PHILOSOPHY

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor C Wilson

Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Overview

The course will incorporate a variety of readings on Kantianism, utilitarianism, virtue theory, abortion, euthansia, animal rights, the Social Contract and related topics. We will also address the question whether moral claims can be true or false or are rather expressions of attitudes, and we will devote some attention to claims for the natural origins of morality in the social behaviour of other group-living animal species.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour of tutorial work per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 1500 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written exam (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written exam (50%); original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above.
New essay (1500 words) to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Formative Assessment

Weekly tutorial discussions provide students with regular opportunities to check their progress in understanding.

Feedback

Written feedback provided timeously on course essay; weekly tutorial discussions.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr L Moretti and Dr U Stegmann

Pre-requisites

None.

Co-requisites

None.

Overview

This course gives an introduction to two closely connected core fields of Philosophy: the theory of knowledge and of mind. We will examine a number of interrelated issues concerning the nature of mind, its relations to the physical world, and the way in which the mind shapes our conception of ourselves as persons. Is the mind separate from the physical world? Is it a non-physical soul that could survive bodily death? Or is the mind really nothing over and above the brain? Could things other than persons have minds? We will also address problems in the field of epistemology, which is concerned with what it is to know something. For example, how does knowledge differ from a lucky guess? What sorts of methods lead us to genuine knowledge rather than unreliable opinion? And, in an issue that has often been raised by philosophers, do we really know anything at all? There are initially plausible arguments that seem to show we can never know anything: examining what, if anything is wrong with these arguments will, hopefully, help us to see what knowledge really is and why it is important. We will focus on a number of particularly puzzling topics: justification, knowledge of the external world, induction, a priori knowledge.

Structure

2 one-hour lectures plus 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: one 1,500 word essay (50%) and 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: One 1500 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Feedback

The students will receive written comments on, and marks for, their essays as well as marks for their exam.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr G Bacciagaluppi

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

The course will introduce students to key concepts in informal reasoning and formal logic. In particular, the former component will include identifying argument structure and common logical fallacies in everyday discourse. The latter component will include methods in first-order propositional logic (formal proofs, truth trees, truth tables).

Structure

2 one-hour lectures plus 1 one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%).

Feedback

Students can consult exam scripts.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

None.

Notes

This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The course will identify major themes and topics in the development of Western Philosophy from the philosophy of ancient Greece to the medieval period. Detailed attention will be given to selected themes and topics in metaphysics, epistemology and ethics and their treatment in the relevant centuries. Amongst the authors to be considered will be Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas. The selection will always be designed to illustrate the philosophical background of major philosophers to compare earlier with later treatments of particular philosophical questions, and to bring out the influence of earlier discussions on later, including current, philosophical investigation. Primary sources, in translations, will be used as well as secondary material.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and one essay of approx 2,000 words (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and one essay of approx 2,000 words (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

This course gives an introduction to a field that has been of the greatest importance for contemporary philosophy.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and one essay of approx 2,000 words (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and one essay of approx 2,000 words (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will critically explore questions relating to the meaning of life. Specifically, it will address five philosophical topics: (i) God, (ii) suffering, (iii) absurdity, (iv) death, and (v) ordinary life.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr G Hough and Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

People make judgements about the moral goodness of their actions and the actions of others. Philosophers are, of course, interested in what makes an action morally right or wrong and in how we come to judge that actions are right or wrong. People also make judgements about the artistic value of objects and events. Philosophers have traditionally been just as interested in these judgements and the values they are about as they have been in moral judgements and moral values.

This area of philosophy is often referred to as Aesthetics, and philosophers working in this area ask (and attempt to answer) questions like: What makes something an artwork at all? What makes something a great artwork? How do we come to judge that something is a great work of art, and are there any objective standards against which to measure or test this judgement? Why and how do we react to artworks, and are these reactions rational?

In this course, we will cover a selection of topics in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Literature. In this way, we can see how the discipline works in detail, and thus get an idea of what Aesthetics is more generally, and of what philosophers working in this area are trying to do. Possible areas of focus may include: the artistic merit of photography, the nature of humour, whether there is a distinct 'aesthetic attitude', the ontological status of fictional characters, the rationally (or otherwise) of our emotional reaction to fiction, the role of artist's intention in fixing the interpretation of works of art.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: One 2,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr G Bacciagaluppi

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

This course will combine discussion of some of the main general issues (eg induction, explanation, laws of nature) with that of some of the main debates and schools of thought that have characterised philosophy of science during most of the 20th century (eg logical empiricism, Popper, Kuhn, realism and anti-realism). It will further provide glimpses into some topics from the philosophy of the special sciences.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Three 1000-word essays (50%) plus 1 two-hour written exam (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

This course will trace a number of related themes in 17th and 18th century Philosophy. Topics will include the problem of methods; the criterion of truth and certainty; approaches to knowledge and scepticism in empiricist and rationalist philosophers; the nature of mind; the theory of substance; faith reason and God; and philosophy and science. Primary sources will be used as well as secondary material. The precise content of the course may change from year to year.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and one essay of approx 2,000 words (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and one essay of approx 2,000 words (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr G Hough

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

This course gives an introduction to a traditional core field within philosophy.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and one essay of approx 2,000 words (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and one essay of approx 2,000 words (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be advised

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The course will study Locke’s theory of knowledge, as contained in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding: his rejection of innatism, his “New Way of Ideas”, his doctrine of substance and of primary and secondary qualities, his accounts of personal identity, language and the extent of human knowledge. The second part of the course will examine the philosophy of Berkeley, principally in the Three Dialogues and the Principles, with special reference to his arguments for idealism and his critique of Locke.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay of 2,500-3,000 words (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr T Milligan

