Semester 1: September 2003-January 2004.

Course Organiser and Lecturer: Patrick Greenough

Time: 12 noon.

Place: Upper College Hall (Note this is a change.)

• Please sign-up for a seminar slot at the first lecture.
• If you any queries about signing up for a seminar please contact Patrick, Room 202, Edgecliffe (email: pmg2@st-and.ac.uk; ext. 2481 (internal); 01334 462481 (external)).
• Bring all relevant course materials (handouts, coursepack, photocopies, etc) to each seminar.
• VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure you are properly prepared for each seminar by doing all the set reading and answering all the set questions.
• Many students find it very useful to get their heads together before a seminar to discuss the key questions and issues ¾ I strongly encourage you to do so. That way, learning and thinking becomes easier and much more of a pleasure.

• There will be a detailed handout for every lecture.
• However, please note that these handouts will often be deliberately incomplete ¾ by coming to the lecture you will be able to complete the missing sections.
• Indeed, even the parts that are complete will not make much sense unless you come to the lectures.
• At the end of every handout there will be a set of comprehension questions and discussion questions which relate to both the content of the lecture and the set reading.
• Comprehension questions are designed to test your basic knowledge of the key terms, main theses, and basic moves concerning a particular problem.
• Discussion questions, on the other hand, are designed to get you thinking about how one might best evaluate, reshape, and resolve a philosophical problem.
• You should attempt all of these questions each week ¾ your seminar leader (Patrick) will want to ask you about your answers in the seminars.
• The handouts will also guide you as to what is most relevant to read for each particular topic.

• This is a core module for Junior Honours in Philosophy. However, should you wish to take this course, it is also available to everyone with a sufficient background in philosophy (consult your honours advisor if you are unsure whether you are equipped to take this course).
• It is a 15 credit module.
• Assessment is by 2 hour exam (60%) in February and one coursework project (40%)
• The overall grade for each module will be published by the University at the end of the semester in which it is taught.
• Grades will be given on the 20-point marking scale: 17-20 Distinction / First Class; 14-16 High Merit / Upper Second Class; 11-13 Low Merit / Lower Second Class; 8-10 Third Class; 5-7 Pass; 1-4 Fail/no credit awarded.

• The overall aim of this course is to make you think critically for yourself rather than merely reproducing the ideas of others.
• Philosophy is not about spoon-feeding received facts which must be duly regurgitated in essays and exams.
• The students at St. Andrews are amongst the brightest and most stimulating students in the UK. Nobody wants a university to be an educational factory which takes in such bright students yet ends up turning out mindless, dull, vapid, individuals whose only skill consists in memorising lecture notes. This course is designed to avoid that. Hence, in order properly fulfil your potential I simply ask you to meet the course halfway.
• Lectures are simply there in order to introduce you to the key philosophical problems and suggest some possible lines of response.
• The lectures and seminars are thus simply a springboard for you to go on and read and think for yourself.
• Outside of lectures and seminars we fully expect you to be reading and researching the topics for yourself (as well as having a good time).
• As this is a 15 credit course, this means it should constitute about one fifth of your workload this semester.
• Assuming a 36 hour week, you should plan to spend about six-seven hours per week on average on this module: two hours for lectures and seminars, leaving four to five hours of private study.
• Private study should consist of reading your lecture notes and handouts, preparing for the seminars and doing some additional reading and research relevant to the topic.
• Thinking for yourself, doing independent research, showing initiative, and taking appropriate intellectual risks will be rewarded highly.

• In order to encourage you to think for yourself, I've decided to set a course project rather than simply set a coursework essay.
• Your options are:

• YOU have to choose the title of your essay(s).
• YOU have to choose the book to either review or write a critical notice on.
• It's entirely up to you to decide on just how broad or focussed your chosen option is to be.
• However, I can give you guidance if you find yourself at a complete loss as to what title or type of project to choose. (Just email me if you need to.)

• The deadline for submitting your option is: 24th November (the Monday of week Nine)
• You should submit your option via email to Patrick.
• You need to give the following details:

• The course project for PY3001 is due in on Monday 8th December (the Monday of week Eleven).
• The project itself, of course, is to be submitted in the essay box (see below).

