, J. Habermas). The course extends its
considerations to oriental philosophy. Special attention is given to contemporary African
philosophy.
Course Objective:
The course attempts to help learners appreciate the contemporary philosophical approaches – as
we graduate away from the modern period. Whereas in much of our common day thinking, we
look at the present day as modern, in actual fact, we are living in the postmodern, and the course
attempts to unravel what major trends of thought characterize this postmodern ethos.
Learning Objective(s)
1. At the end of the course students shall have gained knowledge about the main philosophical
currents in the Contemporary Philosophical epoch.
2. Students shall be able to critically assess the major philosophical trends in Contemporary
epoch.
3. At the end of the course the students should be able to differentiate Contemporary
Philosophy from Classical, Mediaeval and Modern philosophy.
4. This course shall help students to critically appreciate the implications of Contemporary
Philosophy on practical politics, human rights, public policy and social justice.
5. At the end of the course students will be able to critically appreciate the feminist critiques of
the contemporary philosophical trends.
1. Course Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
General Introduction
Pragmatism
Existentialism
Phenomenology
Hermeneutics
Analytic philosophy
Critical theory
8. Deconstruction and Critique
Methodology
Lecturing; Small Group discussions; Guided discovery
Assessment Mode
Coursework (Out of 30)
Final written examination ( Out of70)
Reading List
1. Haack, Susan and Lane, Robert, (Eds.), Pragmatism Old and New: Selected Writings, New
York: Prometheus Books, 2006
2. Simon Critchely, Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, OxfordUniversity
Press, 2001
3. Albert B. Hakim, Historical Introduction to Philosophy, 4th Edition, New Jersey, Prentice
Hall, 2001
4. Robert Sokolowski, Introduction to Phenomenology, CambridgeUniversity Press (2000)
5. Cornelis De Waal, On Pragmatism, Wadsworth Publishing; 1edition (June 1, 2004)
6. Louis Menand, ed., Pragmatism: A Reader (includes essays by Peirce,James, Dewey, Rorty,
others), Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1997
7. Giddens A., Hermenutics and Social Theory, in a. Giddens, Profiles and Critiques of social
theory, London, The Macmillan Press LTD, 1982 p.1 – 14
8. Cahoone, L; From Modernism to Postmodernism: An Anthology, London Blackwell
Publishing Co. 2003.
9. Gunnar, S, and Nils, G; A History of Western Thought, from Ancient Greece to the
Twentieth Century, ScandinavianUniversity Press, 2000.
10. Stumpf, S.E; Philosophy: History and Problems, 4th Edition, New York; McGraw-Hill Book
Co., 1989.
11. Zahavi,Dan; Stjenfelt, Frederk, (eds.) –One Hundred Years of Phenomenology, 2002
12. David Woodruff, 2007, Husserl, London-New York: Routledge, 2007
13. Walsh, N.J. A History of Philosophy, London; Chapman, 1984
14. Copelston, F; A History of Philosophy, New York, Newman Press, 1965
15. Stuart Sim, Introducing Critical theory, Totem Books, 2005
16. Raymond Guess, The Idea of Critical theory; Habermas and the FrankfurtSchool, Cambridge
University Press, 1981
17. W.T. Jones, A History of Western Philosophy: the Twentieth Century to Wittgenstein and
Sartre, Harcourt Barace Jovanovich, Publishers, New York, 1975