Students must have completed the equivalent of 120 higher education credits prior to attending this course and have the equivalent of English course B in Swedish secondary school.

The course aims to familiarize the students with the main features of the German and French traditions of critical theory and of the role of Heideggerian philosophy in their formation.

This course focuses on the influence of Heidegger in the thought of contemporary social thinkers such as Bourdieu, Foucualt, Derrida, Habermas and Agamben. Beginning with particular problems (such as subjectivity, representation and reality) we explore how Heidegger’s thinking has been developed into concrete problems with social dimensions.

After finishing the course, the student will be familiar with the main features of the German and French traditions of critical theory and of the role of Heideggerian philosophy in their formation; in particular, familiarity with issues and problems in relation to conceptions of subjectivity, ontology and politics. In addition, the student will have developed skills of close textual analysis; comprehension, interpretation and criticism of philosophical arguments; an ability to situate and assess such arguments in the context of the histories of philosophy and society and to discuss them critically.

Learning activities are lectures writing assignments, group work, oral presentations in a seminar environment and self-study of course literature.

The student is assessed based on the submission of an essay (10,5 credits) at the end of the course and a presentation given in class (4,5 credits). Students who do not pass the regular course exams have the minimum of two re-sit opportunities. Re-sits follow the same form as the original exams, apart from presentations, which take the form of individual written assignments.

Agamben, G. (1998). Homo Sacer : sovereign power and bare life. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.

Arendt, H. (2004). The origins of totalitarianism. New York, N.Y.: Shocken Books.

Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice. Cambridge: Polity.

Bourdieu, P. (1991). The political ontology of Martin Heidegger. Oxford: Polity.

Derrida, J., & Kamuf, P. (2006). Specters of Marx : the state of debt, the work of mourning and the new international. London: Routledge.

Dreyfus, H. L., & Hall, H. (1992). Heidegger : a critical reader. Oxford: Blackwell.

Foucault, M. (1994). The order of things : an archaeology of the human sciences. New York: Vintage Books.

Habermas, J. (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere : an inquiry into a category of bourgeois society. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Heidegger, M., & Lovitt, W. (1993). The question concerning technology and other essays. New York: Harper & Row.

All students are given the opportunity to comment the course at the end of the term in an online survey. A compilation of the results will be available on the university computer net. Students are also given the opportunity to offer oral feedback at various points earlier in the term.