MA Modern European Philosophy
MA Aesthetics and Art Theory
MA Philosophy and Contemporary Critical Theory
Programme Specification
MA MODERN EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY
1. Awarding institution
Middlesex University
2. Teaching institution
Middlesex University
3. Programme accredited by
N/A
4. Final qualification
MA
5. Programme title
Modern European Philosophy
6. JACS code (or other relevant coding
system)
N/A
7. Relevant QAA subject benchmark
group(s)
Philosophy
8. Academic Year
2009-10
9. Reference points
The following reference points were used in designing the programme:
Philosophy Benchmark Statement
Middlesex University Guide and Regulations http://www.mdx.ac.uk/regulations/
Middlesex University Guidelines for the Generation and Use of Level Descriptions
Middlesex University Learning and Teaching policies and strategy, the Strategic Plan
and the Student Charter
Student, Staff, External Examiners and Graduates feedback and comments
10. Aims of the programme
The programme aims to:
Develop knowledge and understanding of 19th- and 20th-century European philosophy in
the post-Kantian tradition
Develop general philosophical skills of interpretation, analysis, criticism and argument
11. Programme outcomes* - the programme offers opportunities for students to
achieve and demonstrate the following learning outcomes. The highest level at
which these programme outcomes are to be achieved by all graduates is shown in
the curriculum map section.
A. Knowledge and understanding
Teaching/learning methods
On completion of this programme the
successful student will have knowledge
and understanding of:
Students gain knowledge and
understanding through:
1. The main epistemological and
metaphysical ideas and arguments of
Immanuel Kant and the debates about
them.
2. seminars
2. The formative role of the writings of
Immanuel Kant within the 19th- and
20th-century European philosophical
tradition
5. library-based research
3. The main ideas and arguments of two
or more major thinkers within the postKantian tradition of European
philosophy as set down in canonical
texts.
1. lectures
3. tutorials
4. reading
Assessment
Students‟ knowledge and understanding is
assessed by
100% coursework
1. essays
2. dissertation
4. The distinctive features and modes of
argument and presentation of the postKantian philosophical tradition
B. Cognitive (thinking) skills
Teaching/learning methods
On completion of this programme the
successful student will be able to:
Students learn cognitive skills through:
1. interpret and analyse complex and
difficult philosophical texts
2. seminars
2. assess the arguments presented in
such texts
4. reading
3. use and criticise specialized
terminology
1. lectures
3. tutorials
5. library-based research
6. research skills sessions
4. construct arguments about matters of a
fundamental and abstract nature
Assessment
5. recognize methodological errors,
rhetorical devices and unnoticed
assumptions
Students‟ cognitive skills are assessed by
100% coursework
6. consider and critically examine
unfamiliar ideas
2. dissertation
1. essays
C. Practical skills
Teaching/learning methods
On completion of this programme the
successful student will be able to:
Students learn practical skills through:
1. organize learning and research through
self-management
2. tutorials
2. communicate ideas and arguments
3. use libraries effectively
4. use information technology to help
conduct research and present results
1. seminars
3. library-based research
4. writing essays and dissertation
Assessment
Students‟ practical skills are assessed by
100% coursework
1. essays
2. dissertation

D.4. Transferable Skills
Teaching/learning methods
On completion of this programme the
successful student will be able to:
Students learn transferable skills through:
1. demonstrate personal and career
development skills
2. seminars
2. demonstrate effective learning
3. demonstrate effective communication
skills
1. lectures
3. tutorials
4. reading
5. library-based research
4. demonstrate effective teamwork skills
6. research skills sessions
5. demonstrate effective, appropriate
information technology skills
7. writing essays and dissertation
6. demonstrate effective numeracy skills
Assessment
In addition, he/she will possess the
following graduate skills:
7. mastery of a complex and specialized
area of knowledge and skills
8. ability to conduct research and
communicate its results
9. ability to accept accountability for
decision-making, including use of
supervision

or equivalent for postgraduate programmes.
Students‟ postgraduate skills are assessed
by 100% coursework:
1. essays
2. dissertation
12. Programme structure and requirements, levels, modules, credits and qualifications
12. 1 Overall structure of the programme
All modules are allocated credit under the Middlesex Academic credit Scheme (MACS) and
the number and level of credit points is specified for the range of awards.
Students on the MA Modern European Philosophy take 180 credit points at level 4, including a
dissertation of 60 credit points. The other 120 credits are taken as four 30-credit modules. All
modules are semester-length. The full-time pattern is two modules per semester. Students are
required to take a foundation module in semester 1 (PHL4801: Kant and his legacy), and at
least one other designated module.
The programme is one year full-time, two years part-time.
The Postgraduate Diploma requires 120 credit points; the Postgraduate Certificate requires 60
credit points. Attendance at Research Skills seminars is a requirement of the dissertation
module.
12.2 Levels and modules. This section should contain a more detailed description level-bylevel of the programme structure, modules and credits. All modules should be categorised as
compulsory or optional.
Level 4
COMPULSORY1
OPTIONAL2
PROGRESSION
REQUIREMENTS
Students must take both of
the following:
Students should also choose
3 modules from the following
list (recommended options are
in bold):
Students must have submitted
120 credit points of coursework
at the point of submission of
the Dissertation
PHL4801 (30 credit points)
PHL4890
(60 credit points)
PHL4821 (30 credit points)
PHL4827 (30 credit points)
PHL4866 (30 credit points)
PHL4700
(30 credit points)
PHL4771
(30 credit points)
PHL4912
(30 credit points)
PHL4921
(30 credit points)
1
Compulsory modules are those that must be taken, that is, the qualification cannot be made unless these modules have been
successfully completed. Each of these modules makes a unique contribution to the learning objectives of the programme.
2
Optional modules are those from which a specified minimum number must be taken, that is, the qualification cannot be given unless
this specified minimum number of optional modules have been successfully completed. Each of the possible combinations of optional
modules will make a similarly unique contribution to the achievement of the learning objectives of the programme.
12.3 Non-compensatable modules. Modules may additionally be designated noncompensatable.
Module level
Module code
13. A curriculum map relating learning outcomes to modules
See Curriculum Map attached.
14. Criteria for admission to the Programme
Applicants should normally hold a good (2.1 or above) undergraduate degree in
philosophy or another subject in which philosophy has formed part of their programme,
but consideration is also given to other types of applicant on an individual basis. UK and
most EU applicants are interviewed. Telephone interviews are used for overseas
applicants where appropriate. Applicants whose first language is not English should
provide IELTS results of 6.5 or higher.
15. Information about assessment regulations
See the Middlesex University Guide and regulations.
Modules may be self-deferred OTHER THAN PHL4801 and PHL4890 -students seeking
to defer PHL4801 or PHL4890 must consult the Assessment Officer.
16. Indicators of quality
1. Philosophy at Middlesex was awarded a 2.8 in RAE2008 and a 5 (on the old scale)
in RAE2001. Philosophy was awarded 23 in its Teaching Quality Assessment review
in 2001. The Review Team report drew attention to the quality of this programme.
2. External Examiner Reports.
3. Graduate destinations.
17. Specialised support for learning (if applicable)
Students who are returning to HE after some years and students whose first language is
not English are especially encouraged to use the Learning Support Facilities provided by
ILRS.
Campus Student Office offering on-site counselling, careers advice and disability support
services
E-mail access to tutors
18. Methods for evaluating and improving the quality and standards of learning
External examiners reports
Boards of Study
Annual Monitoring Reports
Student feedback questionnaires
Module feedback forms
Tutor group meetings
19. Placement opportunities, requirements and support (if applicable)
N/A
20. Future careers: how the programme supports graduates’ future career
development (if applicable)
A successful student on the MA Modern European Philosophy has acquired the
intellectual basis necessary to progress to a Research Degree in Modern European
Philosophy. The degree also supports career development in a wide variety of
professions in which the intellectual skills of textual interpretation, analysis, criticism and
argument are required – such as arts administration, education, journalism, law,
psychotherapy and publishing.
21. Other information
Curriculum map for MA MODERN EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY
This section shows the highest level at which programme outcomes are to be achieved by all graduates, and maps programme learning outcomes
against the modules in which they are assessed.
Programme outcomes – highest level to be achieved by all graduates
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Module Title
A6
A7
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
Module Code
by Level
Programme outcomes
A1
A2
Kant and his Legacy
PHL4801
x
x
Hegel and his Legacy
PHL4821
x
Nietzsche and Heidegger
PHL4827
x
Recent French Philosophy
PHL4866
Political Ontology
PHL4912
Commodification and
Subjectivation
A3
B6
C1
C2
C3
C4
A4
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
C1
C2
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
PHL4921
x
x
x
x
x
Kant and the Aesthetic Trad.
PHL4700
x
x
x
x
Post-Kantian Aesthetics
PHL4771
x
x
x
Dissertation
PHL4890
C5
C3
C6
D3
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
D6
D5
D4
x
D5
D4
D3
x
D1
D2
D2
x
C4
D1
D7
x
D6
D8
D9
x
x
D7
Programme learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
Practical skills
A1
the main epistemological and metaphysical ideas and
arguments of Immanuel Kant and the debates about them
C1
organise learning and research through self-management
A2
the formative role of the writings of Immanuel Kant within the
thth
19 and 20 -century European philosophical tradition
C2
communicate ideas and arguments
A3
the main ideas and arguments of two or more major thinkers
within the post-Kantian tradition of European philosophy as set
down in canonical texts
C3
use libraries effectively
A4
the distinctive features and modes of argument and
presentation of the post-Kantian philosophical tradition
C4
use information technology to help conduct research and present
results
Cognitive skills
Transferable Skills
B1
interpret and analyse complex and difficult philosophical texts
D1
personal and career development skills
B2
assess the arguments presented in such texts
D2
effective learning
B3
use and criticise specialized terminology
D3
effective communication skills
B4
construct arguments about matters of a fundamental and
abstract nature
D4
effective teamwork skills
B5
recognize methodological errors, rhetorical devices and
unnoticed assumptions
D5
effective, appropriate information technology skills
B6
consider and critically examine unfamiliar ideas
D6
effective numeracy skills
D7
mastery of a complex and specialised area of knowledge and skills
D8
Ability to conduct research and communicate its results
D9
Ability to accept accountability for decision-making, including use of
supervision
MA Aesthetics and Art Theory
Pattern
2009/10
MA AESTHETICS AND ART THEORY
30 credit points
PHL 4700
Kant and the Aesthetic Tradition
+ 90 credit points from the modules listed below including at least 30 credit points
from the designated programme
Options
Choice of any module not included on this
list must be approved by the relevant
programme tutor
30 credit points
PHL 4757
Modernism and Contemporary
Art Theory
30 credit points
PHL 4771
Post-Kantian Aesthetics
30 credit points
PHL 4901
Concepts of Critique
30 credit points
PHL 4827
Nietzsche and Heidegger
30 credit points
PHL 4866
Recent French Philosophy
(Badiou and Sartre)
30 credit points
PHL 4921
Commodification and
Subjectivation
30 credit points
PHL 4912
Political Ontology
60 credit points
PHL 4795
Dissertation
Structure, 2009/10
MA AESTHETICS AND ART THEORY – FULL TIME
All modules run in the early evening, unless otherwise stated.
Compulsory
KEY
Designated
Options
Autumn
Term
30 credit points
PHL 4700
Kant and the
Aesthetic Tradition
30 credit points
PHL 4757
AND
Modernism and
Contemporary
Art Theory
2 of:
Summer
PHL4901
OR
30 credit
points
PHL 4771
Post-Kantian
Aesthetics
Commodificati
on &
Subjectivation
30 credit
points
PHL 4827
Nietzsche
and
Heidegger
(Wednesday)
(Tuesday)
(Wednesday)
30 credit
points
PHL 4921
60 credit points
PHL 4795
Dissertation
Concepts of
Critique
(Wednesday
afternoon)
(Tuesday)
(Wednesday)
Spring
Term
30 credit points
30 credit
points
PHL 4912
Political
Ontology
30 credit
points
PHL 4866
French
Philosophy
(Wednesday
