Course description
Specialisation Requirements:
* 100 points elective subjects with no more than 12.5 points at first-year level
First year subjects
Subject Semester Credit Points
161-108 Philosophical Issues
This subject provides a general introduction to philosophy through an examination of four central questions: (1) Knowledge and scepticism. What is knowledge and do we actually know what we take ourselves to know? Can we rule out the hypothesis that w... Semester 1 12.50
161-111 Great Ideas in Philosophy
This subject introduces and examines several famous ideas in Western philosophy, from various periods and traditions but with important recurring concerns including the scope of human reason, the case for religious belief, the nature of morality, and... Semester 2 12.50
Second/third-year subjects
Subject Semester Credit Points
161-008 Ethical Theory
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-010 Epistemology
This subject deals with two major topics in the theory of knowledge. We will consider such central epistemological questions as these. What is knowledge? Do we have knowledge? How do we know? What is the structure of knowledge? These questions will b... Semester 2 12.50
161-011 Philosophy of Language
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-012 Political Thought
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-013 Political Philosophy
This subject focuses on recent developments in political philosophy. Specific topics to be discussed may include: distributive justice; patriotism and preference for co-national; international justice; humanitarian intervention; liberalism; democrati... Semester 2 12.50
161-017 Does God Exist?
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-018 Aesthetics
This subject will be concerned with the nature of art and its value for the individual and society. Particular attention will be paid to the critical discussion of representation in art which began with Plato in the 4th Century BC, recurs in the 19th... Semester 1 12.50
161-019 Greek Philosophy
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-020 Phenomenology
This subject is a study of some classic texts and major themes in the 20th century philosophical traditions of phenomenology and existentialism. Themes to be discussed will include consciousness and perception, being-in-the-world, embodiment, truth a... Semester 2 12.50
161-021 From Hermeneutics to Derrida
This subject studies the theories of meaning and interpretation developed in contemporary European thought. It examines questions such as: What is it to interpret a text? How does an interpretation differ from a deconstruction? Is the meaning of a te... Semester 1 12.50
161-024 Biomedical Ethics
The development and increasing prestige of modern medicine continues to generate ethical controversy. This subject will provide a way of making sense of these controversies: it will consider the nature of health, illness and disease, and discuss a nu... Semester 2 12.50
161-030 The Rise of Modern Philosophy
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-035 Philosophy of Buddhism
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-212 Logic for Philosophers
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-215 Philosophy of Mind
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-217 Kant's Metaphysics of Experience
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-236 Nietzsche and Hegel
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-237 Analytic Philosophy
This subject is a study of the philosophical tradition known as Analytic Philosophy. We will focus on the rise of Analytic Philosophy, some central texts by key figures in the tradition (such as Bertrand Russell, GE Moore, Rudolf Carnap, WVO Quine, J... Semester 1 12.50
161-238 Indian Philosophy
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-240 Chinese Philosophy
This course on Chinese Philosophy focuses on the major philosophical schools of Classical China, including Confucianism, Mohism, and Daoism. Works produced in this period (12th century BCE; 221 BCE; Confucius born 551 BCE) exerted a profound influenc... Semester 1 12.50
161-241 Logic Completeness and Incompleteness
This subject deals with selected topics in logic beyond what is covered in a first logic subject, such as the completeness and undecidability of first-order logic and alternative deductive systems. The course finishes with an elaboration of Godel&apo... Semester 1 12.50
161-247 Metaphysics
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-310 What is Philosophy?
This subject examines the nature of philosophy itself. Students will read what many great philosophers have said about the methods, aims, and ambitions of philosophy. And they will examine how these views have been applied in thinking about metaphysi... Semester 2 12.50
136-033 Science, Reason and Reality
This subject addresses some of the central issues in the philosophy of science. It will raise questions such as: What is the difference between science and non-science? Is there a universal scientific method? Or do the methods employed by scientists ... Semester 1 12.50
161-007 Great Thinkers in Moral Philosophy
This subject critically studies three classics of moral philosophy: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Immanuel Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, and John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism. These works represent very different app... Semester 1 12.50
