Humanities and Social Sciences

Philosophy Program

Honours Subjects 2009

Honours Seminar

In 2009 the Honours Seminar will run fortnightly in both semesters. In the first semester they are: 4 and 18 March, 1 and 29 April, 13 and 27 May and 10 June. The seminar is held in room HU2 431.

2009 Honours subject descriptions and timetable

The Philosophy Honours year coursework subjects and subject coordinators for 2009 are as follows. Full-time students are expected to take at least two subjects in the first semester of their enrolment or three in consultation with the Honours coordinator. Part-time students take two subjects in the first year of their enrolment or three subjects in consultation with the subject coordinator. All classes will commence in the first week of semester and will be held in the subject coordinator's office unless otherwise indicated.

Cultural difference and the identification of people with their communities create difficulties for liberal theories of justice and human rights. We will look at how liberals deal with the problems and consider whether their responses are adequate.

Assessment: An essay of approximately 5000 words.

Philosophy of Mind and Epistemology
Lectures 1 to 6

In this course, we will examine the relation between experience and knowledge. In what circumstances does experience yield knowledge? How does knowledge acquired prior to experience affect the content of novel experiences? To answer these questions we will focus on three sense modalities (i.e. sight, hearing, and touch) and the characteristic experiences they produce. Visual perception is awareness of physical objects such as chairs and tables. Can we say that auditory perception too is awareness of physical objects? How about touch, is it awareness of objects or of the surfaces and textures of objects? To answer these questions we will examine recent developments in philosophy of mind and perception. We will outline a general account of perception and clarify the role that different kinds of perceptual experiences play in the acquisition of knowledge.

As inductive reasoning is deemed to allow us to extend our knowledge of the external world, its epistemological relevance can hardly be overestimated. It is still unclear however what inductive reasoning is precisely, and whether there is a coherent web of inductive principles and rules comparable to the ones of deductive logic. In these lectures, we will examine various answers to these questions; we will survey different methodologies – including Hempel’s confirmation theory, hypothetico-deductivism and Bayesianism – and we will uncover some of their strengths and drawbacks. We will also attempt to cast some light on the controversial issue of the validity of Moore’s proof of the existence of the external world by applying probabilistic principles of inductive logic.

Assessment: T.B.A.

Back to Top

European Philosophy

This subject will focus discussion on Subjectivity and the Other in the works of some major thinkers in Continental philosophy, selected from Levinas, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Deleuze and Derrida.

Analytic and Continental Philosophy

Although there is considerable diversity of approach within the fields of analytic and continental philosophy, they have nonetheless become increasingly specialised and differentiated fields of endeavour. This course will compare and contrast them in detail, on certain particular issues (e.g. truth, time, subjectivity), and in regard to certain particular methodologies and the different uses that have been made of them (e.g. reflective equilibrium, thought experiments, transcendental argumentation, phenomenological reduction).

Back to Top

Another Subject (not offered in 2009)

Metaphysics

Metaphysics asks questions about the nature of what there is. And what there is, is controversial. Students will do some metaphysics in this subject by way of two topics - Mind Body Dualism and God. Mind-Body Dualism. What is mind? Is it identical to the body? Or is it something distinct from the body? Is it immaterial or material? And how and where does the mind, presenting as the mental or as consciousness, fit into natural order of the world, which we understand scientifically in materialist terms. In this topic we will think about how mind and its relation to the body, is to be construed. Students will look at contemporary dualist and monist arguments, which are a response to problems raised by Cartesian substance dualism. Contemporary arguments for dualist or monist accounts are complicated by naturalism, i.e. the idea that science is the best model of knowledge that we have so far devised and that its explanations of phenomena in the world, including mind, embrace only the natural, physical, and material. With this in mind we will look at Cartesian substance dualism, identity theory, functionalism, eliminative materialism, artificial intelligence/intentionality and consciousness. God. Is there a God? Traditionally, rational thought has been considered to be the mode for understanding the deepest metaphysical truths about reality, and so God. We will look at rational arguments for the existence of God from the perspective of purpose, moral order and design (Aquinas, Kant, Paley). The argument from design has seen resurgence in latter times and will be examined (Stannard, Davies). We then look at arguments, that undermine belief in the existence of God e.g., the problem of evil; Darwinism/evolution/Dawkins.

Some of the subjects have prerequisites at second/third year level:

* the prerequisites for Metaphysics is 20 points in metaphysics taken at third year level. subjects dealing with particular philosophers whose metaphysical doctrines are studied (e.g., Kant, Plato, Aristotle) are usually treated as fulfilling part or all of this prerequisite.

If you are in doubt whether you satisfy a prerequisite, or if you want to discuss the possibility of waiving a prerequisite, you should contact the subject coordinator.

Back to Top