home syllabus outline readings requirements
This is the static home page for Philosophy 442/542, Phenomenology, taught by Professor Ron McClamrock of the University at Albany Department of Philosophy.

This course was last taught in Fall 2006, and is now scheduled to be taught in Spring 2009. This page wil be replaced by an active home page while the course is being taught. The information on this static page is from the last time the course was offered. I expect that the next time it's taught there will be some relatively minor changes.

Course Description

This course examines the historical and conceptual development of phenomenology in the 20th century, starting with Husserl's "presuppositionless and purely descriptive science of the structures of consciousness", and including works by Sartre, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty. We'll emphasize (a) the idea of a presuppositionless account of consciousness; (b) the motivations for and nature of the "existential turn", and (c) connections between phenomenology and both analytic philosophy and scientific psychology.

Note for undergraduates: This is a relatively advanced course, and shares class meetings with a graduate course. I don't recommend it as your first upper-division course in philosophy, and I suggest that you have taken PHI 312 (17th & 18th Century Philosophy) or the equivalent before taking this. If you're uncertain about taking it, talk to me.

Course Requirements

Note: The official requirements listed on the syllabus given out at the beginning of the course override these, which are given for informational purposes only.

Requirements Summary: Grades for students in PHI 442 will be 20% for each of two short papers, 20% for each of their two best exam grades, and 20% for class participation/etc. Grades for students in PHI 542 will be 15% for each of two short papers, 20% for the longer paper, 15% for each for their two best exam grades, and 20% for class participation/etc.

The fine print:

Readings

Books: (Will be available at Mary Jane Books, and not at the campus bookstore)

Other Readings: All readings other than the required books (and maybe some of those too) are available online as PDF files from the library's E-Reserves page for the course.

Course Outline

Part I: Pure Phenomenology

Part II: The Existential Turn

Other Stuff

This material is all from the Fall 2006 version of this course.  I expect some revision for the Spring 2009 version of the course.

If you have questions about the site or the course, please e-mail me at ron at albany dot edu.