Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of argument and its application to a wide variety of questions of fundamental importance to human life and intellectual activity. Philosophers attempt to answer questions such as: What is knowledge? What is the nature of truth? Could the existence of God be proved? Why should we act morally?

Philosophy is as much the study of what constitutes a ‘good’ or ‘valid’ argument as it is the application of thought to specific problems.

Degree Programme Structure & Content

Courses are available from first to fourth year.

First Year
Options include Moral Philosophy; Knowledge and Mind; Formal Logic 1 and Formal Logic 2.

Second Year
The Philosophy curriculum in second year is devoted to advanced courses in Metaphysics, Philosophy of Language, Life, Meaning and Death and the Philosophy of Science.

Third & Fourth Year (Honours)
Single Honours Mental Philosophy involves Independent Study in third year and a (compulsory) Dissertation in fourth year. There is a wide range of options at both third and fourth year. Options offered reflect the interests of members of staff and currently include Ethics and Personal Relationships, Berkeley, Exploring the Emotions, Philosophy of Film, Moral Philosophy, Saul Kripke's 'Naming and Necessity', Death, Thought Experiments, Truth, WV Quine: Logic, Language and Epistemology, Descartes, Environmental Ethics, Free Will, Paradoxes, Philosophy of Time, Political Philosophy, Pragmatics and Semantics, Metaphilosophy, Feminist Philosophy, Theories of Love, Wittgenstein and Philosophy of Religion and Origins of Analytic Philosophy. Students who progress to fourth year Honours will also explore the research interests of at least one member of staff, and thus will begin to pursue their own research.

Teaching & Assessment

Teaching in philosophy comes in two principal forms: lectures and tutorials. In tutorials students are part of a relatively small group of perhaps 10 or 15 which meets for focussed discussion of particular philosophical topics. At Honours Level, classes often take the form of seminars which may be student rather than staff-led. Assessment within the Department is conducted through class essays and a degree examination at the end of each half-session.