BA Philosophy - Provisional Courses 2012/13

COURSE
CODE

TITLE

GROUP

TERM

STAFF

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

TIME

ASSESSMENT

PHIL1010

Introduction to the History of Philosophy 1

Autumn

TDW

This course provides an introduction to Ancient Greek Philosophy, focusing on the metaphysics, epistemology and ethics of Plato and Aristotle. The main texts covered will be Plato's Apology, Meno, and Phaedo, and Aristotle's Physics, Nicomachean Ethics, and Politics. We will begin by looking at key figures in Presocratic philosophy and their treatment of epistemology and cosmology.

1 hr Lecture Monday 11 am then class Monday 12pm or Tuesday 9am / 10am / 11am

Essay

PHIL1011

Introduction to the History of Philosophy 2

Spring

SG

This course provides an introduction to early modern (i.e. C17-C18) philosophy, concentrating on selected topics in metaphysics and the theory of knowledge. Historical figures covered include Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Leibniz, Berkeley, and Hume.

1 hr Lecture Tuesday 2pm then class Tuesday 4pm or Wednesday 9am / 1pm or 2pm

Exam

PHIL1012

Knowledge & Reality

Autumn

RM

The course provides an introduction to epistemology and metaphysics. Each lecture will cover a central topic in an introductory way.  Precise curriculum content may vary from year to year but the following topics are representative: analysis of knowledge, scepticism, perception, existence of other minds, time, freedom, causation, and personal identity.

1 hr Lecture Tuesday 2 pm  then class Tuesday 3 pm or
Friday 9 am or 3pm or 4 pm

Essay

PHIL1013

Introduction to Logic 2 

Spring

JZ

This module aims to introduce the student to the main ideas, concepts and techniques of contemporary first-order logic, including syntax, semantics and natural deduction. NB PHIL1014 is a pre-requisite for this module.

1 hr Lecture Tuesday 4 pm then class Thursday 12pm or Friday 10 am

Homework and Exam

PHIL1014

Introduction to Logic 1

Autumn

JZ

This module aims to introduce the student to the main ideas, concepts and techniques of contemporary propositional logic, including syntax, semantics and natural deduction.

1 hr Lecture Tuesday 4 pm then class Thursday 9 am / 1pm or Friday 10 am / 11am

Home-work
& test

PHIL1015

Introduction to Moral Philosophy

Spring

MK

An introduction to moral philosophy through the examination of key historical texts. No background in philosophy is presupposed. Curriculum varies by year; historical figures that may be covered include, but are not limited to, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Mill, and Nietzsche.

1 hr Lecture Monday 2 pm then class Tuesday 1 pm or Friday 9 am / 10am / 11am

Essay

PHIL1016

Introduction to Political Philosophy

Autumn

JW

This module is designed to introduce students to some of the main works in Political Philosophy, such as the writings of Plato, Locke, Hume and Mill.

1 hr Lecture Monday 5pm then class Tuesday 9am / 10am /11am or Wednesday 10am

Essay

PHIL1017

Philosophy Tutorial:
Texts and Debate

Spring

Various

This module is designed to introduce students to a variety of central philosophical texts (including historical and contemporary texts) on fundamental topics, and to train them in philosophical debate and in essay writing. Students will be placed in tutorial groups of three or four, ensuring that everyone has a chance to participate in debate, and to receive feedback on their written work during the course. The texts studied will be drawn from an ‘Approved List’ of topics, and selected by the course tutor. Topics in the past have included scepticism; free will; our attitudes towards fictional characters; the existence of universals. Historical authors studied have included Aristotle, Hume, Descartes, and Kierkegaard.

Teaching time to be arranged with the tutor

Essay

PHIL2046

Kant

C

Autumn

SG

The course provides an introduction to Kant's theoretical philosophy. The course will study the main ideas and arguments in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics. It will consider both questions of interpretation and issues of critical assessment.

