Undergraduate Philosophy 2015-2016

How “real” is reality? Where does knowledge come from? How does the mind relate to the world? This course introduces two approaches to answering these questions: rationalism and empiricism. Through reading Rene Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, we learn about Descartes’ rationalist approach to knowledge, reality, mind-body dualism, and God’s necessary existence. Through David Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding we see how Hume grounds knowledge in experience. We read Hume on impressions and ideas, induction, causality, and miracles. We critically compare and examine Descartes’ and Hume’s arguments by drawing on their readers and critics. For further details please see the course guide

Watch this course video! We examine questions such as: Is eating animals immoral? Is being a good or bad person a matter of luck? If so, are we justified in punishing bad people? Should anyone be able to set limits on what you can do with your own body, even if it’s ‘for your own good’? Should everyone be allowed to state their mind, even if their views are harmful or offensive? Is censorship ever justifiable? Do you have a moral obligation to help those who are worse-off than you? Are you unknowingly biased against underprivileged groups?

Why do the morally right thing when you have much more to gain by doing evil and know you could get away with it? Should you save five lives even if this requires you to kill someone in exchange for them? Would you lie on the witness stand to protect your guilty mother from life in prison? We will read and discuss responses to these questions that have been presented in both historical and contemporary texts, including those by Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Kant, John Stuart Mill, Bernard Williams, Judith Thomson, Shelly Kagan, and T.M. Scanlon. See the course guide

Watch the course video! In this course we will explore a series of arguments which suggest that it is hard to fit the mind into the physical world. In particular, we will focus on three topics: the Mind/Body Problem, Free Will and Determinism, and Personal Identity. Each topic starts with an argument which suggests that we are not merely physical entities like brains, the central nervous system or other biological entities. Taken together, these arguments offer a serious challenge to the view that we can explain human cognition in terms of the physical characteristics of human brains and bodies.

This course introduces students to selected topics in general philosophy of science and in the philosophy of the special sciences. Here are some of the questions we will consider: Do we have reasons to believe that our best confirmed scientific theories are true? Do theoretical entities like electrons exist or are they conceptual tools for research? Are scientific explanations in some sense 'objective' or do they merely provide us with a warm feeling of understanding? What makes a scientific explanation good or bad? Among the special sciences, we will explore topics in physics, chemistry, the life sciences, and psychology. 

Watch the course video! This is a topic-driven course on which we critically explore questions relating to the meaning and value of life. These topics will include: God, suffering, absurdity and death. In doing so we will draw upon a wide range of thinkers from both Anglo-American and European traditions, and also, where relevant, on literature and film. Specific topics will change from year to year (see below for details). This course does not presuppose any previous philosophical knowledge; it is open to all interested students! For further details see the course guide

Have you ever wondered if, like characters in the movie The Matrix, you might be victim of a massive illusion, that the world around you is nothing like it appears? In this course we systematically investigate questions of this type and questions about nature of knowledge and related notions (such as epistemic justification and evidence)​. This investigation will lead to some surprising and potentially disturbing, results.​ This is a foundational course in epistemology (philosophy of knowledge) that provides a critical survey of theses, problems and issues that have discussed in this field in the last 50 years.​ See course guide

Watch this course video!

In recent times equality among genders has attracted increasing attention. This is no longer a matter of concern to a fringe movement, but a central issue to contemporary society. In this course we will examine some of the crucial issues in the debate and assess the merits of key arguments. The topics we’ll discuss include the ‘glass ceiling’ (i.e. pay inequality), the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and popular culture, harassment, pornography, and the objectification of women. For further details see the course guide

We'll discuss the later work of one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century: Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951). In the first half of the course we'll focus on selected passages from Philosophical Investigations, in which Wittgenstein undermines many of our opinions and theories regarding meaning and language, self-knowledge and action. In the second half of the course we'll turn our attention to developments and applications of Wittgenstein’s later work specifically, in relation to religious belief and certainty. Key primary texts we'll look at are ‘Lectures on Religious Belief’, ‘Remarks on Frazer’s Golden Bough’, Culture and Value and On Certainty. 

