Introduction to Critical Phenomenology

Course Leader: Natalija Cera (UCD School of Philosophy, Ireland)
Dates: Details to come for October 2025
Time: TBC
Location: Online (Zoom)

Registration for this course will open later in the year

Summary and outline may be subject to change until registration opens

Course Summary:

The aim of this course is to offer an introduction to critical phenomenology as a contemporary and developing project in philosophy, highlighting its interdisciplinarity and practical interest. Instead of starting with an introductory session, we will dive right into exploring key themes. To contextualise critical phenomenology within the history of the development of phenomenological thought, I will bring ideas and thinkers into dialogues as we focus on each respective theme. This should help us start forming an understanding of what makes critical phenomenology critical. The first three sessions will look at the following topics: embodiment, intersubjectivity, visible (social) identities. Last session will bring these themes together by looking at their intertwinement in our socio-political experiences. Since critical phenomenology aims to be emancipatory and attentive to the actual lived experiences, I will offer examples of its application drawn from my research and, where relevant, personal experience.

The main reading the course will follow is Elisa Magrì and Paddy McQueen Critical Phenomenology: An Introduction (Polity Press, 2023). Other sources will include Lisa Guenther (2021), Six Senses of Critique for Critical Phenomenology. Puncta. Journal of Critical Phenomenology 4/2: 5-23; Weiss, G., Salamon, G., & Murphy, A. V. (2019). 50 Concepts for a Critical Phenomenology. Northwestern University Press.

Course Outline:

Week 1. Embodiment

Week 2. Intersubjectivity (interpersonal experience)

Week 3. Visible (social) identities (gender and race

Week 4. Socio-political experience

More details nearer the time of the course opening for registration