1hr Lecture Tuesday 1pm then class Tuesday 3pm or Wednesday 9am / 11am

Essay

PHIL2047

Ethics

B

Autumn

DE

This module explores central topics in moral philosophy. The course will consider central issues in meta-ethics such as the contrast between realism and anti-realism, the nature of moral judgements, including their role in motivation, and the question of what could ground moral objectivity. These topics will be studied using both classic and contemporary texts.

1hr Lecture Tuesday 9am then class Tuesday 10am or 2pm.

Essay

PHIL2030

Aesthetics

B

Autumn

TBC

An introduction to issues in aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Syllabus varies by year. Includes writings by major historical figures; Plato, Hume, Kant, Schiller, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche; and selected topics in contemporary analytic aesthetics (expression, intention & interpretation, and emotional response to fiction).

1 hr Lecture Thursday 9am then class Thursday 10am or 1 pm

Essay

PHIL2031

Morality & Literature

B

Spring

SR

This course looks at points of intersection between moral philosophy and literature. While details may vary from year to year, it will include at least most of the following topics : Plato’s view of art; Sartre’s conception of literature; the distinction between moral and aesthetic value; sentimentality; the value of literature for moral philosophy; the question of whether the moral value of a work of literature forms part of its aesthetic value; the censorship of literary works.

1 hr Lecture Monday 1 pm then class 3pm or Tuesday 3pm or Wednesday 9 am

Exam

PHIL2032

Applied ethics

B

Autumn

SR

The course will examine some selected topics in applied ethics, including abortion, euthanasia, animal rights, the regulation of recreational drugs, euthanasia, world hunger and genetic manipulation of human beings. Students will be expected to read at least one paper on each topic each week, and to choose one topic for their final essay.

1 hr Lecture Monday 9 am then class Monday 2 pm / 3pm or 4pm

Essay

PHIL2033

Metaphysics

A

Spring

IP

The course will focus on three core themes in metaphysics:  The debate about freedom of the will and determinism, the philosophy of time, and the problem of personal identity.
The free will lectures will explore traditional compatibilist and incompatibilist views, and the more recent debate about Frankfurt-style examples.  The philosophy of time lectures will look at the relation between the direction of time and the direction of causation, the idea of time as flowing, and the question of whether time is real.  The Personal identity lectures will consider whether the criteria for personal identity should be bodily or psychological.

1 hr Lecture Thursday 2 pm then class Thursday 3 pm or Friday 2 pm

Exam

PHIL2035

Knowledge

A

Spring

LOB

This module is designed to deal with a variety of topics in epistemology – the philosophical study of knowledge. The curriculum will vary from year to year. Topics include: theories of knowledge; theories of justification or warrant; scepticism; contextualism; sources of knowledge: perception, memory, introspection, testimony.

1 hr Lecture Tuesday 3 pm then class at 4pm

Exam

PHIL2037

Introduction to Scientific Inquiry

A

Autumn

MG

This course will cover (a) the nature, use and evaluation of basic ingredients of rational inquiry (e.g. observation, classification, hypothesis formation, prediction, explanation) and (b) matters relating to evidence (e.g. hypothesis testing, sampling, inductive inference, rational confidence); and (c) the main philosophical problems concerning topics in (a) and (b), and an evaluation of prominent responses to them.

2hr Lecture Thursday 2pm

Exam

PHIL2038

Topics in Greek Philosophy: Plato

C

Spring

TDW

The course will introduce students to Plato’s thought by way of a critical reading of some of his most famous dialogues, along with some influential papers from the contemporary literature. The survey will take in topics from Plato’s epistemology (Meno, Republic), virtue ethical theory (Gorgias, Republic), and metaphysics (Republic, Parmenides, Sophist), and will examine Plato’s views on love, and the question of writing (Symposium, Phaedrus).