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will explore Berkeley's views on the nature of reality, his empiricism and his rigorous application of Ockham's razor. A particular emphasis will be placed upon his treatment of human agency and his shifting attitude towards the nature of God. It will cover the key theoretical debates and introduce students to the relevant literature. It will be thematically based with each week focussing upon a different topic rather than successive phases in Berkeley's thought.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The course discusses central problems in Political Philosophy, such as sovereignty, rights, the authority of government etc; and in social philosophy, such as social justice, the nature of society, the limits of liberty etc. The detailed content of the course varies from year to year.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and one 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The course will explore developments in the philosophy of language including work building upon the thinking of Frege and Wittgenstein, and consideration of the relation of language to speech. The course will also examine various of the recently proposed accounts of the nature of mind and will explore how our understanding of mind and our understanding of language are interrelated. The content of this course may vary a little from year to year.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

What is the meaning of life? While this question does appear to be intelligible, it may also seem to be a question that might just be too big for us to answer in a satisfying way. Closer scrutiny reveals that the meaning of the question "What is the meaning of life?" cannot simply be taken for granted. Indeed, some philosophers have even suggested that, ultimately, the question does not make any sense. This course will engage critically with several philosophical attempts to make sense of this fundamental question and may even propose an answer to it.

Time permitting, the course will also deal with related topics such as the badness of death and (the nature of) human nature. More specifically, topics will include most of, but are not confined to:

• What exactly does the question "What is the meaning of life?" and related questions mean?
  
• Different strategies of answering or dealing with those question(s).
  
• Death and whether it is bad.
  
• The human condition.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) (approx 2,500 words).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be advised

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The idea that there are limits to what we can think, know, state or understand has always been a prominent theme in philosophy. Are there really such limits? If so, what are they and what produces them? What is the relation between the limits of thought and the limits of language? Does the source of the traditional problems of philosophy lie in our conceptual limits rather than in the entities about which we philosophise? Or, is the idea that conception is limited itself incoherent? Thinking about the limits of thought seems always to lead to paradoxes and contradictions. Can we go further, and claim that there is a systematic link between the two? In this course, we will explore what philosophers have had to say about these questions.

More specifically topics will include most of, but will not be confined to

• Cognitive closure


• The reach of thought: conceivability and inconceivability


• Whether our reach exceeds our grasp: the limits of expression


• The community of thinkers: minimal rationality


• Limits of language and the limits of the world: language all the way down?


• Thought, finitude and the infinite


• The threat of paradoxes


• The limits of thought as the loci of true (?) contradictions


• Self enclosure and reflection problems: vicious circles and explanatory self enclosure.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%) (approx 2,500 words).

Resit: 1 two-hour examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course explores the work of a number of philosphers whose work draws on the notion of 'the ordinary' (and associated themes). We will examine, in turn, Thomas Reid's (and later G E Moore's) anti-sceptical appeal to 'common sense', Alfred Schutz's reflections on the phenomological 'everyday life-world', Ludwig Wittgenstein's last notebooks On Certainty and finally Jacques Derrida's recent remarks on the 'production of the extraordinary within the ordinary'. More specifically, topics will include most of, but are not confined to:

• What is meant by 'common sense', 'ordinary life' (and associated concepts) as used by specific philosophers?
  
Does the appeal to 'the ordinary' inevitably lead to relativism?

Of what significance is the concept of trust in such appeals to 'the ordinary'?

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr C Jaeger

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The course aims to develop abilities in critical philosophical analysis of concepts used in philosophical reflection on religion, to enable students to discuss philosophical issues relating to religion, both orally and in writing.

This is a course, not in philosophical theology, but in philosophy of religion, seen as the concern to understand the place and phenomenon of religion in the spectrum of human experience. It seeks to locate religion among other human practices, especially art, history, science, philosophy and morality. Questions to be considered include: what is the relation between religion and theology? Is there a conflict between modern science and traditional religion? Can God act in history, and if so can we know this? Why does religion make so much use of art forms? Does religion transcend or perfect morality or is it irrelevant to it?

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be advised

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

One of the main questions epistemologists think about is the question – what is knowledge? Almost all epistemologists agree that knowledge requires at least true belief. For how can you know that it rains if (i) it does not in fact rain, and if (ii) you don’t believe that it rains? Almost all epistemologists also agree that true belief is not enough to get knowledge. There are cases in which a subject has a true belief but does not know. However, there is surprisingly little agreement about what should be added to true belief to get knowledge. The first purpose of this course is to acquire a detailed understanding of one prominent and controversial proposal about what should be added to true belief to get knowledge: Alvin Plantinga’s theory of warrant. The second purpose of this course is to make a start at evaluating this particular theory by developing some ideas about what should be added to true belief to yield knowledge of your own.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%) (approx 2,500 words).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

In what we know dependent on certain non-trivial contextual factors, such as the salience of particular error-possibilities or the raising and lowering of epistemic standards? “Contextualists” will answer this question affirmatively. According to them, we cannot know propositions if no conversational context can be specified. “Invariantists” will answer this question negatively. According to them, contextual factors play no role whatsoever in the knowing of propositions.

Contextualist theories are among the most widely discussed theories in contemporary epistemology, with only a handful of philosophers explicitly defending such a position. This course aims to introduce students to the main contextualist positions on the market, as well as to the main arguments pro and contra contextualism. More specifically, some of the topics that will be discussed are:

• the motivation for contextualism (eg the problem of radical scepticism).


• The closure principle for knowledge.


• Epistemic strength contextualism.


• Contrastivism.


• Subject sensitive invariantism.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week; 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The course examines Reid's conception of Common Sense and the philosophical significance he abscribes to it. Other topics include Reid's treatment of perception, memory, personal identity, human action, freedom, and morality. In addition to examining Reid's relationship to Hume some consideration is also given to the relationship of Reid's thought to Kant's transcendental philosophy and to Husserl's phenomenology.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The course will examine the chief metaphysical and epistemological ideas of René Descartes – the philosopher who in many respects can be rightly regarded as the ‘father’ of modern philosophy. The topics discussed will include: the problem of method, as presented and solved by Descartes; the function of Cartesian doubt; the significance and consequences of Descartes’ first principle: “I think therefore I am”; Cartesian dualism of res cogitans and res extensa; the role of God in Descartes’ system and his demonstrations of the existence of God; the problem of error; and the existence of the external world.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

This is an Honours option course. Students are not allowed to register for this course after week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will explore the nature of friendship, love and sex. It will be thematically (rather than historically) structured and thereby explore fundamental ethical concepts (such as consent and freedom).