afternoon)
(Tuesday)
MA AESTHETICS AND ART THEORY – PART TIME
All modules run in the early evening, unless otherwise stated.
Compulsory
KEY
Designated
30 credit points
PHL 4700
Autumn
Term
Kant and The
Aesthetic
Tradition
(Wednesday)
Year 1
Year 2
Autumn
Term
Spring
Term
Spring
Term
30 credit points
PHL 4757
Modernism and
Contemporary Art Theory
(Tuesday)
30 credits
PHL
4771
30 credit
Postpoints
Kantian
PHL
4771
Aesthetics
Post-Kantian
Aesthetics
(Weds)
OR
OR
30 credit
30points
credit
points
PHL 4921
PHL
4921
CommodCommodification
ification
OR
OR
(Tues)
(Tues)
(Weds)
Summer
OR
30 credit
points
30 credit
PHL
4827
points
Nietzsche
PHLand
4827
Nietzsche
Heidegger
and
Heidegger
(Weds)
(Weds)
60 credit points
PHL 4795
Dissertation
30 credit points
PHL4901
Concepts of Critique
(Wednesday afternoon)
OR
OR
30 credit
points
30
credit
PHL 4912
points
Political
PHL
4912
Ontology
Political
Ontology
(Weds
pm)
(Weds
pm)
OR
OR
30 credit
30points
credit
PHL
4866
points
French
PHL 4866
Philosophy
French
Philosophy
(Tues)
(Tues)
Module Information
MA AESTHETICS AND ART THEORY
Code
Title
Term
Day
Campus
PHL4700
Kant and the Aesthetic Tradition
Autumn
Weds
TPK
PHL4757
Modernism and Contemporary Art
Theory
Autumn
Tues
TPK
PHL4771
Post-Kantian Aesthetics
Spring
Weds
TPK
PHL4921
Commodification and Subjectivation Spring
Tues
TPK
PHL4795
Dissertation
Summer
TPK
Options
PHL4901
Concepts of Critique
Autumn
Weds (pm)
TPK
PHL4827
Nietzsche and Heidegger
Spring
Weds
TPK
PHL4866
Recent French Philosophy
(Badiou and Sartre)
Spring
Tues
TPK
PHL4912
Political Ontology
Spring
Wed (pm)
TPK
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
14
Module Narratives: MA Aesthetics and Art Theory
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4700
Kant: The Aesthetic Tradition
30
Aims
An introduction to the European tradition of philosophical aesthetics through a detailed
study of its origins in Part 1 of Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgement.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Familiarity with the founding features, issues and problems of philosophical aesthetics in
the European tradition through knowledge of key writings by Kant.
Skills:
Development of the skills of close textual analysis; comprehension, reconstruction and
interpretation of philosophical arguments; an ability to situate such arguments in the
context of the history of philosophy and the arts and to discuss them critically; ability to
reflect on the relationship of philosophical analysis to other cultural fields.
Syllabus
After an introductory week on Hume's 'Standard of Taste' a detailed study of the first part
of Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgement (issues: judgement, taste, the beautiful, the
sublime, genius) will be followed by a discussion of its relationship to the early 20thcentury formalist aesthetics of Roger Fry and Clive Bell.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on key themes and problems in the set texts, individual tutorials
and private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay.
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
Main Texts
Immanuel Kant, Critique of the Power of Judgement, Cambridge: CUP, 2000.
Clive Bell, 'The Aesthetic Hypothesis', in Charles Harrison and Jason Geiger, eds, Art in
Theory: 1900-1992, Oxford; Blackwell, 1992, pp. 113-6
Roger Fry, 'An Essay in Aesthetics' in Art in Theory, pp. 78-86.
Secondary Reading
Henry Allison, Kant's Theory of Taste, Cambridge: CUP, 2001.
Ted Cohen & Paul Guyer (eds), Essays in Kant's Aesthetics, Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1982.
Paul Guyer, Kant and the Claims of Taste, Cambridge: CUP 1979; 1997.
J.H. Zammito, The Genesis of Kant's Critique of Judgement, Chicago: Chicago
University Press, 1992.
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
15
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Eric
Alliez
2009/
2010
Peter
2010/
Osborne 2011
Autumn
TPK28-SEPTrent
109 / 18Park
Term
DEC-09
Campus
20
Autumn
TPK27-SEPTrent
110 / 17Park
Term
DEC-10
Campus
20
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
16
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4771
Post-Kantian Aesthetics
30
Aims
An examination of post-Kantian aesthetics in the light of the role played by early German
Romanticism in recent philosophical and art-theoretical debates, with particular
reference to contemporary French philosophy.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Knowledge of the main features of post-Kantian aesthetics with particular reference to
early German Romanticism and its role in recent philosophical and art-theoretical
debates in France.
Skills:
Development of the 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 art and to discuss them critically.
Syllabus
Study of major texts by Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Friedrich Schlegel and G.W.F. Hegel,
in the light of recent writings by the French philosophers Alain Badiou, Gilles Deleuze,
Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jacques Rancière. Topics include: the ontology of the
artwork, the theory of colour, the Romantic sublime, the relationship of aesthetics to
politics. There will also be discussion of Romantic painting.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on key themes and problems in the set texts, individual tutorials
and private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay.
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
Romanticism
J.W. Goethe, Theory of Colours, Cambridge MA and London: MIT Press, 1970.
Friedrich Schiller, On the Aesthetic Education of Man, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967;
1982.
T. Schulte-Sasse et al (eds), Theory as Practice: A Critical Anthology of Early German
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
17
Romantic Writings, Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 1997.
G.W.F. Hegel, Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975.
French Philosophy
Alain Badiou, Handbook of Inaesthetics, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005.
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, 'Plateau 11: 1837 - Of the Refrain', in A Thousand
Plateaus, London: Athlone, 1988.
J.-F. Lyotard, Lessons on the Analytic of the Sublime, Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1994.
J.-F. Lyotard, The Inhuman : Reflections on Time, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991
Jacques Rancière, The Politics of Aesthetics: The Distribution of the Sensible,
Continuum, 2004
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Eric
Alliez
2009/
2010
Spring
TPK11-JANTrent
110 / 23Park
Term
APR-10
Campus
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
18
20
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4757
Modernism and Contemporary Art Theory
30
Aims
An examination of the legacy of modernist criticism in contemporary art theory, with
particular reference to the writings of Theodor W. Adorno, Benjamin H. Buchloh, Peter
Bürger, Clement Greenberg, and Rosalind Krauss.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Familiarity with the distinctive features, issues and problems of the tradition of modernist
criticism, and its legacy in contemporary art theory, through knowledge of writing by
major figures in the European and US traditions.
Skills:
Textual, conceptual, aesthetic and historical analysis; reflection on the relationship of
critical discourse to cultural experience.
Syllabus
An examination of competing conceptions of modernism in the writings of Clement
Greenberg, Thierry de Duve and Theodor W. Adorno is followed by a study of the legacy
of historical criticism in the work of the October theorists Rosalind Krauss and Benjamin
H. Buchloh. Particular attention will be paid to: the contrast between 'medium-specific'
and 'generic' modernisms; theorizations and periodisations of the avant-garde;
institutional critique; current debates about the nominalism of contemporary art and the
'post-medium' condition.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on key themes and problems in the set texts, individual tutorials
and private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay.
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
T. W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press,1997.
Benjamin Buchloh, Neo-Avant Garde and Culture Industry Cambridge MA and London:
MIT Press, 2001.
Peter Burger, Theory of the Avant-Garde, Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press,
1984.
Thierry de Duve, Kant After Duchamp, Cambridge MA and London: MIT Press, 1996.
Hal Foster et al, Art Since 1900: Modernism, Anti-modernism, Postmodernism, London:
Thames and Hudson, 2004.
Clement Greenberg, Collected Writings Vols., 1 and 4, Chicago: Chicago University
Press 1986, 1993.
Rosalind Krauss, The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths,
Cambridge MA and London: MIT Press, 1985
Rosalind Krauss, 'A Voyage on the North Sea': Art in the Age of The Post-Medium
Condition, London: Thames and Hudson, 2002.
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
19
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Stewart 2009/
Martin 2010
Autumn
TPK28-SEPTrent
109 / 18Park
Term
DEC-09
Campus
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
20
20
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4921
Commodification and Subjectivation
30
Aims
An examination of the contrasting interpretations of the concept of the subject in Marx's
Capital in the Frankfurt School and French anti-humanist traditions, and their
significance for art theory. Central concepts include commodity form, value, abstraction
and fetishism; structure, bearer, interpellation, subjection and subjectivation.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Familiarity with the mains features of the approach to the concept of the subject in the
French and German Marxist traditions in critical theory; in particular, the concepts of
commodity form, value, fetishism, structure, bearer, subjection and subjectivation; and
their application to art theory.
Skills:
Further development of the skills of close textual analysis; comprehension,
reconstruction and interpretation of philosophical arguments; an ability to situate and
assess such arguments in the context of the history of social philosophy and art theory;
ability to discuss them critically.
Syllabus
Following a brief consideration of the pre-history of recent debates about the subject in
18th- and 19th-century European philosophy, the module will focus on the reception of
the Marx's analysis of the value-form, its relation to the discourses of actual abstraction,
fetishism, interpellation, subjectivation and subjection; and their place in art theory.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on key themes and problems in the set texts, individual tutorials
and private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
Main Texts
Karl Marx, 'Theses on Feuerbach' in Early Writings (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975).
-------------, Capital, Volume 1 (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976).
Secondary Reading
Theodor W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory (London: Athlone Press, 1997)
------------------------- 'On Subject and Object', in Critical Models (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1998)
Louis Althusser and Etienne Balibar, Reading Capital (London: New Left Books, 1970)
extract.
Etienne Balibar, 'Citizen Subject' in E. Cadava et al (eds), Who Comes After the
Subject? (New York and London: Routledge, 1991)
-------------------, 'Subjection and Subjectivation' in Joan Copjec (ed.), Supposing the
Subject, (London and New York: Verso, 1994)
--------------------, The Philosophy of Marx (London and New York: Verso, 1995)
Judith Butler, The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection (Stanford: Stanford UP,
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
21
1997)
Michel Foucault, 'The Subject and Power', Afterword to Hubert Dreyfus & Paul Rabinow,
Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics (Herts.: Harvester, 1982).
--------------------, Remarks on Marx (New York: Semiotext(e), 1991)
William Pietz, 'The Problem of the Fetish', Pts 1-3, in Res 9, 13 and 16 (1985,
1987, 1988)
Moshe Postone, Time, Labour and Social Domination (CUP, 1993), Pt 2.
Slavoj Zizek, The Ticklish Subject: The Absent Centre of Political Ontology (London and
New York, 1999)
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Stella
2009/
Sandford 2010
Peter
2010/
Osborne 2011
Spring
TPK11-JANTrent
110 / 23Park
Term
APR-10
Campus
20
Spring
TPK10-JANTrent
111 / 22Park
Term
APR-11
Campus
20
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
22
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
Other Restrictions
and Requirements
Pre-requisites
PHL4795
Dissertation
60
Required for MA Aesthetics and Art Theory. Involves
compulsory research skills seminar & approval of dissertation
project.
PHL4700
Aims
This module aims to provide students with an opportunity for intensive and detailed,
research-based study of their chosen topic within the areas of aesthetics and art theory
under the guidance of an appropriate supervisor. Students are encouraged to combine
discussion of theoretical debate with critical treatment of individual artists and works of
art; and to discuss possible topics with staff in advance of the module. (Please note that
if we are unable to provide a supervisor with appropriate expertise, you may be asked to
consider an alternative topic.)
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:


