Theories of the Subject

In this course we will examine some of the most influential movements of 19th and 20th century European philosophy by enquiring into their respective critiques of the traditional epistemological conception of the subject, and into the plurality of approaches to ‘the question of subjectivity’ that emerged from those critiques. Some of the modules of the course will be: Descartes and the subject of knowledge; Marx and the subject of labor; Husserl and the subject of experience; Freud, Lacan, and the subject of desire; Nietzsche and the myth of the subject; de Beauvoir and the gendered subject. 3 hrs. lect.