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500 (approx) word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: One 2,500 (approx) word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will explore the nature of 'the human condition', with specific focus on the existentialist philosophical tradition. It will be thematically (rather than historically) structured and thereby explore fundamental concepts such as death, freedom and angst.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500 (approx) word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: One 2,500 (approx) word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).
Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course gives an introduction to one of the most important philosophers: David Hume. It will focus on his theoretical philosophy.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written exmination (50%) and 1 essay of approx 2,500 words (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay of approx 2,500 words (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

Each student will choose a specific topic of interest to them. (These choices will be confirmed by / negotiated with the department). With supervision and direction from elected supervisors, the student will produce an extended essay of 5,000 words.

Structure

Supervision sessions to be arranged with individual members of staff (depending on student's choice of topic). These arrangements will be flexible - ie some students will need more supervision than others. No student should require more than 6 hours of supervision over the 12 week period.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 5,000 word essay (100%).

Resit: One 5,000 word essay (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will explore the natire and ethical standing of emotional responses. It will cover the key theoretical debates and prominent accounts of particular emotions. It will be thematically based (rather than seeking to provide a historical overview of the subject).

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Continuous assessment (one essay of 2,500-3,000 words) (50%) and 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: Continuous assessment (one essay of 2,500-3,000 words) (50%) and 1 two-hour written examination (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

Are human beings essentially material beings, or do they have a non-material part? This question is one of the oldest in philosophy, with dualists arguing that human beings are a compound of two substances (one material, the other immaterial), and anti-dualists arguing that human beings are essentially material beings.

The purpose of this course is to review arguments in favour of both positions. A further purpose of this course is to think about the impact of the distinction between dualism and anti-dualism on the question whether life after death is possible.

As course readings, we will use a collection of papers edited by Kevin Corcoran ("Soul, Body, and Survival", Cornell University Press 2001), with some additional papers.

Structure

12 one-hour lectures, and 6 one-hour seminars, over 12 weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); 1 essay of maximally 3,500 words (50%).

1 two-hour written examination (50%); 1 essay of maximally 3,500 words (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will critically explore, not only Wittgenstein's reflections on the nature of religious belief, but also how these have influenced philosophy of religion. Correlations between Wittgenstein and other philosophers (for example Kierkegaard) will also be explored.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will critically explore the nature and limits of toleration. The course will be thematically, rather than historically, organised. Having examined the theoretical justifications for tolerance, we will then consider a number of pressing contemporary issues, such as artistic freedom and Holocaust denial.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

This course will critically explore the conception of ethics offered by Levinas and Derrida. The course will be thematically organised around the following topics: being-for-the-Other, usurpation and guilt, forgiveness, hospitality, the gift and testimony.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 3 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will explore the nature and ethical standing of emotional responses. It will cover the key theoretical debates and prominent accounts of particular emotions. It will be thematically based. (Rather than seeking to provide a historical overview of the subject).

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The course will focus on the contemporary debate over free will and will trace recent developments as well as exploring some wider implications for related debates. The course will be thematically based. The topics covered include: compatibilis; libertarianism; hard incompatibilism; free will and moral luck; moral responsibility; deontic morality; punishment, the problem of evil and celestial free will, free will and animals, free will and political philosophy.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,2500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examinatoin (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr N Davies

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The course will begin with an investigation into Moore's paradox and proceed to investigate others from the fields of language and logic (the sorties paradox, the knower paradox, and the paradox of knowability, and so forth).

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr N Davies

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will critically explore aesthetic considerations of fictitous and documentary film. Moreover, it will deal with film narration in various genres and the role it plays in the suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience.

Other areas of analysis will include, but not be limited to, authorship, ethics, language, and epistemology.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr G Bacciagaluppi

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

The main problems about time concern the relation between how time appears to us and how it features in the physical description of the world. To us time appears as flowing and as possessing a direction; the past seems fixed and the future open to influence. In physics, time is just a parameter used in our description, with no apparent flow; and while some phenomena (Champagne corks popping) are more familiar than their time inverses, the fundamental laws underlying them seem to be essentially time-symmetric. This course will provide a broad introduction to these problems.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Laerke

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

Both Malebranche and Leibniz belong to the "moderate" wing of post-cartesian thinking. While they both adopt central parts of the new, scientific world view instaurated by Galileo, Bacon, Hobbes and Descartes, they also stress the importance of accomodating the Christian religion within their systems. This course will introduce to the philosophy of these thinkers and to their attempts to be modern and christian at the same time.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: Candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit themselves for re-assessment and should contact the Course Co-ordinator for further details.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr F Berto

Pre-requisites

Successful completion of PH 1010 Logic 1.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course introduces Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems, arguably the most important result in contemporary metalogic. Starting with Frege and Russell's logicist enterprise, moving on to the paradoxes of set theory, aand Hilbert's formalism, the course explains the techniques involved in Gödel's proof, such as the arithmetization of syntax, diagonalization, and non-contextual self-reference. Next, the alleged philosophical consequences of Gödel's incompleteness results for Platonism in the philosophy of mathematics, and for sceptical arguments to the effect that consistency cannot be secured even for mathematical knowledge, are critically discussed and evaluated.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 work essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: Candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit themselves for re-assessment and should contact the Course Co-ordinator for further details.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr L Moretti

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

The course aims at uncovering what is constitutive of scientific rationality. Some of the most discussed conceptions of scientific methodology, including Bacionian inductivism, hypothetico-deductivism, falsificationism, Feyerabend's anarchism and Bayesianism, will be analysed. Some of these views will be tested on cases from past and contemporary science, including the Copernican revolution, the continental drift hypothesis and the AWARE study of near-death experiences. Specific and "technical" topics, including the old and new problem of induction, the Duhem-Quine thesis and paradoxes of confirmation, will also be surveyed.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: Candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit themselves for re-assessment and should contact the Course Co-ordinator for further details.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr F Berto