Familiarity with the distinctive features, issues and problems of a particular topic
within philosophy and contemporary critical theory
Location of the topic in relation to current academic discussions.
Skills:




Further developments of the skills of close textual analysis
Comprehension, reconstruction and interpretation of philosophical arguments
An ability to undertake independent library research; ability to provide an
independent and critical treatment of a clearly defined area of academic
discussion
Ability to produce a, sustained, coherent and appropriately presented written
discourse (12,000-15,000 words, including all footnotes) on a single topic.
Syllabus





As agreed with the supervisor; supplemented by a series of four Research Skills
seminars which begin in late spring.
The first seminar, normally held in early May, deals with the formulation of a
dissertation proposal and the composition of an outline.
A second seminar deals with bibliographical and information technology issues
(internet and database searches).
A third seminar provides an overview of editing and copyright law.
A final seminar involves the oral presentation and review of every student's
dissertation proposal, and normally takes place in early June.
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
23

MA supervisors will reinforce aspects of the research skills seminars when they
meet with students individually during the latter part of the spring term.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Research skills seminars, oral presentation of proposal, individual supervision and
private, library-based study.
Exact contact hours may be varied in the light of the number of students registered and
other relevant factors.
Students receive formative assessment from staff during the oral presentation of their
dissertation proposals.
Assessment Scheme
Dissertation of 12,000 to 15,000 words (100%).
Viva voce examination may be required and may also be offered.
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
CORE MATERIALS
As agreed with the supervisor.
Total Notional Learning Hours
600
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Peter
2009/
Hallward 2010
Summer
TPK03-MAYTrent
LO10 / 24- 20
Park
Long
SEP-10
Campus
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
24
OPTIONS
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4901
Concepts of Critique
30
Aims
A historical and philosophical introduction to the two main 20th-century traditions of
Critical Theory: the Frankfurt School and French anti-humanism. The module focuses on
competing interpretations of the concepts of critique and enlightenment in Horkheimer
and Adorno, Althusser, Foucault, and Butler.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Knowledge of the main features of the German and French traditions of critical theory
and of the role of Kantian philosophy in their formation; in particular, familiarity with
various Marxist and post-Marxist concepts of critique and enlightenment and the
problems associated with them.
Skills:
Development of the 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.
Syllabus
After an initial overview of the concepts of critique and enlightenment proposed by Kant
and Marx, the course will analyse and critically compare the positions advanced by
Horkheimer, Adorno, Althusser, Foucault, and Butler.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on key themes and problems in the set texts, individual tutorials
and private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay.
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
Theodor W. Adorno, 'Critique', in Critical Models (New York: Columbia University Press,
1998).
Louis Althusser, 'Contradiction and Overdetermination', in For Marx (London: Verso,
1990).
――, 'Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses' Lenin and Philosophy and Other
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
25
Essays, London, New Left Books, 1971.
Judith Butler, 'Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire', in Gender Trouble: Feminism and the
Subversion of Identity (London: Routledge, 1990), ch. 1.
----. 'Subjection, Resistance, Resignification: Between Freud and Foucault', in Butler,
The Psychic Life of Power (Stanford University Press, 1997), ch. 3.
Michel Foucault, 'What is Critique'?, in Sylvère Lotringer and Lysa Hochroth eds., The
Politics of Truth (New York: Semiotext(e), 1997).
――, 'What is Enlightenment' in Paul Rabinow ed., The Foucault Reader (New York:
Pantheon Books, 1984).
――, 'Nietzsche, Genealogy, 'in The Foucault Reader (New York: Pantheon Books,
1984);
――, The Order of Things (London: Tavistock, 1970), chapters 9 & 10;
Jürgen Habermas, 'Taking Aim at the Heart of the Present: On Foucault's Essay on
Kant's 'What is Enlightenment'?, in Foucault: A Critical Reader, ed. David Couzens Hoy
(Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986).
Max Horkheimer, 'Traditional and Critical Theory', in Critical Theory (NY: Herder
&Herder, 1972).
Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, 'The Concept of Enlightenment' in Dialectic of
Enlightenment (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002).
Immanuel Kant, 'What is Enlightenment'? in his Perpetual Peace and Other Essays
(Indianapolis: Hackett, 1983).
Georg Lukács, 'Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat', in History and
Class Consciousness (London: Merlin Press, 1971.
Karl Marx, Selected Writings, ed. David McLellan (Oxford: OUP, 2000, 2nd ed.).
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Autumn
TPK28-SEPTrent
109 / 18Park
Term
DEC-09
Campus
20
Peter
2010/
Hallward 2011
Autumn
TPK27-SEPTrent
110 / 17Park
Term
DEC-10
Campus
20
Peter
2011/
Hallward 2012
Autumn
TPKTrent
Park
20
Peter
2009/
Hallward 2010
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
26-SEP111 / 16Term
DEC-11
26
Campus
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
27
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4827
Nietzsche and Heidegger
30
Aims
This course will examine the relationship between Nietzsche's critique of metaphysics as
the manifestation of an ascetic 'will to truth' and Heidegger's project of 'dismantling' and
'overcoming' metaphysics in light of a renewal of the question of being.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Familiarity with the distinctive features, issues and problems of Nietzsche's and
Heidegger's conceptions of truth, being, metaphysics and nihilism through knowledge of
key texts.
Skills:
Further developments of the skills of close textual analysis; comprehension,
reconstruction and interpretation of philosophical arguments; an ability to situate such
arguments in the context of the history of philosophy and to discuss them critically.
Syllabus
We will disentangle the distinct philosophical agendas at stake in the Nietzschean and
Heideggerian critiques of metaphysics by paying particular attention to the role played by
the project of fundamental ontology in Heidegger's critical relationship to the
metaphysical tradition. Topics include: time, history, knowledge, nihilism, perspectivism,
phenomenology, will to power, eternal recurrence.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on Nietzsche and Heidegger, individual tutorials and private
study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
Main Texts
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, Ed. Walter Kaufmann, Vintage, 1967.
______, Twilight of the Idols, Tr. R. J. Hollingdale, Penguin, 1990
______, On the Genealogy of Morality and Other Writings, Ed. and Trans. K. A.
Pearson, C. Diethe, R. Geuss, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, Tr. E. Macquarrie and J. Robinson, Blackwell, 1962.
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
28
______, 'The Word of Nietzsche: God is Dead' in The Question Concerning Technology
and Other Essays. Trans. William Lovitt, New York, Harper & Row, 1977
______, What Is Called Thinking? Trans. J. Glenn Gray, New York, Harper & Row,
1968.
______, Nietzsche. Vol. II: The Eternal Recurrence of the Same; Vol. IV: Nihilism, Ed.
D. F. Krell, Harper San Francisco, 1991.
Secondary Reading
D. B. Allison (Ed.), The New Nietzsche, MIT Press, 1985.
Keith Ansell-Pearson and Howard Caygill (Eds.), The Fate of the New Nietzsche,
Avebury, 1993
Keith Ansell-Pearson (Ed.), Nietzsche and Modern German Thought, Routledge, 1991
Michel Foucault, 'Nietzsche, Genealogy, History' in Language, Counter-Memory,
Practice, Ithaca, Cornell, 1977
Gilles Deleuze, Nietzsche and Philosophy, Trans. H. Tomlinson, Continuum, 2005.
Gilles Deleuze, 'Plato and the Simulacrum' in The Logic of Sense, Tr. M. Lester and C.
Boundas, Continuum, 2005.
R. Havas 'Who is Heidegger's Nietzsche?', in Heidegger: A Critical Reader, Dreyfus,
Hubert (ed). Cambridge, Blackwell, 1992.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosophy and Truth: Selections from Nietzsche's Notebooks of the
early 1870's. Ed. and Trans. Daniel Breazeale. Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey:
Humanities Press, 1979.
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Christian 2009/
Kerslake 2010
Christian 2010/
Kerslake 2011
Spring
TPK11-JANTrent
110 / 23Park
Term
APR-10
Campus
25
Spring
TPK10-JANTrent
111 / 22Park
Term
APR-11
Campus
25
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
29
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4866
Recent French Philosophy
30
Aims
Guided study of two or three major works of twentieth-century French philosophy,
focusing each year on the work of two related thinkers. Possible topics include: Sartre or
de Beauvoir's existentialism, Levinasian ethics, Merleau-Ponty's theory of embodied
perception, Foucault's theory of power, Derrida's practice of deconstruction, Deleuze's
conception of difference, Badiou's concepts of the subject and truth. In 2009-10 the
module will study Sartre's Being and Nothingness together with Badiou's Being and
Event.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Familiarity with the distinctive features, issues and problems of Sartre and Badiou's
conceptions of subjectivity, ontology and politics.
Skills:
Further development of the 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 history of philosophy, on the one hand, and of recent political
developments, on the other.
Syllabus
The module will divide into two halves. The first half will consider Sartre's conception of
consciousness and freedom, along with his notions of negation, situation, alterity, bad
faith and transcendence. The second half will focus on Badiou's post-Lacanian
conception of the subject, his non-Heideggerian conception of being, and his antiDeleuzian conception of politics and the event. The course will also consider Sartre's
influence on Badiou, and the degree to which Badiou is able to combine aspects of
existentialism and anti-humanist structuralism as complementary facets of a new theory
of militant praxis and truth.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on Sartre's Being and Nothingness, Badiou's Being and Event,
individual tutorials and private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay.
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
30
Learning Materials
Main Texts
Alain Badiou, Being and Event, trans. Oliver Feltham (London, Continuum, 2006)
______, Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil (London: Verso, 2001)
Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, trans. Hazel Barnes (London: Routledge
Classics, 2003) (Students should be sure to use this edition of the text).
Secondary Reading
Paul Ashton et al, eds., The Philosophy of Alain Badiou, special issue of Cosmos & History
2:1-2 (2006).
Ronald Aronson, Sartre's Second Critique (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987)
Alain Badiou, Polemics (London: Verso, 2006)
______, Infinite Thought: Truth and the Return to Philosophy (London: Continuum, 2003)
______, Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism (Stanford: Stanford University Press,
2003)
______, Theoretical Writings (London, Continuum, 2004)
Jason Barker, Alain Badiou: A Critical Introduction (London: Pluto, 2002).
Bruno Bosteels, Badiou and the Political (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007).
Joseph S. Catalano, A Commentary of Jean-Paul Sartre's Critique of Dialectical Reason
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987)
Andrew Dobson, Jean-Paul Sartre and the Politics of Reason (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1993).
Peter Hallward, Badiou: A Subject to Truth (Minneapolis: Minnesota Press, 2003).
______, ed. Think Again: Badiou and the Future of Philosophy(London: Continuum 2004).
Christina Howells, Sartre: The Necessity of Freedom (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1988).
Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Savage Mind, chapter 10 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1968).
Mark Poster, Sartre's Marxism (London: Pluto Press, 1979).
Gabriel Riera, ed., Alain Badiou: Philosophy and its Conditions (Albany: SUNY, 2004).
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Module
Leader
Future
Academic
Year
Semester Campus
Part
Start/End Max Nr of
of
Dates
Students
Term
Peter
2009/ 2010 Spring
Hallward
11-JAN-10
TPK-Trent
1/ 23-APR- 20
Park Campus Term
10
Peter
2010/ 2011 Spring
Hallward
10-JAN-11
TPK-Trent
1/ 22-APR- 20
Park Campus Term
11
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
31
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4912
Political Ontology
30
Aims
This module offers a comparative examination of recent work in contemporary political
philosophy, focusing in particular on two landmark texts of post-1968 (and postSpinozist) political thought: Deleuze and Guattari's Capitalism and Schizophrenia, and
Antonio Negri's Insurgencies. The course will consider (i) the essentially affirmative
ontological orientation of Deleuze and Guattari's project and its consequent distance
from a critical conception of philosophy; (ii) the implications of Deleuze and Guattari's
refusal of any concept of transcendence and representation, including the concepts they
associate with conventional understandings of history, capitalism, and psychoanalysis;
(iii) Negri's concepts of constituent power, insurgency and the state.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Familiarity with the main problems and concepts of Capitalism and Schizophrenia, in
particular with its ontological and political aspects, and with Negri's theories of
insurgency and constituent power.
Skills:
Further developments of the skills of close textual analysis; comprehension,
interpretation and criticism of philosophical argument; ability to reflect on the relationship
between philosophy and socio-political criticism.
Syllabus
Discussion of Capitalism and Schizophrenia will focus on the concepts or processes of
becoming, desiring production, deterritorialisation, schizoanalysis, and on Deleuze and
Guattari's critique of transcendence, representation, signification, psychoanalysis, and
capitalism. When the course turns to Negri, it will focus on notions of sovereignty and
bio-power; models of resistance and insurgency; recent conceptions of history,
capitalism, and globalisation.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on Deleuze and Guattari's Capitalism and Schizophrenia and
Negri's Insurgencies, individual tutorials and private study. Emphasis is placed on
seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
32
Learning Materials
Main Texts
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Capitalism and Schizophrenia Volume 1 (AntiOedipus) and Volume 2 (A Thousand Plateaus), (London, 'Continuum Impacts', 2004).
Antonio Negri, Insurgencies: Constituent Power and the Modern State (Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1999)
Secondary Reading
Ronald Bogue, Deleuze and Guattari (New York: Routledge, 1989).
Constantin V. Boundas & Dorothea Olkowski, Gilles Deleuze and the Theatre of
Philosophy (New York and London: Routledge, 1994)
Eugene W. Holland, Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus: Introduction to Schizoanalysis
(London: Routledge, 1999)
Brian Massumi, A User's Guide to Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Cambridge, MIT
Press, 1992)
Antonio Negri & Michael Hardt, Empire (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2000)
――, Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire (New York: Penguin, 2004)
Ellen Meiskins Wood, Empire of Capital (London: Verso, 2003).
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Eric
Alliez
2009/
2010
Eric
Alliez
2010/
2011
Spring
TPK11-JANTrent
110 / 23Park
Term
APR-10
Campus
20
Spring
TPK10-JANTrent
111 / 22Park
Term
APR-11
Campus
20
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
33
Programme Specification
MA AESTHETICS AND ART THEORY
1. Awarding institution
Middlesex University
2. Teaching institution
Middlesex University
3. Programme accredited by
N/A
4. Final qualification
MA
5. Programme title
Aesthetics and Art Theory
6. JACS code (or other relevant coding
system)
N/A
7. Relevant QAA subject benchmark
group(s)
Philosophy
8. Academic Year
2009-10
9. Reference points
The following reference points were used in designing the programme:
Philosophy Benchmark Statement
Middlesex University Guide and Regulations http://www.mdx.ac.uk/regulations/
Middlesex University Guidelines for the Generation and Use of Level Descriptions
Middlesex University Learning and Teaching policies and strategy, the Strategic Plan
and the Student Charter
Student, Staff, External Examiners and Graduates feedback and comments
- MA Programmes at other Universities
10. Aims of the programme
The programme aims to develop:
Knowledge and understanding of 19th- and 20th-century aesthetics in the post-Kantian
tradition
Knowledge and understanding of contemporary art theory
General philosophical skills of interpretation, analysis, criticism and argument
Ability to reflect on the philosophical aspects of contemporary art
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
34
11. Programme outcomes* - the programme offers opportunities for students to
achieve and demonstrate the following learning outcomes. The highest level at
which these programme outcomes are to be achieved by all graduates is shown in
the curriculum map section.
A. Knowledge and understanding
Teaching/learning methods
On completion of this programme the
successful student will have knowledge and
understanding of:
Students gain knowledge and
understanding through:
1. The main concepts introduced and
discussed by Immanuel Kant in his
Critique of Judgement and debates
about them
2. seminars
2. The formative role of Kant‟s Critique of
Judgement within the 19th and 20th –
century aesthetic tradition
5. library-based research
3. The main ideas of two or more other
major thinkers within the post-Kantian
tradition of European aesthetics as set
down in canonical texts
Students‟ knowledge and understanding is
assessed by
1. lectures
3. tutorials
4. reading
Assessment
100% coursework
1. essays
4. The distinctive features and modes of
argumentation and presentation in the
post-Kantian aesthetic tradition
2. dissertation
5. Key concepts in contemporary art
theory
B. Cognitive (thinking) skills
Teaching/learning methods
On completion of this programme the
successful student will be able to:
Students learn cognitive skills through:
1. lectures
2. seminars
1. Interpret intellectually challenging texts
3. tutorials
2. Extract and critically evaluate essential
arguments from complex texts
4. reading
5. library-based research
3. Write clearly about abstract matters
6. research skills sessions
4. Respond lucidly to uncertainty
5. Combine questions of philosophical
aesthetics developed within the
European tradition since Kant with
questions of contemporary art and arttheory.
Assessment
Students‟ cognitive skills are assessed by
100% coursework
1. essays
2. dissertation
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
35
C. Practical skills
Teaching/learning methods
On completion of this programme the
successful student will be able to:
Students learn practical skills through:
1. Communicate ideas and arguments
2. tutorials
2. Use libraries effectively
3. library-based research
3. Conduct research and communicate its
results
4. writing essays and dissertation
1. seminars
Assessment
Students‟ practical skills are assessed by
100% coursework
1. essays
2. dissertation

D.4. Transferable Skills
Teaching/learning methods
On completion of this programme the
successful student will be able to
demonstrate:
Students learn transferable skills through:
1. Reflect on personal and career
development
1. lectures
2. seminars
3. tutorials
2. Engage in effective learning
4. reading
3. Communicate effectively
5. library-based research
4. Work in teams
6. research skills sessions
5. Display information technology skills
7. writing essays and dissertation
6. Use numeracy skills
Assessment
Students‟ postgraduate skills are assessed
by 100% coursework:
1. essays
2. dissertation