1 hr Lecture Tuesday 2pm then class Tuesday 3pm or Friday 2 pm or 3pm

Essay

PHIL2040

Marxism

C

Spring

JW

The course will examine some of Marx’s most important writings concerning alienation, emancipation, exploitation and historical change as well as exploring the controversy concerning Marx’s attitude to justice and morality. Students will be expected to read a selection of primary and secondary sources.

1 hr Lecture Tuesday 9 am then class Tuesday 10 am or Thursday 9am / 1pm

Essay

PHIL2043

Philosophy of Geometry and Arithmetic

A

Spring

MG

This two-part module is about fundamental ontological and epistemological questions of basic mathematics.

Part One concerns geometry. What kinds of things are the objects studied by mathematical geometry: visible drawn figures, non-visible ideal figures or something else? Whatever they are, how do we have knowledge of them? What role, if any, does sense experience have in geometrical knowledge and understanding? We consider views of Plato, Berkeley, Kant and Mill.

Part Two  is about (finite) cardinal numbers. What are they? Pluralities of objects, symbols, mental items, properties, special sets, mere fictions: all these have been proposed as answers. Which, if any, is right? And how do we have knowledge of them? We examine all these views and come to a conclusion which fits with both and the findings of cognitive science.

2hr Lecture Monday 4pm

Exam

PHIL2044

Political

B

Autumn

DM

This module will consider John Rawls’s liberal egalitarian Theory of Justice and Robert Nozick’s libertarian Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Nozick argues that redistributive taxation is unjust because on a par with forced labour. Rawls argues that such taxation is just, since it would be endorsed under fair conditions in which people are deprived of knowledge of whether they happens to be rich or poor, talented or unskilled.

1 hr Lecture Tuesday 4 pm then class Tuesday 5 pm or Wednesday 9 am or 11 am

Essay

PHIL2045

Language

A

Autumn

RM

This course will examine some selected topics in the philosophy of language.  Although the precise contents may vary slightly from year to year the course will typically cover: sense and reference, definite descriptions, proper names, necessity, and existence.
Students will be expected to read at least one paper on each topic per week, and to choose one topic for their final essay.

1 hr Lecture Friday 11 am then class Friday 12pm or 2pm

Essay

ESPS7209

Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals

C

Autumn

MK

An introduction to Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morals

1 hr Lecture Wednesday 11 am then class Friday 10am or 11am or 12pm

Essay

PHIL3054

Philosophy of Religion

A

Spring

RM

This module will focus each year on four or five theoretical topics in analytic philosophy of religion. Previous study of second-year metaphysics and epistemology modules is not strictly required but is advised.  The following are representative topics:  theistic and non-theistic explanations of the existence of the universe, biological complexity, and the 'fine-tuning' of physical constants; fictionalist and other non-realist construals of theistic language; the possibility of disembodied persons; necessity, existence and the ontological argument; the compatibility of divine foreknowledge and free will; scepticism about religious experience and scepticism about perceptual experience; testimonial evidence for the occurrence of miracles; circular justifications of epistemic practices.

2 hr Lecture/Seminar  Wednesday 11am

Exam

PHIL3056

Special Topics in the History of Ethics

Spring

DE

This module will focus on Immanuel Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. We will try to understand and evaluate Kant’s views on both meta-ethics and normative ethics and the arguments which he presents for those views there. We will use contemporary reactions to Kant and his other works in ethics to help us with understanding and critiquing the text.

Note that the preferred version of the text is the Cambridge edition, edited by Gregor (& Timmerman). Alternative editions will be serviceable only if they have the standard (Academy edition) page numbers in the margins (should start at page 385 if you want to check before you buy) – without those it will hard for you to know which bits of the text we are talking about.

2 hr Lecture/Seminar  Thursday 9am

Exam

2 hr Lecture/Seminar
Thurs 4pm

2 hr Lecture/Seminar
Monday 4pm

PHIL3055

Special Topics in 19th Century Philosophy

C

Spring

SG

The course will examine selected themes and figures from nineteenth-century philosophy. Syllabus will vary by year. Figures studied may include, for example, the Young Hegelians, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Anglo-American idealists, Pragmatists, and Bergson.