Pre-requisites

Successful completion of PH 1010 Logic 1.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

Mastery of contemporary modal logic is a requisite not only for logicians, but also for philosophers of language and metaphysicians. Despite its well-known applications, possible worlds semantics raises many philosophical questions, from the metaphysical status of worlds to the meaningfulness of quantification over non-actual individuals. This course introduces both to the logical techniques and to the philosophical issues. Its most specific feature consists in providing an introduction to the new, and quickly developing, subject of impossible worlds: worlds where logical laws and other necessary truths may fail. These anarchic worlds turn out to be useful to model many phenomena of great interest for philosophers and logicians.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: Candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit themselves for re-assessment and should contact the Course Co-ordinator for further details.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Laerke

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

If Descartes is that father of modern philosophy, Spinoza is probably the most radical and innovative philosopher among the post-Cartesians. In this course, we will discuss central texts of these two philosophers (mainly Descartes' Meditations and Spinoza's Ethics) by examining their arguments in this historical context.

Structure

1 one-hour lectures per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: Candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit themselves for re-assessment and should contact the Course Co-ordinator for further details.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr U Stegmann

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course afer the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

Over the last decades, the philosophy of biology has matured into a separate and dynamic field of philosophical inquiry. This introductory course aims to provide an overview of the field by examining some classical topics as well as more recent developments. The course ranges over key biological disciplines (evolutionary biology, ecology, molecular biology) and traces connections between philosophy of biology and other areas of philosophy, especially general philosophy of science and the philosophy of mind and language. Topics to be discussed include the nature of species, the goals and methods of systematics, biological function, the niche concept, cognitive ethology, reductionism, genetic causation, and genetic information.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: Candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit themselves for re-assessment and should contact the Course Co-ordinator for further details.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr F Berto

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course explores some main questions of both classic and contemporary ontology, connected to the notions of being and existence. Some such questions are: is "being" univocal? Is there a distinction between being and existence, and between "there is" and "exists"? What does the Kantian motto "Existence is not a predicate" mean? Is existence a property? Is the notion of existence captured by the existential quantifier of elementary logic? Some of the greatest metaphysicians of all times, from Parmenides to Aristotle, from Leibniz to Kant and Meinong, have struggled on these issues; which have recently been revived within analytic ontology, in the philosophy of quantification of such authors as Quine, Peter van Inwagen, Nathan Salmon, and Graham Priest.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: Candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit themselves for re-assessment and should contact the Course Co-ordinator for further details.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr P D Bubbio

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The aim of this module is to examine Kant's critical philosophy. Kant's 'Copernican turn' is one of the most important 'revolution' in Western philosophy. The module covers Kant's epistemology, ethics and aesthetics; it concentrates primarily on the Critique of Pure Reason and on the Critique of Practical Reason, but also covers selected material from the Critique of Judgment and from Religion within the Boundaries of Reason Alone. The approach will be text based. Particular attention will be given to the notion of 'transcendental idealism', and to the way in which it has shaped the philosophical discussion of the nineteenth and twentieth century.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One short 2000 word essay (40%) plus one long 3000 word essay (60%).

Resit: Candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit themselves for re-assessment and should contact the Course Co-ordinator for further details.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor C Wilson

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/2011.

Overview

The course discusses central problems in Political Philosophy, such as sovereignty, rights, the authority of government etc; and in social philosophy, such as social justice, the nature of society, the limits of liberty etc. The detailed content of the course varies from year to year.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 5 300-400-word short essays (total: 1500-2000 words) due every other week and a final review paper of 1200-1500 words

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Laerke

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/2011.

Overview

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are most often, and not without reason, considered as age of reason and Enlightenment, dominated by such champions of the natural light as Descartes, Leibniz, Voltaire and Kant. During this epoch there was, however, also a strong current of scepticism, mainly Pyrrhonism. This current mainly originated from the rediscovery of Sextus Empiricus by authors such as Montaigne and Charron in the sixteenth century. The theoretical landscape of early modern scepticism is extremely diverse, ranging from sincere Catholics fighting Cartesianism with Sceptic arguments, such as Pierre-Daniel Huet, to atheists among the so-called “erudite libertines”, of which Molière’s Dom Juan is a theatrical representation. We also find unclassifiable and slippery thinkers such as Pierre Bayle, who can be seen either as a somewhat fideist Calvinst or as a radical Pyrrhonist with atheist tendencies, or again David Hume whose radical scepticism did not prevent him from being associated to the French Enlightenment. In this seminar, we will read texts and selections from texts by the most important and most representative sceptics in the period. Readings will include: Sextus Empiricus, Montaigne, Pierre Charron, François La Mother Le Vayer, Molière, Descartes, Pierre-Daniel Huet, Pierre Bayle, and Hume.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight

Assessment

1st attempt: One 2500-3000 word essay (50%) plus one 2 hour written exam (50%)

Resit: Candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit themselves for re-assessment and should contact the Course Co-ordinator for further details.

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Various

Pre-requisites

Available only to both Junior and Senior Hons students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad)

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching

Overview

The history of Western Philosophy comprises, in large part, of classic books. Rarely, however, are students expected to read such texts in their entirety. In this course a selection of such texts will be available for students to work through in seminar-style groups which will meet up every week. The emphasis here is on student-led collaborative work. Students will be responsible for running each session, though a member of staff will record ‘minutes’ of the meetings and distribute these to the class via WebCT.

Structure

1 ninety-minute seminar per week over 12 weeks.

Assessment

1st attempt: One 2500-3000 word essay (70%), class participation (10%) plus one 2 hour exam (20%)

Resit: One 2500-3000 word essay (70%), class participation (10%) plus one 2 hour exam (20%)

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Various

Pre-requisites

Available only to both Junior and Senior Hons students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad)

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/2011.