or equivalent for postgraduate programmes.
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
36
12. Programme structure and requirements, levels, modules, credits and
qualifications
12. 1 Overall structure of the programme
All modules are allocated credit under the Middlesex Academic credit Scheme (MACS)
and the number and level of credit points is specified for the range of awards.
Students on the MA Aesthetics and Art Theory take 180 credit points at level 4, including
a dissertation of 60 credit points. The other 120 credits are taken as four 30-credit
modules. All modules are semester-length. The full-time pattern is two modules per
semester. Students are required to take a foundation module in semester 1 (PHL4700:
Kant and the Aesthetic Tradition), and at least one other designated module.
The programme is one year full-time, two years part-time.
The Postgraduate Diploma requires 120 credit points; the Postgraduate Certificate
requires 60 credit points. Attendance at Research Skills seminars is a requirement of the
dissertation module.
12.2 Levels and modules. This section should contain a more detailed description levelby-level of the programme structure, modules and credits. All modules should be
categorised as compulsory or optional.
Level 4
COMPULSORY3
OPTIONAL4
PROGRESSION
REQUIREMENTS
Students must take both of
the following:
Students should also
choose 3 modules from the
following list (recommended
options are in bold):
Students must have
submitted 120 credit
points of coursework at
the point of submission of
the Dissertation
PHL4700 (30 credit points)
PHL4771 (30 credit points)
PHL4795
(60 credit points)
PHL4757 (30 credit points)
PHL4921 (30 credit points)
PHL4827 (30 credit points)
PHL4866 (30 credit points)
PHL4901 (30 credit points)
PHL4912 (30 credit points)
3
Compulsory modules are those that must be taken, that is, the qualification cannot be made unless these modules have
been successfully completed. Each of these modules makes a unique contribution to the learning objectives of the
programme.
4
Optional modules are those from which a specified minimum number must be taken, that is, the qualification cannot be
given unless this specified minimum number of optional modules have been successfully completed. Each of the possible
combinations of optional modules will make a similarly unique contribution to the achievement of the learning objectives of
the programme.
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
37
12.3 Non-compensatable modules. Modules may additionally be designated noncompensatable.
Module level
Module code
13. A curriculum map relating learning outcomes to modules
See Curriculum Map attached.
14. Criteria for admission to the Programme
Applicants should normally hold a good (2.1 or above) undergraduate degree in a
relevant subject or have appropriate professional experience. Careful consideration will
be given to other types of applicant on an individual basis.
UK and most EU applicants are interviewed. Telephone interviews are used for overseas
applicants where appropriate. Applicants whose first language is not English should
provide IELTS results of 6.5 or higher.
15. Information about assessment regulations
See the Middlesex University Guide and regulations.
Modules may be self-deferred OTHER THAN PHL4700 and PHL4795; students seeking
to defer PHL4700 and PHL4795 must consult the assessment administrator
16. Indicators of quality
4. Philosophy at Middlesex was awarded a 2.8 in RAE2008 and a 5 (on the old scale)
in RAE2001. Philosophy was awarded 23 in its Teaching Quality Assessment review
in 2001. The Review Team report drew attention to the quality of this programme.
5. External Examiner Reports.
6. Graduate destinations
17. Specialised support for learning (if applicable)
Students who are returning to HE after some years and students whose first language is
not English are especially encouraged to use the Learning Support Facilities provided by
ILRS.
Campus Student Office offering on-site counselling, careers advice and disability support
services
E-mail access to tutors
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
38
18. Methods for evaluating and improving the quality and standards of learning
External examiners reports
Boards of Study
Annual Monitoring Reports
Student feedback questionnaires
Module feedback forms
tutor group meetings
19. Placement opportunities, requirements and support (if applicable)
N/A
20. Future careers: how the programme supports graduates’ future career
development (if applicable)
A successful student on the MA Aesthetics and Art Theory has acquired the intellectual
basis necessary to progress to a Research Degree in Aesthetics and/or Art Theory. The
degree also supports career development in a wide variety of professions in which
knowledge of the arts and the intellectual skills of textual interpretation, analysis,
criticism and argument are required – such as arts administration, education, journalism,
psychotherapy and publishing.
21. Other information
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
39
Curriculum map for MA AESTHETICS AND ART THEORY
This section shows the highest level at which programme outcomes are to be achieved by all graduates, and maps programme learning outcomes
against the modules in which they are assessed.
Programme outcomes – highest level to be achieved by all graduates
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Module Title
A6
A7
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
D1
Module Code Programme outcomes
by Level
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 D4
D5
Kant and the Aesthetic
Tradition
PHL4700
Post-Kantian Aesthetics
PHL4771
x
x
Modernism and
Contemporary Art Theory
PHL4757
x
Commodification &
Subjectivation
PHL4921
Nietzsche and Heidegger
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
PHL4827
x
x
x
Political Ontology
PHL4912
x
x
Recent French Philosophy
PHL4866
x
Concepts of Critique
PHL4901
x
Dissertation
PHL4795
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
72
x
x
x
D2
D6
x
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
Programme learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
Practical skills
A1
The main concepts introduced and discussed by
Immanuel Kant in his Critique of Judgement and debates
about them
C1
Communicate ideas and arguments
A2
The formative role of Kant‟s Critique of Judgement within
the 19th and 20th – century aesthetic tradition
C2
Use libraries effectively
A3
The main ideas of two or more other major thinkers within
the post-Kantian tradition of European aesthetics as set
down in canonical texts
C3
Conduct research and communicate its results
A4
The distinctive features and modes of argumentation and
presentation in the post-Kantian aesthetic tradition
A5
Key concepts in contemporary art-theory
Cognitive skills
Transferable Skills
B1
Capacity to interpret intellectually challenging texts
D1
Personal & Career Development
B2
Capacity to extract and critically evaluate essential
arguments from complex texts
D2
Effective Learning
B3
Capacity to write clearly about complex matters
D3
Communication
B4
Capacity to respond lucidly to uncertainty
D4
Teamwork
B5
Capacity to combine questions of philosophical aesthetics
developed within the European tradition since Kant with
questions of contemporary art and art-theory
D5
Information Technology
D6
Numeracy
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
73
MA Philosophy and Contemporary
Critical Theory
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
74
Pattern
2009/10
MA PHILOSOPHY & CONTEMPORARY CRITICAL
THEORY
30 credit points
PHL 4901
Concepts of Critique
+ 90 credit points from the modules below, prior to the dissertation, including at least
30 credit points from designated modules
Designated
Options
30 credit points
PHL 4771
Post-Kantian Aesthetics
30 credit points
PHL 4821
Hegel and his Legacy
20 credit points
PHL 4827
Nietzsche and
Heidegger
30 credit points
PHL 4912
Political Ontology
30 credit points
PHL 4866
Recent French Philosophy
30 credit points
PHL 4921
Commodification and
Subjectivation
30 credit points
PHL 4757
Modernism and
Contemporary Art Theory
(Wednesday)
60 credit points
PHL 4990
Dissertation
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
75
Structure, 2009/10
MA PHILOSOPHY & CONTEMPORARY CRITICAL THEORY – FULL-TIME
All modules run in the early evening unless otherwise stated.
KEY
Compulsory
Designated
Options from MA Modern European
Philosophy and MA Aesthetics and Art Theory
Autumn
Term
Spring
Term
2 of:
30 credit points
PHL 4821
Hegel and his Legacy
30 credit points
PHL 4901
Concepts of Critique
(Wednesday afternoon)
30 credit points
PHL 4912
Political
Ontology
(Wednesday
afternoon)
Summer
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
AND
(Wednesday)
OR
30 credit points
PHL 4757
Modernism and
Contemporary Art Theory
(Tuesday)
30 credit points
PHL 4921
Commodification
30 credit points
PHL 4866
Recent French
Philosophy
30 credit points
PHL 4827
Nietzsche and
Heidegger
30 credit points
PHL 4771
Post-Kantian
Aesthetics
(Tuesday)
(Tuesday)
(Wednesday)
(Wednesday)
60 credit points
PHL 4990
Dissertation
76
MA PHILOSOPHY & CONTEMPORARY CRITICAL THEORY - PART TIME
All modules run in the early evening, unless otherwise stated.
Compulsory
KEY
Designated
Options
30 credit points
PHL 4901
Autumn
Term
Concepts of
Critique
(Wednesday
pm)
Year 1
Year 2
30 credit points
PHL 4821
Hegel & his Legacy
(Wednesday)
Autumn
Term
OR
30 credit points
PHL 4757
Modernism and Contemporary Art
Theory
(Tuesday)
Spring
Term
Spring
Term
30 credit
30 points
credit
PHL
4921
points
Commodification
Commodification
PHL 4921
(Tues)
(Tues)
Summer
30 credit
30 credit
30 credit
points
points
points
30 credit
30PHL
credit4866
30PHL
credit
4912
PHL 4827
points
points
points
French
Political
Nietzsche
PHL
4827
PHL
4866
PHL
4912
Philosophy
Ontology
and
OR
OR
OR
OR
OR
OROR
Nietzsche OR
French
Political
Heidegger
and
Philosophy
Ontology
(Tues)
(Weds pm)
Heidegger
(Weds)
(Tues)
(Weds pm)
(Weds)
60 credit points
PHL 4795
Dissertation
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
30 credit
points
30PHL
credit
4771
points
PostPHLKantian
4771
Aesthetics
PostKantian
(Weds)
Aesthetics
(Weds)
77
Module Information
MA PHILOSOPHY & CONTEMPORARY CRITICAL THEORY
Code
Title
Term
Day
Campus
PHL4901
Concepts of Critique
Autumn
Weds (pm)
TPK
PHL4821
Hegel and his Legacy
Autumn
Weds
TPK
PHL4912
Political Ontology
Spring
Weds (pm)
TPK
PHL4921
Commodification and Subjectivation Spring
Tues
TPK
PHL4990
Dissertation
Summer
TPK
Options
PHL4757
Modernism and Art Theory
Autumn
Tues
TPK
PHL4827
Nietzsche and Heidegger
Spring
Weds
TPK
PHL4866
Recent French Philosophy
Spring
Tues
TPK
PHL4771
Post-Kantian Aesthetics
Spring
Weds
TPK
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
78
Module Narratives:
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
MA Philosophy and Contemporary Critical
Theory
PHL4901
Concepts of Critique
30
Aims
A historical and philosophical introduction to the two main 20th-century traditions of
Critical Theory: the Frankfurt School and French anti-humanism. The module focuses on
competing interpretations of the concepts of critique and enlightenment in Horkheimer
and Adorno, Althusser, Foucault, and Butler.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Knowledge of the main features of the German and French traditions of critical theory
and of the role of Kantian philosophy in their formation; in particular, familiarity with
various Marxist and post-Marxist concepts of critique and enlightenment and the
problems associated with them.
Skills:
Development of the 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.
Syllabus
After an initial overview of the concepts of critique and enlightenment proposed by Kant
and Marx, the course will analyse and critically compare the positions advanced by
Horkheimer, Adorno, Althusser, Foucault, and Butler.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on key themes and problems in the set texts, individual tutorials
and private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay.
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
Theodor W. Adorno, 'Critique', in Critical Models (New York: Columbia University Press,
1998).
Louis Althusser, 'Contradiction and Overdetermination', in For Marx (London: Verso,
1990).
――, 'Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses' Lenin and Philosophy and Other
Essays, London, New Left Books, 1971.
Judith Butler, 'Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire', in Gender Trouble: Feminism and the
Subversion of Identity (London: Routledge, 1990), ch. 1.
----. 'Subjection, Resistance, Resignification: Between Freud and Foucault', in Butler,
The Psychic Life of Power (Stanford University Press, 1997), ch. 3.
Michel Foucault, 'What is Critique'?, in Sylvère Lotringer and Lysa Hochroth eds., The
Politics of Truth (New York: Semiotext(e), 1997).
――, 'What is Enlightenment' in Paul Rabinow ed., The Foucault Reader (New York:
Pantheon Books, 1984).
――, 'Nietzsche, Genealogy, 'in The Foucault Reader (New York: Pantheon Books,
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
79
1984);
――, The Order of Things (London: Tavistock, 1970), chapters 9 & 10;
Jürgen Habermas, 'Taking Aim at the Heart of the Present: On Foucault's Essay on
Kant's 'What is Enlightenment'?, in Foucault: A Critical Reader, ed. David Couzens Hoy
(Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986).
Max Horkheimer, 'Traditional and Critical Theory', in Critical Theory (NY: Herder
&Herder, 1972).
Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, 'The Concept of Enlightenment' in Dialectic of
Enlightenment (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002).
Immanuel Kant, 'What is Enlightenment'? in his Perpetual Peace and Other Essays
(Indianapolis: Hackett, 1983).
Georg Lukács, 'Reification and the Consciousness of the Proletariat', in History and
Class Consciousness (London: Merlin Press, 1971.
Karl Marx, Selected Writings, ed. David McLellan (Oxford: OUP, 2000, 2nd ed.).
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Peter
2009/
Hallward 2010
Peter
2010/
Hallward 2011
Peter
2011/
Hallward 2012
Autumn
TPK28-SEPTrent
109 / 18Park
Term
DEC-09
Campus
20
Autumn
TPK27-SEPTrent
110 / 17Park
Term
DEC-10
Campus
20
Autumn
TPK26-SEPTrent
111 / 16Park
Term
DEC-11
Campus
20
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
80
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4821
Hegel and his Legacy
30
Aims
An critical examination of the main features of Hegel's thought through discussion of his
Phenomenology of Spirit and related texts. Topics include: the critique of Kant's
epistemology; phenomenological and dialectical methods; dialectics of consciousness
and self-consciousness; desire and recognition; freedom and autonomy; spirit as ethical
life.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Familiarity with the distinctive methodology, arguments, claims and problems of Hegel's
approach and contribution to philosophy; knowledge of the origins of the key
methodological issues in Modern European philosophy.
Skills:
Further development of the skills of close textual analysis; comprehension, interpretation
and criticism of philosophical arguments; ability to understand and deploy 'dialectical'
thinking.
Syllabus
Beginning with an account of Hegel's celebrated critique of Kant, the first half of the
course will deal with the basic concepts of Hegel's phenomenological and dialectical
method and his epistemology. We will then proceed to an examination of the concepts of
self-consciousness and mutual recognition in the 'Master/Slave' dialectic, the 'beautiful
soul', and the ethics of recognition. The module concludes with a discussion of 'absolute
knowing'.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit,, individual tutorials and
private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
Main Text
G.W.F. Hegel, The Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A. V. Miller, Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1977.
Secondary Reading
Frederick Beiser (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Hegel, Cambridge: CUP, 1993.
H.S. Harris, Hegel: Phenomenology and System, Indianapolis/Cambridge, Hackett,
1995.
D.K. Keenan (ed.), Hegel and Contemporary Continental Philosophy, New York: SUNY,
2004.
Alexandre Kojève, Introduction to the Reading of Hegel, trans. J. Nichols, Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1980.
Terry Pinkard, Hegel's Phenomenology: The Sociality of Reason, Cambridge: CUP,
1996.
Terry Pinkard, Hegel: A Biography Cambridge: CUP, 2000.
Robert Pippin, Hegel's Idealism, Cambridge: CUP. 1987.
Gillian Rose, Hegel Contra Sociology, London: Athlone, 1982.
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
81
Robert Stern, Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, London and New York, Routledge,
2004.
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Peter
2009/
Hallward 2010
Peter
2010/
Hallward 2011
Autumn
TPK28-SEPTrent
109 / 18Park
Term
DEC-09
Campus
25
Autumn
TPK27-SEPTrent
110 / 17Park
Term
DEC-10
Campus
25
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
82
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4912
Political Ontology
30
Aims
This module offers a comparative examination of recent work in contemporary political
philosophy, focusing in particular on two landmark texts of post-1968 (and postSpinozist) political thought: Deleuze and Guattari's Capitalism and Schizophrenia, and
Antonio Negri's Insurgencies. The course will consider (i) the essentially affirmative
ontological orientation of Deleuze and Guattari's project and its consequent distance
from a critical conception of philosophy; (ii) the implications of Deleuze and Guattari's
refusal of any concept of transcendence and representation, including the concepts they
associate with conventional understandings of history, capitalism, and psychoanalysis;
(iii) Negri's concepts of constituent power, insurgency and the state.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Familiarity with the main problems and concepts of Capitalism and Schizophrenia, in
particular with its ontological and political aspects, and with Negri's theories of
insurgency and constituent power.
Skills:
Further developments of the skills of close textual analysis; comprehension,
interpretation and criticism of philosophical argument; ability to reflect on the relationship
between philosophy and socio-political criticism.
Syllabus
Discussion of Capitalism and Schizophrenia will focus on the concepts or processes of
becoming, desiring production, deterritorialisation, schizoanalysis, and on Deleuze and
Guattari's critique of transcendence, representation, signification, psychoanalysis, and
capitalism. When the course turns to Negri, it will focus on notions of sovereignty and
bio-power; models of resistance and insurgency; recent conceptions of history,
capitalism, and globalisation.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on Deleuze and Guattari's Capitalism and Schizophrenia and
Negri's Insurgencies, individual tutorials and private study. Emphasis is placed on
seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
83
Learning Materials
Main Texts
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Capitalism and Schizophrenia Volume 1 (AntiOedipus) and Volume 2 (A Thousand Plateaus), (London, 'Continuum Impacts', 2004).
Antonio Negri, Insurgencies: Constituent Power and the Modern State (Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1999)
Secondary Reading
Ronald Bogue, Deleuze and Guattari (New York: Routledge, 1989).
Constantin V. Boundas & Dorothea Olkowski, Gilles Deleuze and the Theatre of
Philosophy (New York and London: Routledge, 1994)
Eugene W. Holland, Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus: Introduction to Schizoanalysis
(London: Routledge, 1999)
Brian Massumi, A User's Guide to Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Cambridge, MIT
Press, 1992)
Antonio Negri & Michael Hardt, Empire (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2000)
――, Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire (New York: Penguin, 2004)
Ellen Meiskins Wood, Empire of Capital (London: Verso, 2003).
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Eric
Alliez
Eric
Alliez
2009/
2010
2010/
2011
Spring
TPK11-JANTrent
110 / 23Park
Term
APR-10
Campus
20
Spring
TPK10-JANTrent
111 / 22Park
Term
APR-11
Campus
20
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
84
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4921
Commodification and Subjectivation
30
Aims
An examination of the contrasting interpretations of the concept of the subject in Marx's
Capital in the Frankfurt School and French anti-humanist traditions, and their
significance for art theory. Central concepts include commodity form, value, abstraction
and fetishism; structure, bearer, interpellation, subjection and subjectivation.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Familiarity with the mains features of the approach to the concept of the subject in the
French and German Marxist traditions in critical theory; in particular, the concepts of
commodity form, value, fetishism, structure, bearer, subjection and subjectivation; and
their application to art theory.
Skills:
Further development of the skills of close textual analysis; comprehension,
reconstruction and interpretation of philosophical arguments; an ability to situate and
assess such arguments in the context of the history of social philosophy and art theory;
ability to discuss them critically.
Syllabus
Following a brief consideration of the pre-history of recent debates about the subject in
18th- and 19th-century European philosophy, the module will focus on the reception of
the Marx's analysis of the value-form, its relation to the discourses of actual abstraction,
fetishism, interpellation, subjectivation and subjection; and their place in art theory.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on key themes and problems in the set texts, individual tutorials
and private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
Main Texts
Karl Marx, 'Theses on Feuerbach' in Early Writings (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975).
-------------, Capital, Volume 1 (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976).
Secondary Reading
Theodor W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory (London: Athlone Press, 1997)
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
85
------------------------- 'On Subject and Object', in Critical Models (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1998)
Louis Althusser and Etienne Balibar, Reading Capital (London: New Left Books, 1970)
extract.
Etienne Balibar, 'Citizen Subject' in E. Cadava et al (eds), Who Comes After the
Subject? (New York and London: Routledge, 1991)
-------------------, 'Subjection and Subjectivation' in Joan Copjec (ed.), Supposing the
Subject, (London and New York: Verso, 1994)
--------------------, The Philosophy of Marx (London and New York: Verso, 1995)
Judith Butler, The Psychic Life of Power: Theories in Subjection (Stanford: Stanford UP,
1997)
Michel Foucault, 'The Subject and Power', Afterword to Hubert Dreyfus & Paul Rabinow,
Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics (Herts.: Harvester, 1982).
--------------------, Remarks on Marx (New York: Semiotext(e), 1991)
William Pietz, 'The Problem of the Fetish', Pts 1-3, in Res 9, 13 and 16 (1985,
1987, 1988)
Moshe Postone, Time, Labour and Social Domination (CUP, 1993), Pt 2.
Slavoj Zizek, The Ticklish Subject: The Absent Centre of Political Ontology (London and
New York, 1999)
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Stella
2009/
Sandford 2010
Peter
2010/
Osborne 2011
Spring
TPK11-JANTrent
110 / 23Park
Term
APR-10
Campus
20
Spring
TPK10-JANTrent
111 / 22Park
Term
APR-11
Campus
20
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
86
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4990
Dissertation: MA Philosophy and Contemporary Critical Theory
60
Required for MA Philosophy & Contemporary Critical Theory:
Other Restrictions
Involves compulsory research skills seminar & approval of
and Requirements
dissertation project.
Pre-requisites
PHL4901
Aims
The aim of this module is to provide students with an opportunity for intensive and
detailed, research-based study of their chosen topic within a philosophical approach to
contemporary critical theory under the guidance of an appropriate supervisor.
The module includes a series of Research Skills seminars which develop in more detail
the skills first presented in PHL4901. Participation in these seminars is an integral part of
the module.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:


