PHIL210 to PHIL507

PHIL210 Philosophy of Language                                                                                                        10 cp

Prerequisites 1 Philosophy unit at introductory (100) level

Teaching Organisation Lectures, tutorials, seminars.

The theoretical study of language has been a distinctive feature of much twentieth century thought. Philosophy this century has been also characterised by a “linguistic turn”. This unit introduces the student to central trends, schools of thought and issues that have characterised this development in Philosophy. It also seeks to clarify the importance this turn towards the study of language has for traditional philosophical debates.

PHIL211 Logic and Foundations of Mathematics and the Sciences                                                     10 cp

Prerequisites 1 Philosophy unit at introductory (100) level

Teaching Organisation Lectures, tutorials, seminars.

This unit will consider questions concerning the foundations of mathematics and/or the sciences with a special emphasis on the contributions and limits of the techniques of modern formal logic. Topics will be chosen from the following: logicism and the theory of types, formalism, intuitionism, Cantor's Paradise and infinity, the set theoretic paradoxes, the epistemology and metaphysics of geometry and arithmetic, decision theory in the social sciences, formal methods in the foundations of physical theories, deontic logic, formal learning theory, logic and computational models in psychology.

PHIL212 Twentieth Century Analytic Philosophy                                                                                 10 cp

Prerequisites 1 Philosophy unit at introductory (100) level

Teaching Organisation Lectures, tutorials, seminars.

This unit will introduce the student to major figures, and debates that have defined twentieth century Analytic Philosophy. Some of the major movements in the tradition, such as pragmatism, logical positivism, conceptual and linguistic analysis and ordinary language philosophy, will be studied. Some of the major themes to be followed include the nature of philosophy, the treatment of ethics and religion in the tradition, the philosophy of mind and language, and the impact of movements in twentieth century philosophy on the Judaeo–Christian world view.

PHIL213 Twentieth Century European Philosophy                                                                               10 cp

Prerequisites 1 Philosophy unit at introductory (100) level

Teaching Organisation Lectures, tutorials, seminars.

Continental philosophy in the twentieth century has been an important influence in shaping our understanding of the human condition. This unit studies a selection of important twentieth century European philosophers and their ideas. For example, philosophers such as Husserl and Sartre and their ideas on essence and existence, consciousness, perception, the emotions, the mind-body problem, freedom and responsibility, etc. will be explored. Other significant continental philosophers who may be studied include Heidegger, Levinas, Gadamer, Habermas, Foucault and Derrida.

PHIL214 Medieval Philosophy                                                                                                              10 cp

Prerequisites 1 Philosophy unit at introductory (100) level

Teaching Organisation Lectures, tutorials, seminars.

This unit comprises a study of some of the major issues of medieval philosophy through a consideration of the works of selected important medieval philosophers. Students will gain an understanding of the historical milieu from which medieval philosophy emerged and the problems with which medieval philosophers were particularly concerned. Some of the topics from which a selection may be made include: the problem of universals, time and eternity, the insolubilia, paradoxes, the nature of conscience and related issues, the relationship between nature and grace, etc.

PHIL215 Modern Western Philosophy                                                                                                  10 cp

Prerequisites 1 Philosophy unit at introductory (100) level

Teaching Organisation Lectures, tutorials, seminars.

The unit will examine the development of philosophical thought in the western tradition from the Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century. It will trace some central debates of the period, including discussion of the nature and limits of human knowledge, and the nature of human life in society.

PHIL216 The Enlightenment                                                                                                                 10 cp

Prerequisites 1 Philosophy unit at introductory (100) level

Teaching Organisation Lectures, tutorials, seminars.

Studies eighteenth century thought in England, France and Germany, with particular emphasis on a group of highly influential characteristic ideas: the critique of metaphysics, revealed religion and historical tradition, the advocacy of reason and nature, and the conviction of the authority and beneficence of empirical science. It considers the influence of these ideas – and of their leading advocates – in ethics, politics, science, philosophy and religion, and concludes with a consideration of the subsequent critique of the enlightenment.

PHIL217 Philosophy of East and West                                                                                                  10 cp

Prerequisites 1 Philosophy unit at introductory (100) level

Teaching Organisation Lectures, tutorials, seminars.