Overview

The history of Western Philosophy comprises, in large part, of classic books. Rarely, however, are students expected to read such texts in their entirety. In this course a selection of such texts will be available for students to work through in seminar-style groups which will meet up every week. The emphasis here is on student-led collaborative work. Students will be responsible for running each session, though a member of staff will record ‘minutes’ of the meetings and distribute these to the class via WebCT.

Structure

1 ninety-minute seminar per week over 12 weeks.

Assessment

1st attempt: One 2500-3000 word essay (70%), class participation (10%) plus one 2 hour exam (20%)

Resit: One 2500-3000 word essay (70%), class participation (10%) plus one 2 hour exam (20%)

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr G Hough

Pre-requisites

Notes

This course will not run in 2010/2011.

Overview

Sometimes speakers mean more by their utterances than what those utterances literally say. Especially striking examples of this occur when a speaker is being ironic or using a metaphor. However, this phenomenon is not restricted to these special cases. There are many more mundane types of language use for which the literal meaning of the sentence used does not fully determine what the speaker means by her utterance. For example, cases of lexical ambiguity (e.g. ‘Farmer Jones found his pen empty’), structural ambiguity (‘The chicken was ready to eat’), or indexicality (e.g. ‘She asked for that book’).
The study of how we mean more than we literally say falls under the remit of Pragmatics. Philosophers have contributed a substantial amount to linguistic work on these issues, via work in the philosophy of language. Furthermore, philosophers have drawn on the intuitive distinction between sentence meaning and speaker meaning in attempting to solve puzzles in philosophical work on language and beyond. In this course, we will begin by examining philosophical work on various pragmatic processes: conversational implicature, presupposition, deixis. Then we will examine a variety of philosophical applications of these mechanisms, possibly including work in philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and moral philosophy.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week plus 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight

Assessment

1st attempt: 1 essay of 2500-3000 words in length (50%), plus 1 two hour written examination (50%)

Resit: 1 essay of 2500-3000 words in length (50%); 1 two hour written examination (50%). 1st attempt essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay submission required if 1st attempt essay result CAS 5 or below

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course deals with Kant’s ethical theory as part of his system of philosophy. In the account of nature given in the Critique of Pure Reason, everything which happens is causally necessitated, but human beings are moral agents, able to form a conception of how the world ought to be and freely to determine their own actions. The moral law is grounded in this freedom. The charge that Kant’s ethical theory is an ‘empty formalism’ is examined.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

Lectures for this course will focus on either (or both) of the following key issues: (i) if a correct account of scientific methodology is possible, what exactly is that account? (ii) are scientific theories in general and the aim of science in particular properly understood in realist or anti-realist terms? The course textbook is a comprehensive anthology of key readings on a range of topics central to the Philosophy of Science. Students should therefore also feel free to negotiate alternate presentation/essay topics (drawn from the textbook) with the course co-ordinator.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will explore a selection of philosophical topics from the writings of Plato and Aristotle on metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, aesthetics and political philosophy.

Structure

12 lectures and 6 seminars. 1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr C Jaeger

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The course explores the nature of aesthetic experience, art appreciation, the aesthetic attitude and the artist's intention and considers questions about the relationship between art and truth and art and life. It involves study of classical philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle and contemporary philosophers such as Hospers, Beardsley, Dickie, Wittgenstein, Mandelbaum and Cioffi.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr D Braine

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will consider what is distinctive in Aquinas's understanding of God as first cause, of the simplicity of God as pure act, and of analogy. It will then consider the structure of his ethics, including his view of the nature of human happiness, the virtues related to community, and natural law. It will require study of some selected texts from Aquinas.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr C Jaeger

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

Are religious beliefs rational - or justified, warranted, intellectually acceptable? If so, which conditions and constraints must they meet? The course will discuss these questions mainly with respect to theistic beliefs and with a special focus on the Christian tradition. It will address in particular: (i) classical topics from natural theology and atheology such as arguments for the existence of God, problems of evil, and projection theories of religious belief formation; (ii) the phenomenology and epistemic significance of religious experience; and (iii) Reformed Epistemology (Plantinga, Alston, Wolterstorff) and the question of which concepts of epistemic justification are appropriate for religious beliefs.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

Although Wittgenstein's reflections on ethical and religious matters are piecemeal, such themes nevertheless preoccupy much of his work. In the first part of this course we will reconstruct these themes into a more coherent picture. Developing a number of Wittgenstein's central preoccupations, we will then turn to Levinas' challenging conception of the relation between the ethical and religious. Using Wittgenstein as our conceptual touchstone we will elucidate a number of Levinas' central motifs and how these have been developed by Derrida. More specifically, topics will include most of, but are not confined to:

• What is the relation between the 'grammar' of religious and ethical language?
  
• Does Wittgenstein's later work (with specific reference to religious belief) necessarily lead to fideism and/or dogmatism?
  
• How does Levinas' work expand on some of Wittgenstein's thoughts on ethics and religion, and how might Wittgenstein in turn be used to critically evaluate Levinas?
  
• What is the substantive philosophical relationship between Levinas' ethics and Derrida's recent work?

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%) (approx 2,500 words).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examiantion (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

What is truth? This question represents one of the most fundamental philosophical problems. Indeed, according to traditional conceptions of Philosophy itself as the pursuit of truth, the question of the nature of truth may be the most fundamental of all philosophical questions. Further, while a number of 'robus' accounts of truth have been proposed, many philosophers, historical and contemporary, have sought to resist the claim that consists in any real property and have variously agreed that truth is either redundant or admits of a merely minimalist analysis. While this course will explore the question of the nature of truth quite generally, a particular focus of the course will be whether the positions of truth-sceptical philosophers can be refuted.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

PH 1010, PH 1306. Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. Satisfactory completion of PH 1010 and PH 1306 is an essential prerequisite. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course consists of a selection of key topics and issues in contemporary and/or historical debates constitutive of formal and/or philosophical logic beyond classical first order logic. Topics may include Intuitionist Logic, Relevant Logic, Quantum Logic, Modal Logic and the logic of Formal Dialogue. This course may also include an examination of paradox, concepts of probability and methodological issues in epistemology and the philosophy of science. The exact constitution of the curriculum in any given year will be set out prior to commencement of classes.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and 1 one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

If you have ever studied metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, or philosophy of logic, you will probably have felt the influence of Willard Van Orman Quine. You don't have to have read Quine, nor even to have hear of him, to come under his influence. For Quine has set the agenda for work in many areas of contemporary philosophy. Futhermore, his whole approach to philosophy and philosophical analysis has irreparably changed the way in which we think about and do philosophy today.

