INTS 306/3.0 Culture, Identity and Self

To know who we are we need to understand the way culture, identity and selfhood intersect. This course begins from the assumption that at this point of intersection are our bodies, which means taking seriously the way we feel, hear, see, speak and think when philosophising. It also means learning how our bodies are gendered and racialised, what those histories are, and the way these processes both enable us to flourish but also expose us to harm. We will read a diverse selection of interdisciplinary, critical scholarship, putting traditions that might otherwise be pushed to the margins into the centre. The teaching focuses on group discussions of key theoretical texts, where you have the space to discover your voice and share it with others (as well as to think critically about what we mean by 'voice' to begin with...).

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course learners will be able to:

• Evaluate arguments for both what obligations we have to ourselves and to others.
• Explain arguments for the importance of culture.
• Consider whether we have good reason to be moral relativists or moral objectivists.
• Provide an account of what obligations the state has to us, and what obligations we have to the state.
• Discuss what it is to have a continuous identity throughout our lives.

Experiential Learning Opportunities

Some oexamples of previous Experiential Learning Opportunities for this course include: 1) A philosophical walk through the Pevensey Levels. When we philosophise, we're typically sat in a seminar room, or in an office at the top of an ivory tower. This experience is profoundly disembodied. What if we did philosophy while being aware of our bodies? To do this we go on a philosophical walk in the countryside surrounding Herstmonceux Castle, discussing key ideas we engage during the course. 2) A visit to the Museum of Immigration and Diversity (London). In this trip we will learn about the impact that immigration has had upon major cities, and particularly London, across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This trip will provide us with an opportunity to discuss the relationship between tolerance and citizenship in liberal Western societies, and what responsibility the state has towards political and economic migrants.