2 hr Lecture/Seminar  Monday 4pm

Essay

PHIL3031

Global Justice & Health

B

Spring

JW

This module explores contemporary debates in global justice, especially as applied to issues of international health inequalities. Topics include:
i) International distributive justice
ii) Justice and the world’s worst off
iii) Health Equity
iv) Social bases of health inequities
v) From bioethics to public health ethics
vi) Applications from justice theories
vii) The Human Right to Health
viii) Just Health

2 hr Lecture/Seminar  
Monday 4pm

Essay

PHIL3032

Normative Ethics

B

Autumn

DE

This module will explore normative ethics by focusing on consequentialism and considering various objections, refinements and alternatives to it, discussing along the way constraints and options, trolley cases and contractualism. The module is intended primarily for third year Philosophy students but also open to second year Philosophy students and students outside of Philosophy who have completed at least one course in Philosophy.

2 hr Lecture/Seminar  
Friday 9am

Essay

PHIL3034

Epistemology: A Priori Knowledge

A

Autumn

MG

The aim of this module is to investigate the possibility and nature of a priori (non-empirical) knowledge through examining the most important contributions to these questions made by philosophers from ancient times to the present.

2 hr Lecture/Seminar  
Monday 11am

Exam

PHIL3035

Texts from Early Modern Philosophy

C

Spring

MM

2012-13
Three Books of Hume

We will be reading through David Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature (1739/40). The intention is for us to gain some sense of how the three books that comprise the Treatise fit together (or fail to fit together). Since we cannot read through the complete Treatise in one term, we will focus on four themes, having first looked at some basic elements of Hume’s system.

2 hr Lecture/Seminar  
Friday 1 pm

Exam

PHIL3037

Historical Texts in Political Philosophy - Aristotle’s Politics

B

Spring

DM

This optional module is designed to provide students with the opportunity for close study of some central historical texts in political philosophy. It is intended for students with a range of specializations, but some background knowledge in political philosophy.

The text this year will be Aristotle’s Politics. Through a close study of the Politics we will encounter themes of lasting philosophical significance. These will include questions around ‘the good life’; questions about the desirability of types of political regime (e.g., democratic or aristocratic); and questions about the role and duties of the citizen.

2 hr Lecture/Seminar  
Monday 2 pm

Exam

PHIL3039

Early Wittgenstein

C

Spring

JZ

This module aims to introduce the student to Ludwig Wittgenstein’s early philosophy, focusing in particular on the interpretation of his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus . It will also present relevant aspects of the philosophies of Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell.

2 hr Lecture/Seminar 
Thursday 11am

Exam

PHIL3041

Special Topics in Political Philosophy

B

Spring

VMD

This optional module is designed to deal with a variety of topics in political philosophy. It is intended for students with a range of specializations, but some background knowledge in political philosophy.  The topic for 2012-2013 will be the idea of equality, reading recent writings on equality, priority and sufficiency. Enrollment for this course is by permission of the course tutor only.

2 hr Lecture/Seminar 
Thursday 2 pm

Exam

PHIL3042

Aristotle

C

Spring

TDW

The course will provide an introduction to Aristotle by way of a critical reading of some of his most famous works, along with some influential papers from the contemporary literature. The survey will take in topics from Aristotle’s logic (Prior Analytics), metaphysics (Metaphysics, Physics), virtue ethical theory (Nicomachean Ethics), philosophy of mind (de Anima), and epistemology (Posterior Analytics).

2 hr Lecture/Seminar
Monday 9am

Essay

PHIL3043

Experience

A

Autumn

MK

The topic of this module will be the metaphysics of experience. It will explore the relationship of experience to time, the self and matter.  Considerations of probability will be brought to bear: How probable would the existence of one’s current experience be within rival hypotheses regarding personal identity or the nature of the physical world?

2 hr Lecture/Seminar  
Friday 4 pm

Essay

PHIL3047

Dissertation

Autumn
or
Spring

Enrolment requires approval by personal tutor. A 7,500-word essay on a philosophical topic approved by your personal tutor. Tuition involves three one-hour sessions of one-on-one supervision by a member of staff. Available both terms.
The dissertation submission deadline for this module taken in the Autumn term is 1st day of 2nd term by 4.00 pm
The dissertation submission deadline for this module taken in the Spring term is 1st day of 3rd term by 4.00 pm

Three one-hour sessions

Extended Essay

PHIL3048

Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science

A

Autumn

IP

This course will explore core themes in the philosophy of cognitive science, understood as the fundamentally interdisciplinary scientific study of the mind. We will focus on three such themes: perception and consciousness, theory of mind, and the nature and acquisition of concepts. The approach will encompass both a careful consideration of key experimental paradigms, and also the connections between such work and traditional philosophical concerns. The course will begin by introducing three key ideas in cognitive science: levels of explanation, modularity and innateness. These ideas will be respectively further explored in relation to the three themes.

2 hr Lecture/Seminar
Thursday 2 pm

Essay

PHIL3049

Empiricism

C

Autumn

PS

The course provides an introduction to the philosophy of the empiricists – in particular Locke and Berkeley. In the course we shall study the main ideas and arguments in Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Berkeley’s Principles. Some recent secondary literature will also be studied.

2 hr Lecture/Seminar
Tuesday 4 pm

Essay

PHIL3050

Sartre

C

Spring

SR

This course will focus on Sartre’s philosophical writings of the 1930s and 1940s: mainly Being and Nothingness, and some of the phenomenological writings that preceded it (for example, Outline for a Theory of the Emotions and The Transcendence of the Ego). To introduce the students to the philosophical background to Sartre’s thinking, we will begin by considering Husserl’s and Heidegger’s versions of phenomenology, both of which influenced Sartre. The course will also consider two essays published soon after Being and Nothingness, What is Literature? And Anti-Semite and Jew, as applications of Sartre’s philosophical ideas to the cultural and socio-political circumstances of post-War France.

2 hr Lecture/Seminar
Thursday 4.00 pm

Exam

This course is a research seminar for graduate students, focusing on Plato's philosophy of mathematics. We will explore the nature of mathematics, the ontological status of mathematical objects, and the epistemological role of mathematics in Plato, looking at key parts of the Platonic dialogues and important papers from the contemporary literature.
All students are required to prepare the set primary and secondary reading for each week. One student will give a short presentation (approx. 20 mins) on the secondary reading. This will be followed by class discussion.

This seminar is about the nature of abstracta and of our knowledge of them. The major goal is a satisfactory non-skeptical response to the Benacerraf problem without appeal to any extraordinary inferential method or cognitive faculty unrecognised by the cognitive sciences. Topics include:
(1) Abstractness and the abstract-concrete polarity.
(2) The nominalist-realist spectrum; views of Plato, Quine and others.
(3) Russell and knowledge of abstracta by acquaintance.
(4) Compositions; sensory qualities.
(5) Quantity and number.
(6) Structures of low and high grades of abstractness.

10PHA028

First Order Logic

A

Autumn

Lappin, Shalom (Professor)

Students will be acquainted with the basic metatheory of propositional and 1st order quantifier logic. This includes proofs of (1) soundness: the given deducibility systems permit us to deduce only what is logically valid,  (2) completeness: the systems permit deduction of all of what is logically valid, and (3) compactness. On the way, students should acquire some familiarity with basic reasoning techniques and basic semantic concepts, such as interpretation, satisfaction, truth under an interpretation, model, concepts relevant to topics in philosophical logic, e.g. validity, consequence. Taught at KCL.