Given that Quine has such a hold over you, you might as well learn a bit more about him. This course will present Quine's work systematically, focussing on two of his most basic commitments: naturalism and extensionalism. Topics covered will include Quine's views on naturalised epistemology, ontology, necessity and meaning. Criticisms of Quine's views from contemporary philosophers will also be considered.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (50%), essay (one 2,500-3,000 word) (50%).

Resit: Examination (50%), essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Variable

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The content of this course will be determined each year by a lecturer whose course, based on his or her current area of research activity, is offered in the preceding spring, when students apply for entry into Honours, as an option to be run in the first half-session, and is of interest to a sufficient number of students to justify running it.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Variable

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will normally run in the second half-session as PH 4506. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The content of this course will be determined each year by a lecturer whose course, based on his or her current area of research activity, is offered in the preceding spring, when students apply for entry into Honours, as an option to be run in the second half-session, and is of interest to a sufficient number of students to justify running it.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The course deals with questions such as the objectivity of ethics, the interpretation of such objectivity in terms of rationality and the conflict between consequentialist and non-consequentialist approaches to ethics.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (2500 words) (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

The first part of the course will study two or more of the following topics in Metaphysics: the nature of causality; problems of space and time; the nature of truth; appearance and reality; the possibility of a "view from nowhere". The second part will consider the nature, extent and possibility of knowledge, and related problems of scepticism and relativism.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and one 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

Naming and Necessity is unquestionably one of the most important philosophical works of the past fifty years - arguably the most important - with profound implications for a wide range of fields, including the philosophy of language, metaphysics, and the philosophy of mind. Kripke's book will serve as the centrepiece of the course, but we will also look at other related material, including background work (eg Frege and Russell), concurrent sympathetic work (eg Putnam), and subsequent criticism (eg Lewis). Topics to be examined include: the causal theory of reference, and Kripke's arguments against descriptivism; the basics, at least, of modal logic and possible worlds semantics; the metaphysics of possible worlds; essentialism, both for individuals and for natural kinds; Kripke's argument against psychophysical identity.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%) and one 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

This course is compulsory for Senior Honours students in Philosophy. Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

A dissertation on a topic in Philosophy.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Dissertation 10,000 word (100%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

A crucial distinction in the philosophy of language is the distinction between pragmatics and semantics. One of the main reasons for justifying this distinction is that there are clear cases in which what a speaker is trying to say by uttering a sentence is not completely captured by the standard meaning of the particular sentence that is used. This distinction, crucial though it is, is the subject of considerable debate. Some of the most pressing questions are: what is the distinction between pragmatics and semantics, and why does it matter? In this course, we will try to get a clear idea of the difference between pragmatics and semantics. Moreover, we will investigate to what extent this distinction is of importance in some recent debates in epistemology, mainly focussing on epistemological contextualism, subject sensitive invariantism, and epistemological contrastivism. As course readings, we will use a selection of papers by J. L. Austin, Kent Bach, F. Recanati, D. Sperber and D. Wilson. these papers will be combined in a course reader.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%); 1 essay of approx 3,500 words (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

Through guided reading and student-led seminar discussion, this course explores a number of themes in the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. The precise content of the course will vary from year to year, but it will invariably address aspects of both his earlier and later work. Topics in logic and the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, epistemology, and the philosophy of value will be addressed. Students can be provided with a detailed list of topics to be considered from the course tutor.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 three-hour examination (50%) and course essay (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

This course will explore the most difficult and important philosophical question: 'What is philosophy?' Given that philosophy is a deeply self-reflective discipline, its own nature and limits are of fundamental importance. Indeed, it can be argued that metaphilosophy is not simply one branch or sub-discipline of philosophy, but rather, all philosophy is (explicitly or otherwise) metaphilosophy. The sorts of questions examined on this course include: 'Is philosophy more akin to science or literature?' 'Is there progress in philosophy?' 'How (if at all) can we demarcate between "philosophy" and "non-philosophy"?' The course will be thematically structured.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

Close reading and discussion of central passages of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will critically explore some of the main themes in Nietzsche's work. The course will be thematically, rather than historically, organised. The topics covered will include: the 'will to power', perspectivalism, the nature of ethics and religion.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture per week and one-hour tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will critically explore some of the main themes in recent Feminist philosophy. The course will the thematically organised. The topics covered will include: gender, discrimination, identity, pornography, feminist ethics.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will introduce students to the contract between different kinds of love and the theories that attempt to account for the connection between them. Introductory lectures on the accounts of love in Plato and Sartre will pave the way for a series of seminars examining key articles (by David Velleman, Lawrence Blum, Janet Soskice and Harry Frankfurt) and contemporary work in the field.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will critically explore the main philosophical themes, questions and approaches to death. The course will be thematically organised, and cover positions from both Analytic and Continental traditions.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over the twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

TBD

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Co-requisites

None.

Notes

Students are not permitted to to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course concerns a number of influential thought experiments in philosophy and the history of science.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures plus 9 ninety-minute lectures over twelve weeks.

Assessment

One 2,500 - 3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Co-requisites

None.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

This course will critically explore, not only Wittgenstein's reflections on the nature of religious belief, but also how these have influenced philosophy of religion. Correlations between Wittgenstein and other philosophers will also be explored.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures plus 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

One 2,500 - 3,000 word essay (50%) plus one two-hour written examination (50%).

