This module will introduce you to the key topics in the continental philosophical tradition. Texts by central figures in this tradition will be analysed and discussed in connection with the specific philosophical problems and themes that make continental philosophy distinctive. These problems and themes may include the nature of human existence and experience, the loss of meaning and value occasioned by the ‘death of God’, the question of what it means to be truly free, and the problem of how to understand philosophically such essentially historical concepts as Enlightenment and Humanism.

The module will introduce you to the work of some of the key philosophical thinkers in this tradition, including Hegel, Marx, Nietzche, Sartre, and Foucault. A close reading of relevant texts followed by discussion of them will be encouraged, enabling you to develop some of the basic skills required to engage with the continental philosophical tradition at a more advanced level.