BA Modules
This is the list of BA modules running in the academic year 2026/27.
Click on the titles below to see more information, including a module description and a provisional syllabus. Module leader email addresses can be found via the staff pages. For times and locations please use the UCL common timetable, which will be updated in early September with seminar group allocations. Modules may be subject to change before the start of session.
Information for continuing UCL students about when and how to select modules can be found on the Module Registration Page.
Modules are organised into three broad areas: Group A, Theoretical Philosophy; Group B, Normative Philosophy; Group C, History of Philosophy.
First Year Modules (FHEQ Level 4) - Term 1
Module Leader: Simona Aimar
Level: 4
Term: 1
Area: C
Assessment: In-person Written Exam (January), 3 hours (100%)
Description: This course offers a survey of ancient Greek philosophy, from the earliest thinkers known as the “Presocratics” to the classical giants Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, as well as lesser-known women philosophers from Ancient Greece, such as Pythagorean and Cynic women. Rather than simply presenting historical summaries, we will engage with these philosophers’ ideas directly, asking whether their views are interesting, well-argued, and still relevant.
Specifically, the module deals with some important metaphysical, epistemological and ethical questions with philosophers from the ancient Greek tradition. Questions we will address include:
• What is everything made of?
• What is philosophy and how should we approach doing it?
• Can you step into the same river twice?
• Can you know anything at all?
• Are our actions up to us?
• Is the future open?
The preliminary schedule is as follows (the finalized schedule will be on Moodle):
Week 1: The Milesians (Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes) and Pythagoras
Week 2: Heraclitus and Parmenides
Week 3: Zeno and the Atomists
Week 4: Socrates and Plato I: Definition (Meno, part 1)
Week 5: Socrates and Plato II: Meno’s Paradox (Meno, part 2)
Week 6: Socrates and Plato III: Knowledge and Belief (Meno, part 3)
Week 7: Aristotle I: Change (in the Physics)
Week 8: Aristotle II: Choice, Praise and Blame (in the Nicomachean Ethics)
Week 9: Aristotle III: Will there be a Sea-battle tomorrow? (De Interpretatione)
Week 10: Where are all the women?
Module Leader: Andreas Ditter
Level: 4
Term: 1
Area: A
Assessment: In-person Written Exam (January), 1 hour (100%)
Description: This is an elementary course in truth-functional logic. We will cover a range of topics, including symbolization, the syntax and semantics of the language of truth-functional logic, the construction of proofs, and logical properties such as consistency and entailment. You will learn how to symbolise English sentences in a formal language, analyse the structure of arguments, and construct precise arguments yourself. Our goal will be to help you become proficient in using formal methods to clarify and make precise logical relationships that are hard to understand otherwise, and to reason better, with greater clarity and precision.
Module Leader: Han van Wietmarschen
Level: 4
Term: 1
Area: B
Assessment: Essay, 1500 Words (30%); Essay, 2000 Words (70%)
Description: In this module, we investigate three large sets of questions about justice and the importance of liberty and equality for a just society:
(1) Liberty: What is liberty and why is it important? Which liberties, if any, should a just society protect? Freedom of expression? Freedom from interference? Economic Liberty? Sexual liberty? Political liberty? Can these different liberties come into conflict, and if so, should some have priority over others?
(2) Equality: What is equality, is it important, and which kinds of equality, if any, should a just society ensure? Equality of opportunity? Equality of income and wealth? Political equality?
(3) Reconciliation: Can a society ensure the equality and liberty of its citizens at the same time, or are these political values inherently in conflict with one another? If they are conflicting values, which is to take priority?
We approach these questions by studying a sequence of authors including Hobbes, Locke, Wollstonecraft, Betham, Mill, Nozick and Rawls. We then look back and reflect on whether this sequence has ignored important considerations of class, gender and race, with readings from Marx and Engels, MacKinnon, and Delaney.
PHIL0007 has three main aims: (1) to make explicit the normative ideas that underlie our views about the basic institutions of our society, (2) to evaluate the adequacy of those normative ideas, (3) to try to think and argue in a systematic and reasoned way about these questions together, on a basis of mutual respect.
Teaching Delivery: There will be a weekly lecture, and weekly discussion seminars (± 17 students per group). You will be expected to study readings for each week. The module is assessed by two essays.
This module is compulsory for first year single honours philosophy students and for first year PPE students. Students from other programs and other years of study are welcome, subject to available space.
Module Convener: Robert Simpson
Level: 4
Term: 1
Area: n/a
Assessment: 5 x short study skills exercises, to be completed during tutorial meetings (25%), Essay, 2000 Words (75%)
Description: This module provides introductory instruction in philosophical study skills, related to reading, critical analysis of texts, argumentation, and essay writing. It also provides general information about the aims and scope of philosophy, as an academic discipline, and guidance about how to approach philosophical study as a foundation for further learning and skills-acquisition. Unlike other BA Philosophy modules, the tutorial groups for this module will be small (maximum six students), to allow more time and opportunity for one-to-one instruction on specific skills and tasks. The reading for the module will be relatively light, and each group’s reading will be set by the relevant tutorial group leader. The focus of the module is on philosophical skills, so the readings will serve mainly as a focal point for applying and working on various skills.
This module is only available to Year 1 students on BA Philosophy and joint honours courses with Philosophy.