Resit: N/A.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor S Gaukroger

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Co-requisites

None.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will focus on three figures: Frege (with some discussion of neo-Kantianism and of Saussure's conception of language); Russell's theory of descriptions (with some discussion of Husserl's very different approach to meaning); and Wittgenstein's Tractatus.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures plus 9 ninety-minutes seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

One 2,500 - 3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr U Stegmann

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

Information is a central notion in the science, from physics to psychology, and it has attracted considerable philosophical attention. This course introduces students to central issues in the philosophy of information. The first part explores the question 'what is information?' and looks at communication theory, probabilistic and counterfactual theories, and theories appealing to correlation and meaningful data. The second part of the course discusses some influential attempts to use information in order to address various philosophical problems. We will focus on issues in epistemology (perception and knowledge) and the philosophy of mind (mental content and phenomenal consciousness).

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Ms P Sweeney

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course begings with an introduction to truth-conditional semantics for natural language: the idea that the meaning of a sentence is exhausted by its truth-conditions. We consider the fact that the acceptance of apparently harmless context-sensitives such as 'I' and 'now' can lead to radical contextualism and the collapse of truth-conditional semantics. We then consider the problem solving powers of contextualist semantics and finally, the issue of relativism about truth is briefly considered.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 nintey-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr L Moretti

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

The course will focus on the long-standing debate on epistemological scepticism, will single out the principal types of scepticism emerged in history and will explore important attempts to reply to them. The emphasis will be on global scepticism (or scepticism about the external world) and the contemporary responses to it. The latter will include positions based on relevant alternatives, on the rejection of closure, and on epistemological entitlement; infallibilism and contextualism will also be considered.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Walter Pedriali

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

A distinctive mark of our discourse is the all-pervasive presence of norms. We routinely judge that a certain act was the right (wrong) thing to do, or that in some circumstances we ought to have chosen a certain course of action rather than another. Often enough, we ask that reasons be given for our choices. In short, we take ourselves to be answerable to norms of behaviour, which it is customary to call 'moral'. The puzzle, however, is that it appears difficult to locate the facts, if any, that would make our moral judgements true or false as the case may be. And yet it seems costitutive of our being rational that we be responsible moral agents, i the sense of being sensitive to the demands of norms.

In this course we explore a cluster of issues that arise in connection with the notion of normativity. We look at what could possibly ground our normative claims. We examine the fact-value distinction, and the question of whether meaning and mental content have normative import. We shall also critically discuss some of the answers given to our puzzle by prominent philosophers in contemporary meta-ethics.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr G Bacciagaluppi

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad). (But see 'Notes').

Notes

Sessions may be held in common with those of the level 5 course on 'Foundations of Physics'. In this case, the minimum number of students required run the course may be lowered. Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

The course will focus on the main topics in contemporary philosophy of physics, namely philosophy of quantum mechanics, philosophy of space-time and philosophy of statistical mechanics (in varying proportions - or alternation - from year to year). Previous familiarity with these physical theories will not be assumed.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

Comic laughter is one of the distinguishing features of human beings. As Aristotle remarks, "No animal laughs save Man". That all of us find some things funny is a mundane fact, but precisely why we find some things funny and others not is less clear. Throughout the history of Western philosophy there have been numerous attempts to explain what constitutes comic laughter - as opposed, say, to nervous laughter, or laughter caused by tickling or intoxicants. In this course we will critically evaluate these accounts (eg the 'superiority' account, the 'incongruity' thesis, and the 'relief' theory), and consider more recent attempts to explain this all-too-human phenomenon. We will also explore the ethical dimension of humour, asking (eg) whether- and if so why - it is wrong to find some things funny.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Laerke

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course will be dedicated to the close reading of Leibniz's Discourse on metaphysics(1686), Through discussion, it is our aim to articulate the philosophical principles that govern Leibniz's rationalism (the in-esse principle, the principle of sufficient reason, the principle of indiscernibles, etc), and to gain an understanding of the original system of God, harmony and invidual substances that it gives rise to. We will also try to identify the underlying motivations for this system, such as Leibniz's will to reintegrate Aristotle's philosophy into modern philosophy, his theological commitments, etc. We will read and discuss relevant commentary literature.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr U Stegmann

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students who attended the level 3 course ‘Philosophy of Biology’ (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

This course follows on from the introductory level 3 course. Some of the topics of that course will be revisited and explored in greater detail, but it will also cover new topics. In particular, students will engage with recent literature in the field and will be encouraged to explore in depth topics of their choice. Potential topics include fitness, the levels of selection, genetic determinism, reductionism, the role of models and model organisms in the life sciences, as well as the nature of mechanistic and computational explanations. Explicit links to the level 3 course will be made where feasible.

Structure

2-3 one-hour lectures and 9-10 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2500-3000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written exam (50%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr F Berto

Pre-requisites

Familiarity with elementary logic.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

Artificial Intelligence is the research program based upon the claim that the fuzzy aggregate of abilities we collectively call “intelligence” can be realized artificially – specifically, as an algorithm. If so, then it is possible to build a software implementing the algorithm, and have it run on a sufficiently powerful and fast computer.

AI raises a number of momentous philosophical, moral and even religious questions. First, is it possible? Is it actually the case that to think is to compute, or is the human mind irreducible to algorithms? Next, what would an artificial intelligence be like, metaphysically speaking? Which moral obligations, if any, would we have towards an artificial being whose intelligence is isomorphic to ours? And what would such intelligence tell us about the human mind?

This courses introduces both to the mathematical techniques of theoretical computer science (from computability theory to Turing machines, neural networks, serial, parallel, and non-standard computation), and to the philosophical issues.

Structure

1 one-hour lecture for weeks 1-3, plus 9 ninety-minute seminars for weeks 4-12.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2500-3000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written exam (50%).

