Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE PHI2202

 
TITLE Philosophy and Social Networking: Theorising Facebook

 
UM LEVEL 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Philosophy

 
DESCRIPTION The study-unit will explore the many facets of facebook and other social networks. It will analyze everyday experiences of social networking as well as the philosophical ideas and questions that underlie these experiences. It will delve into issues privacy, security, virtual identity and friendship.

Can virtual friendships be as genuine as the kind of friendships Aristotle speaks about in the Nicomachean Ethics? How are social networks changing they way we think, communicate and form relationships? How does Facebook relate to cyberculture? These are some of the questions that will be the subject of reflection and discussion in the course.

Study-unit Aims:

1. To familiarize students with the nature of Facebook itself,
2. To understand the ways Facebook and other social networks are transforming the world, and
3. To adopt a critical stance in relation to the mediated lives that they are living as a result of Facebook.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

1. Think critically about the many facets of Facebook and other social networks in the context of the technological revolution that has been generated by information and communication technologies,
2. Explain the profound philosophical concerns that underlie the everyday experiences that are being mediated by Facebook.

2. Skills:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

1. Analyze the nature of Facebook and social networking,
2. Explain virtual worlds and narrative identities,
3. Compare embodied friendship with virtual friendship,
4. Critically assess issues of privacy, surveillance and power,
5. List some of the intellectual challenges which humanity is facing as a result of Facebook.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Andrews, Lori, I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy (New York: Free Press, 2011).
Castells, Manuel, Communication Power (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).Castells, Manuel, Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age (Cambridge: Polity, 2012).
Ess, Charles and May Thorseth, eds, Trust and Virtual Worlds: Contemporary Perspectives (New York: Peter Land, 2011).
Wittkower, D.E., ed., Facebook and Philosophy (Chicago: Open Court, 2010).

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Seminar

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Presentation No 30%
Assignment Yes 70%

 
LECTURER/S Jean Buttigieg

 

 
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The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit