Instructor: Dr Kathrine Cuccuru
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Our relationship to the culture and state that we live within significantly impacts upon our lives, as does the relationship we have towards others and even ourselves. Consequently, it’s important that we have an opportunity to reflect upon these relationships and ask whether our current attitude towards our social, cultural, and personal identity is justified.
Available in Winter 2020, Summer 2020, Winter 2021
PREREQUISITE Level 2 or above.
Our relationship to the culture and state that we live within significantly impacts upon our lives, as does the relationship we have towards others and even ourselves. Consequently, it’s important that we have an opportunity to reflect upon these relationships and ask whether our current attitude towards our social, cultural, and personal identity is justified. The course will be split into four sections: Our relationship to ourselves, our relationship to the state, our relationship to others, and our relationship to culture. Each week we will consider a new topic ranging from the importance of culture to nationalism, from discrimination to citizenship, and from world poverty to philosophical accounts of the self.
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
Examples of past ELOs:
1) 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.
2) A Walking Tour
A guided walk through London's East End, focussing on immigration and diversity.
Assessment
Participation -10%
Essay One - 35%
Field Study exercise - 10%
Exam - 45%
