This unit introduces students to very recent work deriving from the tradition of modern European philosophy and attempts to bring this into dialogue with debates in other areas of ethics and political philosophy.
The unit will examine three main topics, from a variety of perspectives in contemporary European philosophy: first, we look at new theoretical approaches to subjectivity, which foreground the role of embodiment, affectivity and unconscious forms of desire and attachment; then, we turn to recent work on problems of global politics, terrorism and globalisation; finally, we consider new philosophical perspectives on the problems of technology, the media and the image. The unit examines in particular recent work by Butler, Zizek, Honneth, Agamben, Benjamin, Derrida, Habermas, Negri, Heidegger, Derrida, and Stiegler. Throughout the course, we attempt to connect these new developments in European philosophy with current problems facing modern societies.