• There is no set text for this course. The set readings are all contained in the COURSEPACK.
• This is available from Tuesday 30th September from Rhona Paterson, The Undergraduate Course Administrator (Room 1002, Department of Philosophy, Edgecliffe).
• It should cost in the region of £3-£4 (far cheaper than having a set text).
• The Coursepack contains the following 16 readings:

• You can find a set of additional readings for each seminar here.

• You can find a general bibliography for epistemology here

NOTE: If you haven't done so already, it is absolutely ESSENTIAL that you but a dictionary of Philosophy. Try one (or two) of: 

Please Note: Many of the books recommended for reading during the course should be available from the Philosophy Class Library, as well as from the University Library. We recommend that you learn to use the Philosophy Class Library system, since many of the books you will need to consult will be on restricted access. The Departmental Librarian, Mrs Read, is very helpful and will be glad to assist you.

• Keith DeRose's excellent web resource for epistemology can be found at:

• Also, you might like to try:

• And for Philosophy and the Matrix, try:

 ENCYCLOPAEDIAS:

• Routledge Online Encyclopaedia: http://www.rep.routledge.com/views/home.html (This is a SUPERB resource--try it out!)
• Stanford Online Encyclopaedia: http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html (Pretty good, though as yet incomplete.)
• Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy: http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/ (OK, but incomplete and uneven, and not nearly as good as the two above.)

• Philosophy Dictionaries and Glossaries: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/philinks.htm (Use this to compile your own glossary--see below.)

• The Philosopher's Index. (This is SUPERB for researching essays and for background reading--try it out!)

• BUBL: http://link.bubl.ac.uk/Philosophy/ (Links to a wide range of Philosophy Internet resources.)
• Guide to Philosophy on the Internet: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/philinks.htm (perhaps THE philosophy site).
• Philosophy at Large: http://www.liv.ac.uk/Philosophy/philos.html (detailed guide to Internet resources in philosophy, subdivided by type).
• Philosophy in Cyberspace: http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~dey/phil/ (annotated guide to more than 1000 philosophy sites).
• SOSIG: http://www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/World-cat/philos.html (Links to a wide range of Philosophy Internet resources).
• St. Andrews Virtual Library and Study Resource Centre: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~vlibrary/vlhome.html
• WWW Virtual Library: Philosophy: http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/VL/

• It's a fact of life that analytic philosophy, like most other academic disciplines, involves a great deal of specialist terminology. You may feel a little daunted by the by the amount of unfamiliar terminology encountered in PY3001. But don't be. After a while much of this terminology (call it jargon) will become very familiar.
• To facilitate your understanding, I strongly encourage you to produce a glossary of the key terms encountered in PY3001. Once you are on top of all this terminology, your study will become much more manageable.
• Your glossary should at least include definitions of the following terms and expressions:

• There will be questionnaires to fill in at the end of the course where you can give formal feedback.
• Please make every effort to fill these questionnaires in ¾ your views are VERY gratefully received.
• Informal feedback can be given at any time to either Richard, or myself (Patrick).
• If you are struggling with the course, please sing out as soon as possible.
• Remember: perplexity is the natural philosophical state, so don't be overly-concerned if you find parts of the course very hard or confusing.
• Don't be afraid to raise any concerns you may have.
• In general, if you are experiencing problems, personal or academic, which are affecting your work, you should let someone know (your lecturer, your seminar instructor or tutor, your Honours Supervisor, or staff at the Student Support Service) as soon as possible.

• Very useful advice on how to write a philosophy is essay is available from:

• I've written some guidance on how to succeed in exams. You can find it here.

• Did you know that the university puts on courses for all undergraduates in how to take notes, write essays, and succeed in exams?
• You need to sign up for these courses in advance. Details can be found at the following link:

• Past papers for all exams in the period 1999-2003 are available at:

If you have any suggestions as to how this site might be improved then please email me.

Last modified: 7th December 2004.