Familiarity with the distinctive features, issues and problems of a particular topic
within philosophy and contemporary critical theory
Location of the topic in relation to current academic discussions.
Skills:





Further developments of the skills of close textual analysis
Comprehension, reconstruction and interpretation of philosophical arguments
An ability to undertake independent library research
Ability to provide an independent and critical treatment of a clearly defined area
of academic discussion
Ability to produce a sustained, coherent and appropriately presented written
discourse (12,000-15,000 words, including all footnotes) on a single topic.
Syllabus






As agreed with the supervisor, supplemented by a series of four Research Skills
seminars.
The first seminar, normally held in early May, deals with the formulation of a
dissertation proposal and the composition of an outline.
A second seminar deals with bibliographical and information technology issues
(internet and database searches).
A third seminar provides an overview of editing and copyright law.
A final seminar involves the oral presentation and review of every student's
dissertation proposal, and normally takes place in early June.
MA supervisors will reinforce aspects of the research skills seminars when they
meet with students individually during the latter part of the spring Term.
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
87
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies



Research skills seminars, oral presentation of proposal, individual supervision
and private, library-based study.
Exact contact hours may be varied in the light of the number of students
registered and other relevant factors.
Students receive formative assessment from staff during the oral presentation of
their dissertation proposals.
ASSESSMENT SCHEME
Dissertation of 12,000 to 15,000 words (100%). Viva voce examination may be required
and may also be offered.
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
CORE TEXTS
As agreed with the supervisor.
Total Notional Learning Hours
600
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Peter
2009/
Hallward 2010
Summer
TPK03-MAYTrent
LO10 / 24- 20
Park
Long
SEP-10
Campus
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
88
OPTIONS
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4771
Post-Kantian Aesthetics
30
Aims
An examination of post-Kantian aesthetics in the light of the role played by early German
Romanticism in recent philosophical and art-theoretical debates, with particular
reference to contemporary French philosophy.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Knowledge of the main features of post-Kantian aesthetics with particular reference to
early German Romanticism and its role in recent philosophical and art-theoretical
debates in France.
Skills:
Development of the 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 art and to discuss them critically.
Syllabus
Study of major texts by Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Friedrich Schlegel and G.W.F. Hegel,
in the light of recent writings by the French philosophers Alain Badiou, Gilles Deleuze,
Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jacques Rancière. Topics include: the ontology of the
artwork, the theory of colour, the Romantic sublime, the relationship of aesthetics to
politics. There will also be discussion of Romantic painting.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on key themes and problems in the set texts, individual tutorials
and private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay.
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
Romanticism
J.W. Goethe, Theory of Colours, Cambridge MA and London: MIT Press, 1970.
Friedrich Schiller, On the Aesthetic Education of Man, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967;
1982.
T. Schulte-Sasse et al (eds), Theory as Practice: A Critical Anthology of Early German
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
89
Romantic Writings, Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 1997.
G.W.F. Hegel, Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975.
French Philosophy
Alain Badiou, Handbook of Inaesthetics, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005.
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, 'Plateau 11: 1837 - Of the Refrain', in A Thousand
Plateaus, London: Athlone, 1988.
J.-F. Lyotard, Lessons on the Analytic of the Sublime, Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1994.
J.-F. Lyotard, The Inhuman : Reflections on Time, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991
Jacques Rancière, The Politics of Aesthetics: The Distribution of the Sensible,
Continuum, 2004
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Eric
Alliez
2009/
2010
Spring
TPK11-JANTrent
110 / 23Park
Term
APR-10
Campus
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
90
20
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4827
Nietzsche and Heidegger
30
Aims
This course will examine the relationship between Nietzsche's critique of metaphysics as
the manifestation of an ascetic 'will to truth' and Heidegger's project of 'dismantling' and
'overcoming' metaphysics in light of a renewal of the question of being.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Familiarity with the distinctive features, issues and problems of Nietzsche's and
Heidegger's conceptions of truth, being, metaphysics and nihilism through knowledge of
key texts.
Skills:
Further developments of the skills of close textual analysis; comprehension,
reconstruction and interpretation of philosophical arguments; an ability to situate such
arguments in the context of the history of philosophy and to discuss them critically.
Syllabus
We will disentangle the distinct philosophical agendas at stake in the Nietzschean and
Heideggerian critiques of metaphysics by paying particular attention to the role played by
the project of fundamental ontology in Heidegger's critical relationship to the
metaphysical tradition. Topics include: time, history, knowledge, nihilism, perspectivism,
phenomenology, will to power, eternal recurrence.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on Nietzsche and Heidegger, individual tutorials and private
study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
Main Texts
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power, Ed. Walter Kaufmann, Vintage, 1967.
______, Twilight of the Idols, Tr. R. J. Hollingdale, Penguin, 1990
______, On the Genealogy of Morality and Other Writings, Ed. and Trans. K. A. Pearson,
C. Diethe, R. Geuss, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, Tr. E. Macquarrie and J. Robinson, Blackwell, 1962.
______, 'The Word of Nietzsche: God is Dead' in The Question Concerning Technology
and Other Essays. Trans. William Lovitt, New York, Harper & Row, 1977
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______, What Is Called Thinking? Trans. J. Glenn Gray, New York, Harper & Row, 1968.
______, Nietzsche. Vol. II: The Eternal Recurrence of the Same; Vol. IV: Nihilism, Ed. D.
F. Krell, Harper San Francisco, 1991.
Secondary Reading
D. B. Allison (Ed.), The New Nietzsche, MIT Press, 1985.
Keith Ansell-Pearson and Howard Caygill (Eds.), The Fate of the New Nietzsche,
Avebury, 1993
Keith Ansell-Pearson (Ed.), Nietzsche and Modern German Thought, Routledge, 1991
Michel Foucault, 'Nietzsche, Genealogy, History' in Language, Counter-Memory,
Practice, Ithaca, Cornell, 1977
Gilles Deleuze, Nietzsche and Philosophy, Trans. H. Tomlinson, Continuum, 2005.
Gilles Deleuze, 'Plato and the Simulacrum' in The Logic of Sense, Tr. M. Lester and C.
Boundas, Continuum, 2005.
R. Havas 'Who is Heidegger's Nietzsche?', in Heidegger: A Critical Reader, Dreyfus,
Hubert (ed). Cambridge, Blackwell, 1992.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosophy and Truth: Selections from Nietzsche's Notebooks of the
early 1870's. Ed. and Trans. Daniel Breazeale. Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey:
Humanities Press, 1979.
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Christian 2009/
Kerslake 2010
Christian 2010/
Kerslake 2011
Spring
TPK11-JANTrent
110 / 23Park
Term
APR-10
Campus
25
Spring
TPK10-JANTrent
111 / 22Park
Term
APR-11
Campus
25
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
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Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4866
Recent French Philosophy
30
Aims
Guided study of two or three major works of twentieth-century French philosophy,
focusing each year on the work of two related thinkers. Possible topics include: Sartre or
de Beauvoir's existentialism, Levinasian ethics, Merleau-Ponty's theory of embodied
perception, Foucault's theory of power, Derrida's practice of deconstruction, Deleuze's
conception of difference, Badiou's concepts of the subject and truth. In 2009-10 the
module will study Sartre's Being and Nothingness together with Badiou's Being and
Event.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Familiarity with the distinctive features, issues and problems of Sartre and Badiou's
conceptions of subjectivity, ontology and politics.
Skills:
Further development of the 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 history of philosophy, on the one hand, and of recent political
developments, on the other.
Syllabus
The module will divide into two halves. The first half will consider Sartre's conception of
consciousness and freedom, along with his notions of negation, situation, alterity, bad
faith and transcendence. The second half will focus on Badiou's post-Lacanian
conception of the subject, his non-Heideggerian conception of being, and his antiDeleuzian conception of politics and the event. The course will also consider Sartre's
influence on Badiou, and the degree to which Badiou is able to combine aspects of
existentialism and anti-humanist structuralism as complementary facets of a new theory
of militant praxis and truth.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on Sartre's Being and Nothingness, Badiou's Being and Event,
individual tutorials and private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay.
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
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Main Texts
Alain Badiou, Being and Event, trans. Oliver Feltham (London, Continuum, 2006)
______, Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil (London: Verso, 2001)
Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, trans. Hazel Barnes (London: Routledge
Classics, 2003) (Students should be sure to use this edition of the text).
Secondary Reading
Paul Ashton et al, eds., The Philosophy of Alain Badiou, special issue of Cosmos &
History 2:1-2 (2006).
Ronald Aronson, Sartre's Second Critique (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987)
Alain Badiou, Polemics (London: Verso, 2006)
______, Infinite Thought: Truth and the Return to Philosophy (London: Continuum,
2003)
______, Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism (Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 2003)
______, Theoretical Writings (London, Continuum, 2004)
Jason Barker, Alain Badiou: A Critical Introduction (London: Pluto, 2002).
Bruno Bosteels, Badiou and the Political (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007).
Joseph S. Catalano, A Commentary of Jean-Paul Sartre's Critique of Dialectical Reason
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987)
Andrew Dobson, Jean-Paul Sartre and the Politics of Reason (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1993).
Peter Hallward, Badiou: A Subject to Truth (Minneapolis: Minnesota Press, 2003).
______, ed. Think Again: Badiou and the Future of Philosophy(London: Continuum
2004).
Christina Howells, Sartre: The Necessity of Freedom (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1988).
Claude Lévi-Strauss, The Savage Mind, chapter 10 (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1968).
Mark Poster, Sartre's Marxism (London: Pluto Press, 1979).
Gabriel Riera, ed., Alain Badiou: Philosophy and its Conditions (Albany: SUNY, 2004).
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Peter
2009/
Hallward 2010
Peter
2010/
Hallward 2011
Spring
TPK11-JANTrent
110 / 23Park
Term
APR-10
Campus
20
Spring
TPK10-JANTrent
111 / 22Park
Term
APR-11
Campus
20
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
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Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
95
Module Code
Module Title
Credit
PHL4757
Modernism and Contemporary Art Theory
30
Aims
An examination of the legacy of modernist criticism in contemporary art theory, with
particular reference to the writings of Theodor W. Adorno, Benjamin H. Buchloh, Peter
Bürger, Clement Greenberg, and Rosalind Krauss.
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge:
Familiarity with the distinctive features, issues and problems of the tradition of modernist
criticism, and its legacy in contemporary art theory, through knowledge of writing by
major figures in the European and US traditions.
Skills:
Textual, conceptual, aesthetic and historical analysis; reflection on the relationship of
critical discourse to cultural experience.
Syllabus
An examination of competing conceptions of modernism in the writings of Clement
Greenberg, Thierry de Duve and Theodor W. Adorno is followed by a study of the legacy
of historical criticism in the work of the October theorists Rosalind Krauss and Benjamin
H. Buchloh. Particular attention will be paid to: the contrast between 'medium-specific'
and 'generic' modernisms; theorizations and periodisations of the avant-garde;
institutional critique; current debates about the nominalism of contemporary art and the
'post-medium' condition.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategies
Lectures and seminars on key themes and problems in the set texts, individual tutorials
and private study. Emphasis is placed on seminar-based discussion.
Assessment Scheme
Assessment is 20% by a 1,500-word exercise and 80% by a 3,000-word essay.
Assessment Weighting
Coursework: 100%
Learning Materials
T. W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory, Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press,1997.
Benjamin Buchloh, Neo-Avant Garde and Culture Industry Cambridge MA and London:
MIT Press, 2001.
Peter Burger, Theory of the Avant-Garde, Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press,
1984.
Thierry de Duve, Kant After Duchamp, Cambridge MA and London: MIT Press, 1996.
Hal Foster et al, Art Since 1900: Modernism, Anti-modernism, Postmodernism, London:
Thames and Hudson, 2004.
Clement Greenberg, Collected Writings Vols., 1 and 4, Chicago: Chicago University
Press 1986, 1993.
Rosalind Krauss, The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths,
Cambridge MA and London: MIT Press, 1985
Rosalind Krauss, 'A Voyage on the North Sea': Art in the Age of The Post-Medium
Condition, London: Thames and Hudson, 2002.
Total Notional Learning Hours
300
MODULE RUNS
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
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Future
Part
Max Nr
Module
Start/End
Academic Semester Campus of
of
Leader
Dates
Year
Term
Students
Stewart 2009/
Martin 2010
Autumn
TPK28-SEPTrent
109 / 18Park
Term
DEC-09
Campus
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
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20
Programme Specification
MA PHILOSOPHY AND CONTEMPORARY CRITICAL THEORY
1. Awarding institution
Middlesex University
2. Teaching institution
Middlesex University
3. Programme accredited by
N/A
4. Final qualification
MA
5. Programme title
Philosophy and Contemporary Critical
Theory
6. JACS code (or other relevant coding
system)
N/A
7. Relevant QAA subject benchmark
group(s)
Philosophy
8. Academic Year
2009-10
9. Reference points
The following reference points were used in designing the programme:
Philosophy Benchmark Statement
Middlesex University Guide and Regulations http://www.mdx.ac.uk/regulations/
Middlesex University Guidelines for the Generation and Use of Level Descriptions
Middlesex University Learning and Teaching policies and strategy, the Strategic Plan
and the Student Charter
Student, Staff, External Examiners and Graduates feedback and comments
10. Aims of the programme
The programme aims to develop:
Knowledge and understanding of Contemporary Critical Theory and of its relationship to
19th- and 20th-century European philosophy in the post-Kantian tradition.
General philosophical skills of interpretation, analysis, criticism and argument
Ability to reflect upon the philosophical aspects of contemporary cultural and political
issues.
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
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11. Programme outcomes* - the programme offers opportunities for students to
achieve and demonstrate the following learning outcomes. The highest level at
which these programme outcomes are to be achieved by all graduates is shown in
the curriculum map section.
A. Knowledge and understanding
Teaching/learning methods
On completion of this programme the
successful student will have knowledge
and understanding of:
Students gain knowledge and
understanding through:
1. The central features of the two main
traditions in 20th-century Critical Theory
and debates about them.
2. seminars
2. The formative role of the post-Kantian
philosophical tradition (especially
Hegel and Nietzsche) in Critical
Theory.
4. reading
3. The main ideas and arguments of two
or more major thinkers within the postKantian tradition of European
philosophy as set down in canonical
texts.
Students‟ knowledge and understanding is
assessed by
1. lectures
3. tutorials
5. library-based research
Assessment
100% coursework
1. essays
4. Key concepts in Critical Theory.
2. dissertation
B. Cognitive (thinking) skills
Teaching/learning methods
On completion of this programme the
successful student will be able to:
Students learn cognitive skills through:
1. interpret and analyse complex and
difficult philosophical texts
2. seminars
2. assess the arguments presented in
such texts
4. reading
1. lectures
3. tutorials
3. recognize methodological errors,
rhetorical devices and unnoticed
assumptions
5. library-based research
4. consider and critically examine
unfamiliar ideas
Assessment
6. research skills sessions
Students‟ cognitive skills are assessed by
100% coursework
1. essays
2. dissertation
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C. Practical skills
Teaching/learning methods
On completion of this programme the
successful student will be able to:
Students learn practical skills through:
1. organize learning and research through
self-management
2. tutorials
1. seminars
2. communicate ideas and arguments
3. library-based research
4. writing essays and dissertation
3. use libraries effectively
Assessment
Students‟ practical skills are assessed by
100% coursework
1. essays
2. dissertation
D.4. Transferable Skills
Teaching/learning methods
On completion of this programme the
successful student will be able to
demonstrate:
Students learn transferable skills through:
1. lectures
2. seminars
1. personal development skills
2. effective learning, communication and
teamwork skills
3. effective, appropriate information
technology and numeracy skills
4. mastery of a complex and specialized
area of knowledge and skills
5. ability to conduct research and
communicate its results
6. ability to accept accountability for
decision-making, including use of
supervision
3. tutorials
4. reading
5. library-based research
6. research skills sessions
7. writing essays and dissertation
Assessment
Students‟ postgraduate skills are assessed
by 100% coursework:
1. essays
2. dissertation
12. Programme structure and requirements, levels, modules, credits and qualifications
12. 1 Overall structure of the programme
All modules are allocated credit under the Middlesex Academic credit Scheme (MACS) and the
number and level of credit points is specified for the range of awards.
Students on the MA Philosophy and Contemporary Critical Theory take 180 credit points at level
4, including a dissertation of 60 credit points. The other 120 credits are taken as four 30-credit
modules. All modules are semester-length. The full-time pattern is two modules per semester.
Students are required to take a foundation module in semester 1 (PHL4901: Concepts of
Critique), and at least one other designated module.
The programme is one year full-time, two years part-time.
The Postgraduate Diploma requires 120 credit points; the Postgraduate Certificate requires 60