2hr Lecture / Seminar Tuesdays 1.00 pm S-1.01, 1st Basement, Strand Building, KCL

Exam

10PHB029

Mathematical Logic (This course requires that students have taken the module First order Logic in the autumn term)

A

Spring

WMV

For deeper understanding of the nature of logic and philosophical questions in foundations of maths, a grasp of the famous limitative theorems is crucial: the undecidability of validity (Church); the downward Löwenheim-Skolem theorem;  the undefinability of truth (Tarski) and Gödel’s underivability theorems on the incompleteness of interesting formal theories and the impossibility of internal consistency proofs for them. Students should acquire an understanding of these theorems and some acquaintance with proofs of all. They will also be provided with basic concepts and results from recursion theory used in the proofs. Taught at KCL.

2hr Lecture / Seminar Thursdays 10.00 - 11.00 am

Exam

10PHA016

Indian Philosophy:
The Orthodox
Schools

C

Autumn

WR

Description: This module is intended for students who wish to gain an introduction to Indian philosophy that looks carefully at the high standard of logic, epistemology, metaphysics and linguistics that grounded the various philosophical systems. The course examines the schools of Mīmāmsā, Sānkhya, Nyāya and Vaiśeshika, and assesses their defence against attacks from the schools of Buddhism, Jainism and Advaita Vedānta. The examination of these schools makes use of translations of the primary texts and focuses upon the vigorous debate over conceptual analysis and argumentative strategies by which the schools presented their philosophical positions, defended them against attacks by other schools, and mounted in turn their own attacks. Studying Indian philosophy in this way demonstrates both the similarities and the philosophically important differences in the way the main issues of philosophy have been addressed in India and in the West.

Preparatory reading: There is an excellent overview of the main schools of Indian philosophy written by M. Hiriyanna, who taught at Mysore University for over 30 years and then converted his lectures into a book: Outlines of Indian Philosophy, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass (originally published with Allen & Unwin in 1932). It is easily available and inexpensive, and is excellent background reading for the course, tracking closely the foundational texts of each school. It is mercifully short for so vast a subject, but is concentrated and merits measured, reflective reading.
This is a Level III module. Taught at KCL.

1 hr lecture
Thursday 10.00 - 11.00 am Lecture Room 405, Philosophy Building KCL

Discussion class TBA

Essay

10PHB017

Indian Philosophy:
The Heterodox
Schools

C

Spring

WR

Description: This module is intended for students who wish to gain an introduction to Indian philosophy that looks carefully at the high standard of logic, epistemology, metaphysics and linguistics that grounded the various philosophical systems. The course examines the schools of Buddhism, Jainism and Advaita Vedānta, and assesses their defence against attack from the schools of Mīmāmsā, Sānkhya, Nyāya and Vaiśeshika. The examination of these schools makes use of translations of the primary texts and focuses upon the vigorous debate over conceptual analysis and argumentative strategies by which the schools presented their philosophical positions, defended them against attacks by other schools, and mounted in turn their own attacks. Studying Indian philosophy in this way demonstrates both the similarities and the philosophically important differences in the way the main issues of philosophy have been addressed in India and in the West.

Preparatory reading: There is an excellent overview of the main schools of Indian philosophy written by M. Hiriyanna, who taught at Mysore University for over 30 years and then converted his lectures into a book: Outlines of Indian Philosophy, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass (originally published with Allen & Unwin in 1932). It is easily available and inexpensive, and is excellent background reading for the course, tracking closely the foundational texts of each school. It is mercifully short for so vast a subject, but is concentrated and merits measured, reflective reading.
This is a Level III module. Taught at KCL.

1 hr lecture
Tuesday 10.00
Lecture Room 405, Philosophy Building, KCL

Discussion class TBA

Essay

CP Chris Peacocke
IP Ian Phillips
WR Will Rasmussen (KCL) 
SR Sarah Richmond
PS Paul Snowdon 
TS Tom Stern (On Sabbatical)
JW Jo Wolff 
JZ Jose Zalabardo