Entry requirements

General entry requirements

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

• summarise the main features of identity understood in a folk-psychological and everyday meaning of the word
• identify and discuss philosophical questions about identity as expressed in fiction
• relate theoretical literature on these questions about identity to fiction
• recognise some moral repercussions of using identity as a way to sort people into categories
• argue for and against different employments of the category of identity.

Content

"Identity" is used in a colloquial, folk-psychological and non-technical way to express our sense of self, inclusive of social roles and the relationships that we cultivate as important. X is, for example, a mother, a university teacher, dividing her life between Sweden and Finland. Identity may involve external characteristics over which we have no control, such as colour or socioeconomic class. Identity also encompasses political opinions, religion, and our moral attitudes. Identities have, further, developed into labels with which we categorise other people, explain our own actions, and by which we are being treated in certain ways by others. Where do these identities come from? Are they binding? How should we understand the structures and moral repercussions they involve? How could we fruitfully contest them as obliging categories? This course will introduce philosophical questions of "identity" in this sense of the word. Besides theoretical literature, the course uses recent fiction in which layers of identity are portrayed, analysed and questioned. We will also briefly consider the methodological question this raises: what can fiction tell us about identity? Can it complement philosophical writing about the topic and if so, why and how?

Instruction

Lectures and mandatory seminars. Seminar meetings are interactive and students are expected to participate and contribute.

Assessment

Seminar participation, one longer essay and one shorter written assignment. The shorter written assignment may include an oral presentation.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.

Other directives

The oral presentation mentioned under Assessment is dependent upon number of students.