Resit: Resit: Candidates achieving a CAS mark of 6-8 may be awarded compensatory level 1 credit. Candidates achieving a CAS mark of less than 6 will be required to submit themselves for re-assessment and should contact the Course Co-ordinator for further details.

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr U Stegmann and Professor C Wilson

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students who attended the level 3 course ‘Philosophy of Biology’ (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

This course explores philosophical issues arising from our relation to nature and the environment. Climate change has brought latent and long-standing issues about our relation to the natural world to the attention of politicians and the general public. We will look at some central concepts and problems in ecology and investigating their ethical, social and political ramifications. The course thus involves perspectives from both theoretical and practical philosophy. Among the concepts to be explored from the point of view of philosophy of science will be the notions of biodiversity and niche construction.

Structure

2-3 one-hour lectures and 9-10 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2500-3000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written exam (50%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr M Laerke

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

One of the most pressing problems in political philosophy from the Reformation to the Enlightenment was the problem of “law in relation to holy matters”, ie the question the precise relations between State and Church. Philosophers developed very sophisticated conceptual models for determining the exact division of power between Church and State, and which institutions should be considered just or illegal. In this seminar, we will read a series of central texts on the question, ranging from Machiavelli to Rousseau, including Hobbes, Grotius, Spinoza and Locke. As background, we will also read a few key texts from early Christian and medieval tradition (Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas). We will discuss problems such as: What are the political uses of religion? Who has the right to interpret religion and establish dogma? When should one obey the King and when should one obey the Church? May one rebel against the State on religious grounds? How must control must the State have over the exercise of religion?

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr L Moretti

Pre-requisites

None

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Overview

The nature of truth constitutes one of the deepest philosophical problems ever. Is truth correspondence with external reality or mere coherence of all our ideas and representations together? Is truth a real property of our beliefs or, rather, a deflationary and redundant feature of them? Are there truths that we couldn’t possibly know even if our cognitive powers were idealized? Is truth reducible to some kind of epistemic justification? The course aims to provide a systematic survey of the answers given to these questions by contemporary metaphysicians. Relations between these answers and central issues in metaphysics and epistemology – such as the nature of objectivity and of epistemic justification – will also be investigated.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written examination (50%).

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr B Plant

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Hons students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

Moral philosophy has been criticised by a number of philosophers, from both Anglo-American and Continental traditions. Some of these critics have wanted to improve traditional moral philosophy, others to cast suspicion on the entire project (indeed, some have been critical of ‘morality’ more generally). In this course we will critically consider some of these more-or-less radical assaults. The philosophers we will discuss include Nietzsche, Adorno, Rorty, Benhabib, Caputo, Williams and Nussbaum.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures plus 9 ninety-minute seminars.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2500 – 300 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour written exam (50%).

Resit: No resit as this is a level 4 course.

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor C Wilson

Pre-requisites

A previous course in moral theory

Notes

This course will not run in 2010/2011.

Overview

We will employ material from primary and secondary sources on he evolution of altruism, individual and group selection, the alleged human instinct for justice and fairness, and the limitations of natural morality and naturalized moral theory.

Structure

2-3 90-minute lectures and 9-10 90-min. seminars

Assessment

1st attempt: Seminar participation 10%; 1 paper 2,500-3,000 words 40%; one 2 hr. exam 40%

Formative Assessment

Feedback

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

What ought we to believe? The Truth? Whatever is rational to believe, even if it is not the truth? Or is, perhaps, the sceptic right to say that we are never well enough situated epistemically for there to anything that we *ought* to believe? Is evidence the only possible or proper determinant of what ought to be believed? Suppose that there were significant practical benefits in believing falsly or irrationally. Ought we yet to believe truly or rationally, or can the practical considerations outweigh the truth conducive considerations? Finally, are there intrinsically *epsitemic* duties and virtues, or are there just standard duties whose fulfilment requires rational belief as a necessary means. In this course we will explore these questions and others in the process of considering whether and to what extent there is an instrinsic obligation to believe rationally and whether and to what extent irrational belief is intrinsically blameworthy.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 two-hour examination (50%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and 1 essay (50%). Original essay mark carried forward if CAS 6 or above. New essay to be submitted if original essay CAS 5 or below.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

To be confirmed

Pre-requisites

Available only to Senior Honours students (or, with permission of the Head of School, students of equivalent status, such as non-graduating students from abroad).

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not run in 2010/11.

Overview

A lot of our beliefs are based on the testimony of others. I know when I was born, for instance, on the basis of the testimony of my parents. And I know that the Queen has visited Paris on the basis of the testimony of the newspaper I just read. The crucial question with regard to testimony is how testimony justifies our beliefs. How can it be that my belief that the Queen has visited Paris – a belief that is based on the testimony of the newspaper – is justified and, if true, an instance of knowledge? In response to this question, some argue that testimonial beliefs are justified in virtue of the fact we are justified in believing that the testifier is reliable. Others, however, argue that testimony is a basic source of justification, and as such is similar to perception, reasoning, and memory. In this course, we will closely examine these and other views regarding the epistemological status of testimonial beliefs by discussing the views of a wide range of authors. Moreover, students will be encouraged to adopt and defend position. Some of the topics that will be addressed include:

• the reliability of testimony.


• reductionism and anti-reductionism with regard to testimony.


• the relation between testimony and other sources of knowledge.


• aesthetic and moral testimony.


• testimony and social epistemology.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 9 ninety-minute seminars over twelve weeks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (50%) and course essay (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr G Hough

Pre-requisites

None

Overview

This course will primarily focus on issues about the identity of objects through time. In doing so, we will focus on questions like 'how can an object, at two difference times, perhaps in two difference places, and with many different properties and relations, survive through all these chages?' In our attempt to answer questions like this, we will focus on two central debates in the matephysics of identity through time: (i) Endurantist and Predurantist accounts of identity through time generally, and (ii) the Identity of Persons through time.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and nine 1½ hour seminars.

Assessment

1 two-hour written examination (50%); one 2,500-3,000 word essay (50%).