This course focuses on David Hume's 'An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding' (1748/1777). This important text continues to exert a strong influence in contemporary metaphysics, epistemology and philosophy of mind. Topics covered will include: the mind-world relation and the nature of thought; the nature of causation and causal explanation; free will and determinism; the Design Argument for the existence of God; the nature of objectivity. Classroom sessions involve both lecture-style teaching and student-led group work.

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. For further details see the course guide

It seems obvious that many choices you make are entirely up to you. But according to an attractive and currently popular view, we're nothing over and above the physical universe, subject to same laws of nature that govern colliding billiard balls and decaying fruit. But if this is so, how can our actions and decisions be entirely up to us? Aren’t they the result of a string of complex physical, chemical and biological reactions that are outside of our control? If so, then why should we be praised or blamed for them? For further details see the course guide

​This is a text based course. We will take a classic text from contemporary, modern or ancient Philosophy and study it as a group. The students will undertake close reading of the text as directed by the coordinator. The text may vary from year to year. For further details see the course guide

In Reason & Argument, you learnt about logic with the aim of building skills to enhance your reasoning by applying logical techniques to language and argument. This course has a very different goal. Rather than applying reason and logic to problems in general, we are going to make reason itself the object of our investigation. The course is mainly concerned with one problem: how powerful is reason? What can we expect from it and what are its limitations? This leads us to two of the most important results in twentieth century logic: completeness theorem and Gödel’s incompleteness theorem. Course Guide

Research Related Subject 1- Aesthetics. This introduction to Aesthetics offers an overview of the birth of modern aesthetics and, at the same time, an exposition of some basic concepts and problems of modern aesthetic thinking which have preserved their significance in the contemporary discourse of criticism and art theory, too. The discussed historic period ranges from cca. 1650 to 1800; the central theoretical problems include taste and aesthetic experience; the beautiful, the je-ne-sais-quoi, and the sublime; nature, art, and the landscape garden; the versions of the imagination; wit and humour, etc

The dissertation is on a topic in philosophy. The specific topic will be chosen by the student with the approval of the supervisor. The choice of topics is restricted insofar as it must fall within the teaching competence of the supervisor.

This advanced course in episte​mology focuses on the recent philosophical debate on scepticism. We will single out prominent forms of scepticism and explore attempts to respond to them. The emphasis will be on external world scepticism and responses to it. The course doesn't aim to reject scepticism. Its function is rather that of illuminating and critically discussing problems affecting our most basic theses, notions and intuitions in epistemology through the analysis of sceptical arguments.

We'll discuss the later work of one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century: Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951). In the first half of the course we'll focus on selected passages from Philosophical Investigations, in which Wittgenstein undermines many of our opinions and theories regarding meaning and language, self-knowledge and action. In the second half of the course we'll turn our attention to developments and applications of Wittgenstein’s later work specifically, in relation to religious belief and certainty. Key primary texts we'll look at are ‘Lectures on Religious Belief’, ‘Remarks on Frazer’s Golden Bough’, Culture and Value and On Certainty.

It seems obvious that many choices you make are entirely up to you. But according to an attractive and currently popular view, we're nothing over and above the physical universe, subject to same laws of nature that govern colliding billiard balls and decaying fruit. But if this is so, how can our actions and decisions be entirely up to us? Aren’t they the result of a string of complex physical, chemical and biological reactions that are outside of our control? If so, then why should we be praised or blamed for them? For further details see the course guide

​This is a text based course. We will take a classic text from contemporary, modern or ancient Philosophy and study it as a group. The students will undertake close reading of the text as directed by the coordinator. The text may vary from year to year. For further details see the course guide

In Reason & Argument, you learnt about logic with the aim of building skills to enhance your reasoning by applying logical techniques to language and argument. This course has a very different goal. Rather than applying reason and logic to problems in general, we are going to make reason itself the object of our investigation. The course is mainly concerned with one problem: how powerful is reason? What can we expect from it and what are its limitations? This leads us to two of the most important results in twentieth century logic: completeness theorem and Gödel’s incompleteness theorem. Course guide