The unit will present a comparative approach to a range of philosophical questions, drawing upon eastern and western traditions. It will review western and eastern treatments of various issues, including the nature of human knowing, ultimate reality, and right conduct.

PHIL218 Issues in Moral Philosophy                                                                                                     10 cp

Prerequisites PHIL104 Introduction to Ethics

Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of lectures, tutorials and seminars.

Offers students the opportunity to deepen their understanding of morality through a careful examination of some of the major issues in contemporary moral philosophy such as the nature of moral good and evil, the place of emotions like shame and remorse in the moral life, and the role which tradition plays in moral reflection.

PHIL219 Elementary Symbolic Logic                                                                                                   10 cp

Prerequisites Nil

Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of lectures, tutorials and workshops.

Will teach students the elementary theory (excluding Metatheory) and skills of contemporary symbolic logic up to basic quantificational logic, including, if time permits, identity and other relations. Particular attention will be given to applications to natural language reasoning.

PHIL220 Philosophy: Special Study                                                                                                     10 cp

Prerequisites 1 Philosophy unit at (100) introductory level.

Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of seminars, lectures and tutorials.

This unit offers studies in a specialised area of philosophical research, which is undertaken by a present member of staff or a visiting scholar. The unit will provide students with the opportunity to develop their philosophical knowledge in one of the major areas of study: ethics and applied philosophy, epistemology and metaphysics, history of philosophy, and logic and philosophy of language. Student requirements will vary according to the expertise of the staff member or visiting scholar teaching the unit.

PHIL400 Research Methods in Philosophy                                                                                           10 cp

Prerequisites Entry into the Honours course

Teaching Organisation Seminars and tutorials.

This unit gives students undertaking research in philosophy at an advanced level an opportunity to study the variety of methods by which philosophical questions can be addressed and how these are employed in philosophical discourse.

PHIL401 Current Issues in the Theory of Value                                                                                    10 cp

Prerequisites Entry into the Honours course

Teaching Organisation Seminars and tutorials.

This unit is concerned with the examination of conceptions of value and the good. Students will be led to a deeper understanding of the complex issues surrounding questions about the nature of human values and the implications these have for human life and human institutions.

PHIL402 Current Issues in Epistemology, Metaphysics and Philosophy of Science                              10 cp

Prerequisites Entry into the Honours course

Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of seminars, lectures and tutorials.

Epistemology, Metaphysics and developments in science inform the study of all the branches of philosophy. In this unit, students will be given the opportunity for a detailed study of selected contemporary philosophical debates in the theory of knowledge, metaphysics, the sciences, including cognitive science, neuroscience or psychology.

PHIL500 Philosophy of Religion                                                                                                           10 cp

Prerequisites Nil

Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent if undertaken at Vacation or Weekend Schools.

Christian belief depends for its plausibility upon a number of philosophical assumptions, concerning the nature of reason and experience, of language, values and self. This unit aims to introduce students to these issues with reference to recent discussion and relevant episodes in the history of philosophy. The focus of the unit will be jointly upon philosophical theory and upon the application of such theory to particular issues of religious concern.

PHIL506 Ethics in a Faith-Based Context                                                                                             10 cp

Prerequisites Nil

Teaching Organisation 2 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

The unit introduces students to practical ethical decision-making from the perspective of the Catholic moral tradition. The unit draws on the history of philosophical ethics and examples of practical decision-making in order to enable students to develop their own response to the fundamental ethical question, “How should I live?” Case studies drawn from the specific context of the students’ professional experience and environment are examined and analysed. These cases are used as a means to engage classical contributors to the Catholic moral tradition, including Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas and contemporaries such as McCormick and Grisez.

PHIL507 The Philosophy of Human Rights                                                                 10 cp

Prerequisites Nil

The purpose of the unit is to encourage students to become philosophically reflective about the central concepts (such as ‘genocide’ and ‘crimes against humanity’). Humanity has come to understand itself by coming to understand, with some precision and attention to distinctions, the crimes of which it is capable. It therefore matters that we give the right names to those crimes. To encourage students to see that this matters and why it matters is one of the main purposes of this unit. That purpose will not be realised, however, unless students also apply a philosophically critical gaze on fundamental conceptions about the nature of rights, justice and law and on the assumptions and theories of what is means to be human that inform those conceptions.