Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of the most fundamental aspects of reality and value. Every area of inquiry and endeavour – from art and history through politics and economics to biology and mathematics – generates philosophical issues about our world and our place in it.

Philosophers debate the meaning of life and the meaning of adverbs, the analysis of Divine foreknowledge and the analysis of colour, the nature of mathematics and the nature of terrorism.

Work in philosophy involves the creative, critical task of constructing, clarifying and comparing ideas. We dig into the fundamental assumptions beneath our everyday views, to see how they hang together, how they can be improved, or how we might have reason to prefer one over another. We learn to take conflicting views seriously, to clarify imprecise concepts and to synthesise new positions.

You will learn both traditional and contemporary approaches to individual topics in Philosophy. In tutorials and written work you practise the important skill of advancing cogent and informed arguments of your own.

• Academia
• Analysis and research
• Communication
• Education and training
• Ethics
• Law
• Policy development