credit points. Attendance at Research Skills seminars is a requirement of the dissertation module.
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
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12.2 Levels and modules. This section should contain a more detailed description level-by-level
of the programme structure, modules and credits. All modules should be categorised as
compulsory or optional.
Level 4
COMPULSORY5
OPTIONAL6
PROGRESSION REQUIREMENTS
Students must take both
of the following:
Students should also
choose 3 modules from the
following list (recommended
options are in bold):
Students must have submitted 120
credit points of coursework at the
point of submission of the Dissertation
PHL4901 (30 credit
points)
PHL4990
(60 credit points)
PHL4912
(30 credit points)
PHL4921
(30 credit points)
PHL4821
(30 credit points)
PHL4771 (30 credit points)
PHL4827 (30 credit points)
PHL4866 (30 credit points)
PHL4757 (30 credit points)
12.3 Non-compensatable modules. Modules may additionally be designated noncompensatable.
Module level
Module code
13. A curriculum map relating learning outcomes to modules
See Curriculum Map attached.
5
Compulsory modules are those that must be taken, that is, the qualification cannot be made unless these modules have
been successfully completed. Each of these modules makes a unique contribution to the learning objectives of the
programme.
6
Optional modules are those from which a specified minimum number must be taken, that is, the qualification cannot be
given unless this specified minimum number of optional modules have been successfully completed. Each of the possible
combinations of optional modules will make a similarly unique contribution to the achievement of the learning objectives of
the programme.
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101
14. Criteria for admission to the Programme
Applicants should normally hold a good (2.1 or above) undergraduate degree in
philosophy or another subject in which philosophy has formed part of their programme,
but consideration is also given to other types of applicant on an individual basis. UK and
most EU applicants are interviewed. Telephone interviews are used for overseas
applicants where appropriate. Applicants whose first language is not English should
provide IELTS results of 6.5 or higher.
15. Information about assessment regulations
See the Middlesex University Guide and regulations.
Modules may be self-deferred OTHER THAN PHL4901 and PHL4990; students seeking
to defer PHL4901 and PHL4990 must consult the assessment administrator
16. Indicators of quality
7. Philosophy at Middlesex was awarded a 2.8 in RAE2008 and a 5 (on the old scale)
in RAE2001. Philosophy was awarded 23 in its Teaching Quality Assessment review
in 2001. The Review Team report drew attention to the quality of the MAs
programmes run by the CRMEP.
8. External Examiner Reports.
9. Graduate destinations
17. Specialised support for learning (if applicable)
Students who are returning to HE after some years and students whose first language is
not English are especially encouraged to use the Learning Support Facilities provided by
ILRS.
Campus Student Office offering on-site counselling, careers advice and disability support
services
E-mail access to tutors
18. Methods for evaluating and improving the quality and standards of learning
External examiners reports
Boards of Study
Annual Monitoring Reports
Student feedback questionnaires
Module feedback forms
tutor group meetings
19. Placement opportunities, requirements and support (if applicable)
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
102
N/A
20. Future careers: how the programme supports graduates’ future career
development (if applicable)
A successful student on the MA Philosophy and Contemporary Critical theory has
acquired the intellectual basis necessary to progress to a Research Degree in
Philosophy and/or Critical Theory. The degree also supports career development in a
wide variety of professions in which the intellectual skills of textual interpretation,
analysis, criticism and argument are required – such as arts administration, education,
journalism, law, psychotherapy, publishing and the civil service.
21. Other information
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
103
Curriculum map for MA PHILOSOPHY AND CONTEMPORARY CRITICAL THEORY
This section shows the highest level at which programme outcomes are to be achieved by all graduates, and maps programme learning outcomes
against the modules in which they are assessed.
Programme outcomes – highest level to be achieved by all graduates
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
A7
Module Title
B1
B2
B3
B4
B5
B6
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
D1
D2
Module Code by Level Programme outcomes
A1 A2 A3 A4 B1 B2 B3 B4 C1 C2 C3 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6
Concepts of Critique
PHL4901
Hegel and his Legacy
PHL4821
Political Ontology
PHL4912
Commodification and Subjectivation PHL4921
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Post-Kantian Aesthetics
PHL4771
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Nietzsche and Heidegger
PHL4827
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Recent French Philosophy
PHL4866
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Modernism & Art Theory
PHL4757
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Dissertation
PHL4990
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
104
x
x
x
D3
D4
D5
D6
D7
Programme learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
Practical skills
th
A1
The central features of the two main traditions in 20 -century
Critical Theory and debates about them.
C1
organise learning and research through self-management
A2
The formative role of the post-Kantian philosophical tradition
(especially Hegel and Nietzsche) in contemporary Critical
Theory.
C2
present and communicate ideas and arguments
A3
The main ideas and arguments of two or more major thinkers
within contemporary Critical Theory as set down in canonical
texts.
C3
use libraries and other sources of information, including information
technologies, effectively
A4
Key concepts in Critical Theory
Cognitive skills
Transferable Skills
B1
interpret and analyse complex and difficult philosophical texts
D1
personal development skills
B2
assess and construct arguments about matters of a
fundamental and abstract nature
D2
effective learning, communication and teamwork skills
B3
recognize methodological errors, rhetorical devices and
unnoticed assumptions
D3
effective, appropriate information technology and numeracy skills
B4
consider and critically examine unfamiliar ideas
D4
mastery of a complex and specialised area of knowledge and skills
D5
ability to conduct research and communicate its results
D6
ability to accept accountability for decision-making, including use of
supervision
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3. OTHER INFORMATION
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
106
Assessment Schedule for the Philosophy MA programmes
(for full-time students)
10-11 November 2009
(teaching week 7):
First Exercise (1500 words, worth 20% of the final
mark) due for core module and one other taught
module.
15-16 December 2009
(teaching week 12):
Tutorials (formative assessment).
8 January 2010:
Final essay (3000 words, worth 80% of the final mark)
due for core module and one other taught module.
23-24 February 2010
(teaching week 19):
First Exercise (1500 words, worth 20% of the final
mark) due for two taught modules.
30-31 March 2010
(teaching week 24):
Tutorials (formative assessment).
5 May 2010:
Final essay (3000 words, worth 80% of the final mark)
due for two taught modules.
May-June 2010:
Dissertation module, research skills seminars
24 September:
Dissertation submission deadline.
Learning, Teaching and Assessment
Class contact takes the form of one two-hour session per week for each module.
The use of this time will vary according to the content of particular modules, their
place within the programme, and the individual teaching strategies of different tutors.
The latter include formal lectures, staff- and student-led seminar discussions, and
student presentations. Formal lectures will be knowledge-focused. Seminar
discussions will explore the understanding of set texts and lecture materials and
develop skills of exegesis, argumentation and oral presentation. Presentations will
help students develop their own understanding of the essentials of particular texts
and topics. Students will receive individual tutorials to discuss essay topics and any
issues they may find particularly difficult on the modules, and to receive feedback on
assessed work.
These teaching strategies are designed to help achieve the learning outcomes of
the modules. Student will also learn autonomously through independent study of set
texts, library research, discussion outside the class, and writing.
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
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Assessment will focus on the learning outcomes of each module and take the
traditional form of essays and a final dissertation in which students have the
opportunity to investigate a topic of their own choosing in greater detail.
Research Training and Skills
The teaching of pertinent research skills and methods is an integral part of these
three MAs, and has been designed to meet the criteria for the provision of research
training set by the Art and Humanities Research Council. Needless to say, the
specific skills required to read and engage with philosophical texts are taught
directly through the course modules themselves. More general research training is
provided in two principal ways: the first is internal to the CRMEP, the second draws
on the resources of the university as a whole.
(a) Research training sessions are directly integrated with the schedule of the MA
as a whole, so that they take place when and as they are most needed. A
preliminary review of the basic research skills (bibliographies, referencing, the
formulation and presentation of an argument, etc.) presumed by the assessment
requirements of all the MA modules will be provided, in the first half of the first term,
as a supplement to the foundation modules for each MA. Students are later
required to attend a more substantial series of research skills seminars when they
begin to write their MA dissertation in the spring semester. Participation in these four
seminars is a requirement of the dissertation modules, and they are timetabled to
coincide directly with the preparation of the dissertation itself. They are normally
held in February, March and April. The first seminar deals with the formulation of a
dissertation proposal and the composition of an outline. A second seminar deals
with bibliographical and information technology issues (internet and database
searches). A third seminar provides an overview of editing and copyright law. A final
seminar involves the oral presentation and review of every student‟s dissertation
proposal, and normally takes place in late April. MA supervisors will reinforce
aspects of the research skills seminars when they meet with students individually
during the latter part of the spring semester.
(b) At the level of the university as a whole, students can draw on the following
resources:
1. The computing technicians at the Trent Park campus provide assistance with
the basic concepts of IT, using the computer and managing files, using
Microsoft Word, using databases, presentations (PowerPoint), spreadsheets
(Excel), Internet and Internet Explorer, scanning.
2. Detailed presentations of basic study skills are available on the university
webpages, at http://www.lr.mdx.ac.uk/document.htm. Topics include Essay
Writing; Reading Skills; Referencing and Citation Style in the Humanities;
Taking Notes; Writing Theses and Dissertations.
3. The Learning Resources Language Centre provides a University-wide free
service aimed at helping students in their use of English Language.
Information is posted at http://www.lr.mdx.ac.uk/lang/ells.htm.
4. For foreign students, the university offers a wide range of pre-sessional
courses in „Intensive Academic English for Postgraduates‟. These courses
take place at various times during the year, and are taught at several
different levels of intensity. Details are posted at
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/study/international/programmes/index.asp.
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108
5. Students enrolled in the MAs are welcome to take courses in a number of
modern languages. There is a small fee for each course.
Feedback to students
All forms of assessment are part of the learning process. You should be provided
with either individual or collective feedback on your assessed work.
Feedback on coursework
Along with their grade, students will receive written comments from the first marker
and a brief indication of the view of the second marker. One copy of the essay,
usually with some further marginal comments, will be returned to the student once
the marks have been confirmed by the external examiner and the school
assessment board (normally around six weeks after submission of the work; dates
are included in the calendar). Students may arrange individual tutorials with the
module tutor for additional verbal feedback.
Dissertations
All dissertations shall be double marked and moderated by an external examiner.
Written feedback from the examiners will be made available to students.
Return of coursework
Students must keep a copy of their coursework. The marked copy is normally
returned to them only after it has been seen by the external examiner, so retention
of a copy is important so that they can relate feedback to their work.
Electronic receipt of coursework
Coursework may not be submitted electronically.
Marking, second marking and marking moderation
Each assessment is marked by two members of staff and grades are moderated by
an external examiner.
Formative and Summative Assessment
An assessment task can be either formative or summative, or both.
Formative assessment is primarily developmental in nature, and is designed to give
feedback to learners on their performance and how it can be improved. Formative
assessment is a key part of the learning process, and has been shown to contribute
to enhancement of learning and raising of standards.
Summative assessment is designed to measure the extent to which a learner has
achieved the intended learning outcomes of a module. The summative component
of an assessment task is designed solely to provide a measure of the achievement
of a learning outcome by a learner. Summative assessment should assess
achievement of all learning outcomes in a secure, fair and accurate manner.
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What is OASISplus?
OASISplus is the University‟s online learning environment where you can find online
materials, including lecture notes, to support your studies together with discussion
boards, quizzes, module information, announcements and important information.
Most modules now have an online presence delivered through OASISplus. Your
tutors will be providing you with more information about how you will be expected to
interact online with your peers and your tutors.
Logging onto OASISplus
To access OASISplus take the following steps:
1. Start up your internet browser - either Internet Explorer or Firefox
2. From the 24-7 website click on the „OASISplus‟ link or alternatively type
http://oasisplus.mdx.ac.uk/
3. Click on the „MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY‟ link to take you to the login page.
4. Enter your username. This is the same as your student number and can be
found on your student card.
5. Enter your password. If you are logging on for the first time, your default
password will be your date of birth (DDMMYY). Once you have successfully
logged onto OASISplus you will be forced to change your password to
something more personal and secure.
6. You should now be able to see the list of modules for which you are
registered. Only those with an online presence will be listed here. Click on
the module name to access the materials, discussions, assignments and
other activities within the module.
NOTE: OASISplus is case sensitive. The 'M' in your user ID should be typed in
capitals. Please also be careful with the figures 1 or 0 – it is easy to mistype these
as I or O. Also, your date of birth should be shown in the UK format (DDMMYY)
rather than the US format.
If you have difficulties accessing OASISplus please contact the computing helpdesk
on your campus or the Web Helpdesk available at http://webhelpdesk.mdx.ac.uk/
For more information and troubleshooting advice visit the OASISplus pages on 24-7
at http://www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7/oasisplus/index.htm
Assessment and Progression
An explanation of the University grading scale can be found in the University
Regulations (www.mdx.ac.uk/regulations/).
Further information on the use of the University grading scale can be found on 24-7
(www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7/assess/grading.htm ).
The pattern of assessment has been chosen in the light of the aims, structure and
learning outcomes of the programme. In this area the traditional essay form and
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dissertation remain the most appropriate methods of assessment. The standard
method of assessment for 30 credit point modules will be an exercise in theoretical
comprehension of 1,500 words (20% of the total grade) and a coursework essay of
3,000 words, representing 80% of the total grade for the module. Word limits are
strictly enforced: any piece of coursework which exceeds the word limit by more
than 10% will receive a penalty of at least one mark, at the discretion of the
examiners.
The research skills component of the foundation and dissertation modules are
designed to help students understand the requirements of this form of assessment;
particular emphasis will be given to the practical preparation of graduate-level
coursework essays: drawing up an essay plan, organising & researching an
argument, presenting an outline, etc.
In addition to the summative assessment used in the course (the marking of
coursework essays and the MA dissertation) students receive formative assessment
from staff during the oral presentation of their dissertation proposals.
Grading Scale
The University grading scale is used in relation to, and in conjunction with, the
University grade criteria guide and guidance on the generation and use of module
level descriptors (see Regulations “Module Level Descriptors” and “Grade Criteria
Guide” www.mdx.ac.uk/regulations/).
Grade
1-4
5-8
9-16
17-18
19-20
DISTINCTION
MERIT
PASS
FAIL: compensation/ progression possible
FAIL: no compensation/ progression possible
Module Grades
Grades 1 to 16, the Y grade and 17C and 18C (compensated fail grades) are all
pass grades. If you do not get one of these grades in any of your modules it is very
important that you check the exact details of what you need to do in order to pass.
Therefore, if you are given any of the following grades, you will need to take action:
grades 17 to 20, X, I or U.
A student has the right to be reassessed once only, in any module, with a grade of
17 to 20. Reassessment will be taken at the next available opportunity, unless
deferred (see below).
For modules at levels 2 and above, a maximum grade of 16 will be applied to the
reassessed component. For example:
Component A (50%)
Component B (50%)
Overall Module Grade
st
8
17
17RC
nd
8 (as before)
10 (capped at 16)
12 (17/12)
1 attempt
2 attempt
It is really important that students complete all assessed work (coursework,
presentations, exams etc) that is required to complete each module. Failure to do
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so will result in failure in the component or the module concerned (grade 20 – failure
incorporating failure to undertake all assessment components; compensation not
allowed) should the required learning outcomes not be met.
For more information on the X grade (fail – incomplete without good reason: may not
be reassessed) see the section on “Attendance Requirements” below.
For more information on the I grade (deferred assessment) see below.
For more information on the U grade (academic misconduct allegation being
investigated) see “Plagiarism” below.
Specific Assessment Criteria
Coursework essays will be assessed in the light of the learning outcomes specified
for each module. The important criteria will be:

