Course: Philosopy

 

Co-ordinator: Ross Campbell.

 

Philosophy - Semester One

September 2011 to December 2011

(may vary)

 

WEEK 1

 

Introduction

• Overview of course
• What is philosophy
• Why study philosophy
• Styles of doing philosophy
• Areas of philosophy covered on this course

 

WEEK 2

 

Socrates

Plato

The theory of Forms

 

WEEK 3

 

Plato

Aristotle (I)

Metaphysics

 

WEEK 4

 

Aristotle(II)

Metaphysics

 

WEEK 5

 

David Hume

Theory of knowledge

Immanuel Kant (I)

Theory of knowledge

 

WEEK 6

 

Kant (II)

Theory of knowledge

 

WEEKS  7 -10

 

Ethics

• Aristotle - Nichomachean Ethics
• The Categorical Imperative (Immanuel Kant)
• Utilitarianism (Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill)
• The social contract
• Applied Ethics.

 

 

Philosophy - Semester two

Jan 2012 - March 2012

 

Philosophy -Semester Two will follow on from Semester One. There will be new areas introduced including Political philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Aesthetics,  Philosophy of mind and Continental philosophy.

 

 

WEEK 1- 3

Political philosophy

• social contract and other political theories
• key issues of justice, fairness and human rights.

 

WEEKS 4 and 5

Philosophy of Religion

• religious experience and how it may be described
• the arguments for the existence of God
• miracles, the problem of evil and other key issues

 

WEEKS 6 and 7

Aesthetics

• Ancient Greek ideas of Art
• Kant’s analysis of the aesthetic experience
• Marxist critiques of art in terms of its social and political function

 

WEEKS 8 and 9

Philosophy of mind

• Some theories about how our minds relate to our bodies
• Free Will
• Disembodied consciousness
• Personal Identity

 

WEEK 10

Continental philosophy

• The basic difference between analytic and continental philosophy
• Key features of existentialist philosophy.

 

Please note that the format of most courses will change from time to time. Some courses may not be available to students in a particular year.

 

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