6 ECTS credits
165 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4019688FER for all students in the 1st semester at a (F) Master - specialised level.

Semester
1st semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Possible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Taught in
Dutch
Partnership Agreement
Under interuniversity agreement for degree program
Faculty
Faculty of Languages & Humanities
Department
Philosophy - Moral Sciences
Educational team
Gily Coene (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
20 contact hours Lecture
12 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
100 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

This course unit aims to give students critical insight into the genealogy and diversity of feminist thought. The lectures provide an overview of leading authors and discuss groundbreaking insights, various perspectives, developments, key concepts and crucial debates within feminist thought.

Insights and discussions are explored through reading assignments and discussion workshops and applied to topical issues. The lectures are designed as interactive lectures in which the lecturer introduces the topic and relevant literature, supplemented by discussions where students prepare and discuss an assignment individually or in a group.


• Topics to be covered include:

  • The paradoxical position of women in philosophy, sexism and racism in western philosophical thought, history of women in philosophy, feminist philosophy today, new challenges
  • Feminist critiques on the 18th century political revolutions and the construction of sex in modern science and philosophy
  • Differences and streams in feminist thought : liberal, socialist, Marxist, anarchist, pragmatist, cultural, libertarian, black and postcolonial feminism
  • Second wave feminism, social constructivism, existentialism, sexual objectivation, gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive rights
  • Feminist ethics of care, care-focused feminism, ecofeminism, caring citizenship.
  • Feminist epistemology and scientific criticism: empiricism, standpoint theory, postmodernism, situated knowledge, reflexivity, epistemic oppression
  • Post-structural feminism and queer theory, heteronormativity, hegemonic masculinity
  • Intersectionality, white privilege, decoloniality, interactions of gender, race, class and sexuality  
Additional info

The lessons are conceived as interactive lectures in which the professor situates the theme and introduces the reading, complemented by discussion and working lectures in which students prepare and discuss their reading assignments.

The syllabus (powerpoint-slides, articles, source fragments) is available via Canvas.

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

  • Students have obtained a critical understanding of the genealogy of feminist thinking, its key concepts, core issues and different theoretical schools of thought and in the socio-historical context and impact of these strands of thought.
  • Students are able to critically explore and connect arguments and positions in the theoretical and societal debates.
  • Students can apply feminist theories, insights and concepts to current issues related to gender inequality and diversity and adopt a self-reflexive attitude towards such issues.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Examen with a relative weight of 75 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The written exam includes multiple-choice (with increased cutoff) and open-ended questions.

 

 
Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Philosophy and Moral Sciences: Ethics and Humanism (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Philosophy and Moral Sciences: Philosophy (only offered in Dutch)
Research Master of Philosophy: Standaard traject
Master of Teaching in Arts and Humanities: History (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Teaching in Arts and Humanities: Art History and Heritage Studies (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Teaching in Arts and Humanities: Philosophy (only offered in Dutch)
Master of Teaching in Arts and Humanities: Ethics and Humanism (only offered in Dutch)