how accurately and clearly you can explain the material on which the essay is
based.

how far you can objectively evaluate the arguments under discussion

how far you can articulate a fair and judicious response to the question or topic
of the title.
You need to show that:

you have read and understood the central material of the module

you have thought about the best way to approach and evaluate the ideas under
discussion

that you have identified and considered some of the problems and issues
surrounding them

you can articulate an appropriate and coherent response to the material you
have considered.
Each module will have more specific aims and interests and your essay should take
these into account. However, coursework will be marked in line with the following
Generic Assessment Criteria for postgraduate taught modules, applied in a
manner suitable to the subject matter concerned.
GRADE
KNOWLEDGE
UNDERSTANDING
SKILLS
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
1-4
Comprehensive in
depth and breadth.
Current and relevant
Demonstrates exceptional
ability to contextualise
knowledge.
Comprehensive grasp of
concepts and their interrelationship. Exceptional
ability to relate theory to
practice.
Outstanding ability to select and
apply skills necessary to
achieve the desired outcome.
Consistently clear and effective
communication. High degree of
literacy. Fluency and accuracy
of expression. Focused
organisation and presentation of
material. Ability to construct and
sustain a relevant and
convincing argument.
High order of originality,
inspiration,
perceptiveness, and
critical thought.
Outstanding ability to
analyse contradictions
and synthesise
concepts.
5-8
Depth or breadth of
knowledge. Up-to-
High level of ability to
contextualise. Thorough
Comprehensive ability to select
and apply skills necessary to
Demonstrate an ability
to analyse and
Philosophy MA Handbooks 2009/10
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date and relevant
grasp of concepts and
their inter-relationship.
Significant ability to relate
theory to practice.
achieve the desired outcome.
Clarity of communication. High
degree of literacy. Generally
well focused organisation and
presentation of material.
Argument not always
consistently sustained.
synthesise but with
some dependence on
received tools.
9-12
Competent.
Relevant but not
necessarily
comprehensive.
Evidence of some ability
to contextualise.
Awareness of concepts.
Some ability to relate
theory to practice.
Limited ability to select and
structure relevant material.
Occasional grammatical lapses.
Frequent use of assertion rather
than argument.
Informed commentary
but little evidence of
genuine independent
analysis.
13-15
Adequate. Limited.
Incomplete with
some inaccuracy.
Limited ability to
contextualise. Limited
awareness of concepts.
Limited ability to relate
theory to practice.
Some grammatical lapses. Lack
of focus in deployment of
evidence. Usually offers
relevant assertion as a
substitute for argument.
Comment that relies on
description.
16
Some relevant
knowledge but
superficial.
Superficial understanding
of concepts.
Poor grammar. Weak
communication. Assertions
frequently lack
relevance/structure.
Relevant observation.
17-18
Little relevance.
Some accuracy.
Minimal awareness that
concepts exist.
Frequent lack of clarity.
Communication frequently
inarticulate. Poor presentation.
Very few relevant assertions.
No evidence of critical
analysis.
19-20
No relevance. Little
accuracy.
No grasp of concepts. No
indication of awareness of
concepts.
Total failure to apply relevant
skills. Inarticulate.
Incomprehensible.
No evidence of critical
analysis.
You are advised to use the reading list for the coursework essays. The reading list,
however, can only provide you with some of the key works on the topic and you are
encouraged to find additional reading that is appropriate. The module tutor will be
able to give you further advice for additional sources. You must always list your
sources in a bibliography at the end of your essay. You are also responsible for
correctly citing your sources in your text.
To meet the length and time limits, you need to identify what is most important, find
how to express your thought accurately in as few words as possible and pay
attention to the overall structure and balance of the piece you are writing.
Please note that presentation and writing style are part of the exercise and that you
may be penalised if these are below standard.
Dissertations will be judged by the same criteria as coursework essays. But in
addition, they will be assessed by:

the coherence of the topic treated

the location in relation to current academic discussions of the issues

the appropriateness of the approach adopted

the independent and critical treatment of a range of academic discussions.
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Deferral
There is no provision for extensions for the submission of coursework, and
academic staff are not authorised to grant either extensions or to agree nonsubmissions with students. If you are not able to submit a piece of coursework on
time, you must seek permission from the School Student Office to defer all or part of
the assessment in a module to the next available opportunity, normally from January
to May or from May to August. This can only be granted where exceptional
circumstances prevent a student from completing assessment through no fault of
their own and where documentary evidence is supplied.
The full Deferral Policy is available at
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/24%2D7/assess/defer.htm#rules
Deferral requests should be submitted to the School Student Office counter on your
base campus by completing the relevant form and attaching supporting
documentation, e.g. medical certificates. The final deadline for deferral applications
is 2 weeks after the end of the examination period. The deferral form is available at:
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7/assess/defer.htm
Requests for deferral of assessment that is due to be submitted up to Learning
Week 17 should be submitted to the relevant Assessment Officer by the end of that
week. The request will be considered under the usual deferral regulations, and if it is
granted the assessment will be deferred until the final module assessment deadline.
Module grades for this deferred work will be published in June (for September start
students) and July for January start students.
Requests for deferral of assessment for assessment that is due to be after
submitted after Learning Week 17 should be submitted to the relevant Assessment
Officer by the final assessment deadline. The request will be considered under the
usual deferral regulations, and if it is granted the assessment will be deferred until
the module reassessment deadline. Module grades for this deferred work will be
published in September (for September and January start students).
If students have difficulties accessing resources (eg. access to the University
network, library, OASIS etc.) after deferral, contact the web helpdesk at
http://webhelpdesk.mdx.ac.uk .
Extenuating Circumstances
Students who do not wish to defer assessment, but are concerned that exceptional
personal circumstances (e.g. ill health) might affect their performance in
assessment, should complete an extenuating circumstances form and attach
supporting documentary evidence. This form should be submitted to your School
Student Office.
The extenuating circumstances will be summarised by the Assessment
Manager/Officer and brought to the attention of the appropriate assessment board.
Extenuating circumstances are only considered when determining the progression
or the final classification of borderline students. They are not used to change the
grade in a module.
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The final deadline for submission of extenuating circumstances forms, attaching
supporting documentation, is the last date of the examination period. The
extenuating circumstances form is available at:
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7/assess/extenu.htm
Resubmission
Students must take care in deciding to defer modules. If you fail any assessment
you have an automatic right to “resubmit” the assessment once only. This is done
by writing another essay, whether the same title or a different one, to be handed in
at the next assessment deadline. The exact date will be notified to you with the
result. A student who has to resubmit more than two successive modules will be
counselled with a view to withdrawal.
Regulations
Assessment and progression regulations for taught programmes of study can be
found in Section E of the University Regulations www.mdx.ac.uk/regulations/. This
section covers:

The calendar of assessment

Progression of undergraduate and postgraduate students

Qualifications and classification, including methods of determining classification
of qualifications

The grading scheme

Reassessment in and deferral of modules

Publication of results

Production of certificates and issuing of diploma supplements / transcripts.

You will find additional guidance in the Assessment Section on 24-7 which is
available at www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7/assess.
The University Regulations also detail procedures in relation to:





Infringement of Assessment Regulations – Academic Misconduct (Section F)
including collusion and plagiarism
Appeal Regulations and Procedures (Section G)
Student Conduct and Discipline
Student Complaints and Grievance Procedures
Equal Opportunities
(see www.mdx.ac.uk/regulations/ )
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the presentation by a student, as his or her own work, of a body of
material (written, visual or oral) which is wholly or partly the work of another. In fact,
plagiarism extends to cover one's own work previously assessed or published which
is also required to be properly referenced. Taking unfair advantage over other
authors, students or oneself in this way is considered by the University to be a
serious offence. The University will take serious action against any student who
plagiarises whether through negligence, foolishness or deliberate intent. Make sure
written material, ideas, theories, formulae, etc are acknowledged through the use of
quotation marks, references and bibliographies. Information on the correct way of
acknowledging work from other sources is available from campus learning resource
centres. Academic misconduct also covers cheating in examinations.
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Detailed information can be obtained at
www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7/assess/plagiarism.htm
Self-plagiarism
Self-plagiarism is the presentation by a student of a piece of his or her own writing
that has been submitted for one assessment wholly or as part of a second
assessment. The University will take action against any student who self-plagiarizes.
Attendance requirements
You should attend all scheduled classes and prescribed activities to be eligible for
formal assessment. Attendance at all scheduled lecture/seminars is important for
the preparation of students for assessment. All students benefit from the input
provided by their fellows, and discussion is devalued if students are absent from
classes. If you know that you will be unavoidably absent from a class or seminar,
please let the module tutor or programme leader know in advance. If the
unavoidable absence was unforeseen, please contact the module tutor or
programme leader as soon as possible after missing a class or seminar.
The minimum attendance required to fulfil the learning outcomes for skills on the
taught modules of these three MAs is 70%.
Where your attendance fails to meet the minimum required to meet the learning
outcomes of the module (as published) you may be excluded from the assessment
and be graded X in the module. The definition of the X grade is “Fail – incomplete
without good reason: may not be reassessed”. It is your responsibility to ensure that
your attendance fulfils the published attendance requirements.
The X grade is applied if you fail to participate in the learning processes of a module
for which you are registered. It is not a “punishment” for poor attendance but a
recognition that you have not been able to prepare yourself for assessment in the
content of the module. It is also given when you drop a module without formally
removing it from your registered programme of study.
If you receive an X grade you may have the opportunity of taking the whole module
again with permission from the Programme Leader, without grade penalty, though
you will have to pay the module registration fee. You may only do this at the end of
your programme.
For further guidance on attendance requirements, refer to the section entitled
“Attendance & Withdrawal” which is also available at www.mdx.ac.uk/247/admin/attend.htm. The formal regulations about attendance can be found in
Section C2 of the University Regulations and at www.mdx.ac.uk/regulations/ .
Quality assurance of your Programme
To ensure the high standards and quality of Middlesex University provision, all
Programmes are subject to the University‟s academic quality assurance procedures
(which include those procedures related to programme approval, monitoring and
review). A key feature of these processes is the input from external subject experts
who ensure that awards of Middlesex are comparable to those of other UK
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universities, and that the programme curriculum, teaching, assessment and
resources are appropriate.
Students also have a very important role in enhancing Programmes, feeding back
on a regular basis via feedback forms, Boards of Study, and other mechanisms.
Student feedback also plays a major role in Programme monitoring and review.
Middlesex University, and its Programmes, are subject to periodic audit or review by
external quality agencies such as the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher
Education (QAA). These audits and reviews place confidence in the quality and
standards of provision as operated at Middlesex University. The most recent QAA
audit of quality and standards of Middlesex University awards, conducted in 2005,
was of those programmes delivered with collaborative partners. The University was
awarded a judgement of broad confidence in the soundness of the University‟s
current and future management of the quality of its Programmes and the academic
standards of its awards. This judgement is the highest level judgement that can be
awarded by the QAA. QAA review and audit reports can be viewed on the QAA
website at: www.qaa.ac.uk .
Feedback from students
Boards of Studies
The purpose of the Board of Studies is to provide a forum for discussion between
you and staff involved in all aspects of your Programme.
You elect student members of the Board at the start of each academic year to
ensure that all the various interests on the Programme are adequately represented.
For advice and training contact the MUSU Student Representative and
Development Co-ordinator on 020 8411 6481.
Each Programme holds regular Boards of Studies. The membership includes:

Student representatives

Programme leader/Head of Department

Academic staff aligned to the delivery of the Programme or modules

Support services representatives
Your student representative represents the Programme or year group and is
responsible for notifying the Board of issues which have been brought to them by
you. You should be aware of the function of the Board of Study, and should ensure
that representatives are alerted in good time to matters of concern, or to suggest
initiatives.
Minutes are made of the discussion and decisions of each Board meeting, and
these are circulated to members with outcomes. The minutes are included with the
Programme Quality/Annual Monitoring Report for consideration by the University.
The points raised at the meeting are carefully recorded for issues arising, and the
action taken upon them, and are available at www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7 .
Terms of reference
Full terms of reference are available in the Learning and Quality Enhancement
Handbook (Section 11) at
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/aboutus/fpr/clqe/handbook/docs/section11.doc
dates, minutes, actions and further information can be found on 24-7 at
www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7/campusforums/index.htm
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Dates
Autumn term: Wednesday 18 November 2009, 5:00-6:00pm (in room M114).
Spring term: Tuesday 2 March 2010, 5:00-6:00pm (in room M004).
Campus Forums
The purpose of Campus Forums is to optimise the student experience by asking
students to raise campus-specific issues relating to the operation of academic,
administrative and service support for students, but not to deal with programmespecific curriculum issues which are dealt with by Boards of Study. For clarification
please check with your MUSU Campus Sabbatical Officer. (MUSU Representatives
please refer to your training kit.)
Campus Forums are usually held once per term. All students are welcome. The
membership includes:

