First year modules
PY1005 | PY1006 | PY1105 | PY1106 | PY1901
PY1005 Mind and Reality
20 credits
What am I, and what is reality? Am I part of the scientific, law-governed material world? If so, can I really act freely? How could a material thing be conscious? Am I the same person as I was 10 years ago? What, fundamentally, are material things and their properties? This module will enable students to understand and begin to answer such fundamental philosophical questions, and to gain valuable skills in reasoning and abstract thought.
| Semester: | 1 |
| Credits: | 20 |
| Time: | Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 11-12 Physics Lecture Theatre B |
| Teaching: | Three lectures and one tutorial per week (tutorial times tba) |
| Coordinator: | Simon Prosser |
| Additional lecturers: | Katherine Hawley |
PY1006 Reasoning and Knowledge
20 credits
Short loan reading list for PY1006
What should we believe? How should we think? This module provides an introduction to informal and formal modes of reasoning, and to philosophical ideas about the differences between good and bad arguments. We will discuss induction and deduction, justification and knowledge, and will study elementary features of propositional and predicate logic. The module is an essential foundation for further study in philosophy, and teaches skills that are central to many other academic disciplines.
| Semester: | 2 |
| Credits: | 20 |
| Time: | Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 5-6 Buchanan Lecture Theatre |
| Teaching: | Three lectures and one tutorial per week (tutorial times tba) |
| Coordinator: | David Walker |
| Additional lecturers: | Patrick Greenough |
PY1105 Ethical Controversies
20 credits
This module provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the philosophical significance of the most pressing moral problems of today, e.g. euthanasia, abortion, world poverty and the moral status of animals and the environment; as well as a guide to the rival theoretical approaches used to reflect upon these issues: consequentialism, Kantian ethics, virtue theories, theological ethics and moral scepticism. Students will be given the opportunity to study the three 'great books' that inspire and divide moral philosophers to the present day: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Immanuel Kant's Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals and J.S. Mill's Utilitarianism.
| Semester: | 1 |
| Credits: | 20 |
| Time: | Monday, Tuesday, Thursday (and occasionally some Fridays) 5-6 Buchanan Lecture Theatre |
| Teaching: | Three or four lectures and one tutorial per week (tutorial times tba) |
| Notes: | There will be no lecture on Thursday of Week 2 |
| Coordinator: | Lisa Jones |
| Additional lecturers: | Tim Mulgan and Jens Timmermann |
PY1106 Society, Authority and Freedom
20 credits
Short loan reading list for PY1106
This module provides a critical and historical overview of the concepts central to the philosophical study of politics, as well as an introduction to the various theories that inform and influence political events. We will study the works of major political philosophers from the 17th to 20th centuries (including Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill and John Rawls), and examine concepts such as authority, democracy, liberty and equality and the role of religion in society. The module serves as a foundation for further study in Philosophy, but it is also a valuable component of a degree in the Social Sciences, e.g. International Relations.
| Semester: | 2 |
| Credits: | 20 |
| Time: | Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 11-12 School III |
| Teaching: | Three lectures and one tutorial per week (tutorial times tba) |
| Coordinator: | Craig Smith |
| Additional lecturers: | Lucas Thorpe |
PY1901 Morality & Human Nature (Evening Degree module)
20 credits
This module will examine a number of different perspectives on human nature and will consider a range of moral questions in light of these perspectives. The overarching theme of the course will be to investigate the extent to which what people consider to be right or wrong is affected by what they consider to be natural for humans or part of human nature. Along the way we will consider various other questions such as what it means to say all people are created equal, whether people are inherently bad or good, whether society has a redemptive or corrupting effect on humans, and whether there is or can be any such thing as moral progress. These issues will be approached through consideration of a range of religious, philosophical and scientific traditions and thinkers as well as direct discussion of contemporary moral questions.
| Semester: | 1 |
| Credits: | 20 |
| Time: | Wednesdays 6.30-9.30pm |
| Teaching: | One 2 1/2 hour session a week: lecture and tutorial |
| Notes: | This module is available only to part-time students enrolled on the Evening Degree programme |
| Coordinator: | Lisa Jones |