Student representatives (contact the Student‟s Union or the Campus Director‟s
office if you wish to attend – even if you are not a formal representative)

Representatives from Campus Team, Campus Facilities, Campus Learning
Resource Centre, Estate Services, Computing, Catering, Printing and MUSU

a representative of each School and each Service based on the campus

Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic or the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Director
of Corporate Services (Chair)
Your student representatives represent your Programme or year group and are
responsible for notifying the Forum of issues which have been brought to them by
you.
Student representatives
A Student may be elected to represent other students on all 3 of these programmes.
You may also represent your halls of residence on Campus Forums; for more
information and training contact the MUSU Student Representative and
Development Co-ordinator on 020 8411 6481.
If you are elected as a student representative your role will be to gather the views
and opinions of the students you represent and to represent the views and opinions
to either the Board of Study or the relevant Campus Forum and to feed back the
results and information to other students following the meeting.
Student representatives should be selected, either by election or self-nomination, by
the end of week 2 each year. Training and support throughout the year is provided
for student representatives by MUSU – details of times and dates for training can be
found on the MUSU website at www.musu.mdx.ac.uk.
As a representative you can receive a certificate that recognises your
representational achievement. For the certificate you will have to attend the training
sessions and be present at the Board of Study each term. This is a great opportunity
to add value to your CV.
School Board and/or other School committees
The student representative for these 3 programmes on the School board is elected
at the Board of Studies.
Module evaluation forms
Module feedback forms are distributed throughout the academic year. The forms
are completely anonymous. The aim of this feedback process is to elicit your views
on the quality of modules taken
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Module forms examine each module in some detail and invite comment on your
module in general.
You can expect to receive a report on any issues that have been identified. The
report would also describe the measures taken to resolve any problems. All reports
will be an item for discussion during Boards of Study and will, where necessary, be
reported upon during the quality/annual monitoring process. The whole feedback
process will also be reviewed on a regular basis, to ensure that that it is effective in
helping provide a good quality experience for students.
The Students Union and the University also conduct periodic surveys of your levels
of satisfaction with various University services. Further information will be available
from time to time on MISIS and 24-7.
Other surveys
From time to time the University will distribute surveys to elicit your views on the
quality of the services offered by the University and your student experience on
areas other than your programme of study. These surveys will be completely
anonymous.
You can expect to receive a report on any issues that have been identified. The
report would also describe the measures taken to resolve any problems. All reports
will be an item for discussion during Boards of Study and will, where necessary, be
reported upon during the quality/annual monitoring process. This process will be
reviewed on a regular basis, to ensure that it is effective in helping provide a good
quality experience for students.
Suggestions and Complaints
We welcome your suggestions on how we might improve your experience of
university life, even when this takes the form of a complaint about a service, a
member of staff or another student.
If you have a suggestion or a complaint about any aspect of university life, raise it
with the person concerned in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the
outcome you can progress the matter through informal and formal procedures step
by step up the management structure of the university. Full details of these steps
are available in the University Regulations (www.mdx.ac.uk/regulations/) within the
Student Complaints and Grievance Procedures.
If you are not sure who to speak to, seek advice from a school office or advice
centre. If the matter is serious, talk directly to your school's Director of Resources.
If something goes wrong we aim to put it right as quickly as possible. Your advice
and comments are essential.
Middlesex University Students’ Union
Middlesex University Students‟ Union (MUSU) is a democratic organisation, run by
students for students, which represents the students of the University at local and
national level.
At a national level, MUSU keeps up with national topics that the NUS deals with, for
example, campaigns such as “Admission Impossible” and “Black History Month” and
other issues which affect students nationally.
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On a local level, MUSU is involved in improving the experience of Middlesex
students within the University, as well as a wide range of services, including
societies, training and development, and welfare/academic advice.
There are four elected sabbatical officers who work full time on behalf of the student
body:
President (TP) ext 6763
Vice President Academic (HE) ext 6412
Vice President Welfare and International Students (EN) ext 6771
Vice President Student Activities and Communications (CH) ext 5511
You can contact any of these people in order to seek help, advice, or to discuss any
issues that concern Middlesex students. With your help MUSU can continue to
improve the experience of Middlesex students within the University.
If you would like to become involved with the Students‟ Union or find out more about
the services it provides, simply ring MUSU reception on: 020 8411 6450, or go to:
www.musu.mdx.ac.uk
Career opportunities and placement
Careers Service
The Careers Service provides impartial and confidential guidance and information to
Middlesex University students and alumni (for up to two years after graduation) to
help them in their career planning and job seeking.
The careers advisers can assist you with planning your academic programme and
personal development in relation to your career goals from your first year to final
year. This includes exploring career and study options, self awareness and decision
making. The advisers can also help you to find full and part-time employment, write
CVs, covering letters and application forms, prepare for interviews, psychometric
tests and assessment centres, identify voluntary and work experience opportunities
and research postgraduate/further study and funding
Students have access to careers information, individual guidance appointments,
drop-in advice sessions, careers seminars and workshops, employer presentations,
Careers Fairs and other campus based careers events and alumni links to support
students with their career development. The careers advisers also work with tutors
to deliver and support careers related activities on course programmes, such as ~
career opportunities for graduates, job study research, the graduate employment
market, developing employability skills, sector specific information, pre-placement
preparation, job search skills and strategies and post graduate study options.
The main careers library is based at Hendon and careers advisers are available on
most campuses offering a flexible service to support the needs and any specific
requirements of all students. To check opening times and availability of careers
advisers on your campus or to book an appointment please see the website
www.mdx.ac.uk/careers and telephone 020 8411 5523
The Careers Service‟s website as above (or accessible through the 24-7 website)
offers a wide range of information and links to other graduate careers websites. The
website contains an on-line job vacancy service, JobsPlus, where opportunities
notified by employers for full time, part time, voluntary work or work experience are
posted. For students unable to come to see us on campus there is also a link to
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„MeG‟, an e-guidance service, through which you can email your queries to a
careers adviser.
Today‟s job market is full of opportunities but is also rapidly changing and
developing to meet the needs of employers in the 21st Century. Gaining work
experience and developing the employability skills that employers look for is an
important part of your career planning and development and will help towards your
future career success. In addition to the help and support available from the Careers
Service, you may also want to consider the option of undertaking a work experience
placement as part of your degree, a student exchange in another country or
undertaking some voluntary work and gaining accreditation for this through the
university.
Further advice on placements is available from the placement staff in your school, or
speak to your tutors about this. Information links to student exchanges and
volunteering opportunities can be found on the 24-7 student portal at
www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7
Programme advice, educational guidance and student
support
Programme Advice
You are expected to be independent and to take responsibility for your own
academic and personal life. However there is a lot of help available.
Your tutors will direct your studies and ensure that you know what work you need to
cover in any given module. Seek advice from academic staff either after class,
during their office hours (published on their doors), by email or telephone.
General Educational Guidance
General educational guidance, clarification of University Regulations and help with
planning your programme is available from the student support team‟s duty/student
advisers, who can be contacted by telephone or e-mail or in person on any campus
and who normally have regular drop-in hours.
Student Support
You can get a wide range of support, advice and information direct from the student
website 24-7 (www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7) where you can also find the telephone numbers
and email addresses of student/programme support team staff. If you need personal
advice call the School Student Office (telephone: 020 8411 5200; e-mail:
[email protected]) If they cannot help you, they will refer you to someone who can.
Do not hesitate to approach the student support team by telephone, email or in
person for support services including:
 Changes to your personal record such as address, name, etc. (Alternatively this
can be done on-line via MISIS https://misis.mdx.ac.uk )
 Using MISIS (Middlesex Integrated Student Information System)
 Programme regulations advice
 Revising or recording module registrations
 Submission of coursework
 Assessment deferral requests
 Recording extenuating circumstances
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



Recording reasons for unavoidably being absent
Arranging to interrupt your studies, change or withdraw from your programme
Advice on where to make a suggestion or a complaint
Personal Counselling
Specialist advice is also available from the Disability Support Service, Careers
Advice and Placement Services, Accommodation Service, Childcare Service, Sport
and Leisure, International Support Services, Money and Welfare Advise Services,
Counselling Services, and Financial Services; and from the Middlesex University
Students‟ Union (MUSU). Ask at your school office for more information.
Middlesex University Counselling Service
During the course of your studies at Middlesex, if you encounter problems
concerning your coursework or personal or emotional difficulties, you can consult
one of our professional counsellors confidentially. Counselling involves one or more
meetings with your counsellor in a safe and confidential setting. You will have the
time and space to discuss difficulties in your life which may be interfering with your
ability to study and enjoy your time as a student. Students come to counselling for
all sorts of reasons but generally it is a good idea to seek help before things start to
feel unmanageable. Coming for counselling can give you the opportunity to talk
and think things through with someone from outside your social circle. This can feel
both supportive and also offer the possibility of developing a fresh perspective on
your difficulties.
For more information please go to intranet www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7/counsel
Contacting a counsellor:
Archway & Hospitals - Alison Jefferies
Room 15a Trevor Clay Building, Whittington Hospital & for Royal Free Hospital.
Tel: 020 8411 6152
email: [email protected]
Cat Hill & Trent Park
Lindsey Othen-Price
Room 5 Peter Green Building CH
Room 210 The Mansion TP
Tel: 020 8411 5548
email: [email protected]
Caroline Hallett
Room 5 Peter Green Building CH
Room 210 The Mansion TP
Tel: 020 8411 6421
email: [email protected]
Hendon
Pete Kerridge, Head of Counselling
Room CG24 College Building
Tel: 020 8411 4719
email: [email protected]
Bernard Shapley
Tel: 020 8411 5779
email: [email protected]
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Nadina Al-Jarrah
Room CG25 College Building
Tel: 020 8411 5779
email: [email protected]
Sandra Primack
Room CG23 College Building
Tel: 020 8411 6169
email: [email protected]
International Student Support
All members of the Student Support Team on each campus are dedicated to
supporting international students, who make up over 20% of students in the
university. Check on 24-7 (www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7) or ask the student office if you are
unsure who to speak to.
You can join in a varied and exciting social programme organised by the
International Student Liaison Manager Chrisy Savva, 020 8411 5422,
[email protected], who also organises the Welcome to Middlesex Orientation
Programme. Look out for the International Newsletter every few weeks.
You can get specialist advice and support, particularly relating to visa renewals,
from the International Student Support Co-ordinator, Christine Struwe, who works in
collaboration with the Money and Welfare advisers. - Tel /fax 020 8411 5917/6076
and email [email protected]. If you are requesting a University Enrolment Letter
for visa purposes then please email [email protected].
Learning Resources
Learning Resources provides facilities, services and support to aid student learning.
Full details can be found at http://www.lr.mdx.ac.uk
Services
There are libraries at each main campus, providing a range of lending and reference
services; enquiry desks and online enquiry services; photocopying and printing
facilities; individual and group study areas; IT and audio visual facilities, as well as
access to print and electronic information resources. Opening hours vary between
libraries and between term time and vacation periods. Further details of these
services are available at http://www.lr.mdx.ac.uk/lib/index.htm
The Language Centre is based at Hendon and operates across all campuses,
providing English Language and Learning Support (ELLS), Pre-Sessional English
Courses, Translation & Interpreting courses and IELTS testing. Contact details and
further information may be found at http://www.lr.mdx.ac.uk/lang/index.htm
Weekly workshops and tutorials run on a variety of language and study topics
including essay writing, dissertation writing and study skills. Numeracy support
workshops and tutorials are also available. In addition specific help is provided for
dyslexic students in conjunction with Disability Support Service: contact the Dyslexia
Administration Assistant on 020 8411 6073 or e-mail [email protected]. Further
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information about the Disability Support Services may be found at
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7/Disability/index.htm
In addition, each library is equipped with a variety of assistive technologies and
services and a disability support representative with whom you can discuss your
needs. Contact details and further information may be found at
www.lr.mdx.ac.uk/disab/disstaff.htm.
Information resources
Learning Resources provides access to a wide range of materials including over half
a million books, a comprehensive selection of journals (the majority of which are
available online) and a range of loanable equipment. A wide range of bibliographic
and full text databases are available to provide information to support your studies,
and the library catalogue is designed to make locating resources straightforward. It
can be used to check which items you have out on loan, make renewals and place
reservations. The majority of electronic resources are available remotely unless
restricted by the supplier, and also include subject gateways, multimedia resources,
national and international catalogues and e-books. Full details of online materials
may be found at: http://www.lr.mdx.ac.uk/lib/eresources/index.htm.
Programme specific resources
The Learning Resources team is available to provide advice and support for your
learning needs and to ensure that services and resources are relevant and of a high
quality. The team provides a range of training sessions in information skills and the
use of subject specific resources. Contact details of your liaison librarian as well as
details of specialist resources available for Philosophy may be found at:
http://www.lr.mdx.ac.uk/lib/subjects/index.htm.
Disability Support Service
If you have a long term medical condition, physical difficulty, sensory impairment,
mental health problems or a specific learning difficulty (e.g. dyslexia) that you feel
could impact on your studies and would like information about support provision that
can be made available please contact the University‟s Disability Support Service.
You are encouraged to make your situation known at the earliest opportunity to
ensure due provision is made. Support can include, but is not restricted to: advice
on Programme related study needs, arranging support such as note takers, personal
assistants, liaison with tutors and funding authorities and arranging special provision
for examinations and undertaking needs assessments for students applying for
support through the Disabled Student‟s Allowance. Confidentiality will be respected
and relevant details will only be disclosed with your permission.
For further details contact the Disability Support Service on 020 8411 4945; e-mail
[email protected]
or see 24-7
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7/Disability/index.htm
Please also refer to the Programme Specification included in this Handbook which
will state whether the programme excludes students with particular disabilities.
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Student Membership of the University
All students following a programme of study leading towards a Middlesex University
qualification are student members of the University. When you enrol, you give an
undertaking to comply with the University Regulations. As a student member of the
University, you have certain rights but also specific responsibilities. Other student
members and staff also have rights and responsibilities and are expected to comply
with the University Regulations.
Further information on your rights and responsibilities can be found in the University
Regulations at www.mdx.ac.uk/regulations/
Health, Safety and Welfare
Information and advice regarding health, safety and welfare is accessible on a
University wide basis. www.mdx.ac.uk/24-7 , the information resource for Middlesex
University students, contains a summary of this advice. On this web site you will find
useful information on:

Health related issues such as registering with a doctor, dentist or optician. A
summary of key infectious disease and a range of health matters such as
minor illnesses, alcohol, drugs and travel.

Health and safety issues such as the University‟s Health and Safety policy,
first aid arrangements, fire procedures, accident reporting procedures and
how to raise concerns. Also, several other key health and safety related
policies such Alcohol and Substance Misuse and No Smoking.

Personal safety related issues such as, reporting and dealing with crime.
These are supported by useful numbers to contact while on campus or in
halls.
The university strongly advises you to register with a local doctor on enrolment if you
have moved away from home. More detailed guidance on the above will be brought
to your attention at the start of your studies.
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