Module Convener: Daniel Rothschild
Level: 4
Term: 1
Area: A
Assessment: Coursework, 1250 Words (50%); Coursework, 1250 Words (50%)
Description: This module introduces five set texts in the philosophy of computer science.
Each text is first introduced in a one-hour lecture, which is delivered by the module convenor. Students then meet for three one-hour discussion groups to explore the text. This takes place across two weeks.
For the discussion groups, students are divided into small groups allocated to a tutor, usually an advanced PhD student. The discussion aims to improve students’ understanding of the set texts, to encourage individual and group exploration of philosophical ideas, and to improve essay writing and general study skills.
Each student in the group will write some formative essays over the course of the term. In addition to comments from tutors, students will be encouraged to engage in peer-marking (in pairs) of each other’s work. Students may in addition be required to prepare brief presentations.
The set texts will be chosen by the module leader; they may vary group-by-group and year-by-year. The texts will always, however, emphasise themes at the intersection of philosophy and computer science, in areas such as logic, reasoning, information, and understanding.
This module is only available to students on the BA Philosophy and Computer Science progamme at UCL.
First Year Modules (Level 4) - Term 2
Module Leader: Colin Chamberlain
Level: 4
Term: 2
Area: C
Assessment: In-person Written Exam, 2 hours (100%)
Description: Who or what can you trust and how are you even supposed to know? The early modern period (roughly, the 17th and 18th centuries) is a time of philosophical and intellectual upheaval in Europe as traditional authorities come into question. The Reformation has challenged the authority of the Church, the rise of the New Science destabilizes the medieval picture of the cosmos and the human being’s place within it, while the resurgence of scepticism raises doubts about whether our minds are capable of knowledge. In this module, we will examine the way early modern philosophers—René Descartes, Elisabeth of Bohemia, Margaret Cavendish, George Berkeley, and David Hume—grapple with these tectonic shifts. One theme in this module is the extent to which we can trust our senses—our eyes and ears and touch—to tell us what the world is really like. Descartes's distrust of the senses will lead him to search for a different, non-sensory source of knowledge and a corresponding reconceptualization of nature, whereas Cavendish and Berkeley argue, in different ways, for a more optimistic assessment of the senses. By the end of this module, you will have gained knowledge of some of the key arguments and theories of early modern European philosophy, and you will be in a better position to decide whether a tree falling in a forest makes a sound even if it doesn't seem like anyone is around to hear it.
Module Leader: To be confirmed
Level: 4
Term: 2
Area: A
Assessment: Essay, 2000 Words (100%)
Description:This module offers an introduction to topics in metaphysics and epistemology, exploring what the world is like and what we know about it.
The first half of the module will focus on how things are. We will look at questions such as:
• What makes things the way they are?
• How different could things have been to how they are?
• If things had been different to how they are, what would things have been like?
The second half of the module will focus on what we know about how things are. We will look at questions such as:
• What is it to know how things are?
• How can we know anything about how things are?
• What should we believe about how things are?
In the course of the module, you will be introduced to key tools for studying metaphysics and epistemology. You will also become familiar with debates to do with topics such as time, identity, modality, knowledge, and justification.
Module Leader: Andreas Ditter
Level: 4
Term: 2
Area: A
Assessment: In-person Written Exam, 2 hours (100%)
Description: This is an elementary course in first-order logic. We will cover a range of topics including symbolization, the syntax and semantics of first-order logic, the construction of proofs, and logical properties such as consistency and entailment. You will learn how to symbolize English sentences in first-order logic, analyze the structure of arguments, and construct precise arguments yourself. Our goal will be to help you become proficient in using formal methods to clarify and make precise logical relationships that are hard to understand otherwise, and to reason better, with greater clarity and precision. PHIL0005 Introduction to Logic 1 is a pre-requisite for this module.
Module Leader: Mark Kalderon
Level: 4
Term: 2
Area: B
Assessment: In-person Written Exam, 2 hours (100%)
Description: This module is an introduction to moral philosophy through a close examination of two key historical texts. Specifically, we will read selections from Hume's Treatise and Kant's Groundwork. The aim is to introduce you to themes in moral philosophy and prepare you for further study in moral philosophy as well as further study of Hume and Kant.
Indicative Topics: The module will cover the following topics:
1. The nature of moral motivation, whether it is reason or desire that moves us to act as morality requires
2. Whether moral requirements can move us to act contrary to our interests
3. Whether moral requirements are universal
4. The connection between self-knowledge and virtue
Teaching Delivery: Teaching will consist in a weekly lecture and a weekly seminar. You will be required to do the reading for each week and participate in seminar.
Second Year Modules (Level 5) - Term 1
Module Leader: Lucy O'Brien
Level: 5
Term: 1
Area: A
Assessment: In-person Written Exam, 2 hours (100%)
Description: 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.
Provisional Topics:
Part I: Knowledge and Scepticism
Week 1. Nozick
Week 2. Nozick’s Critics
Week 3. Contextualism.
Week 4. Problems with Contextualism
Week 5. Knowledge First
Part II. Sources of Knowledge
Week 6. Perception
Week 7. Memory
Week 8. Testimony: Reductionism and Non-Reductionism
Week 9. Testimony and Assurance
Week 10. Introspection
Module Leader: Fiona Leigh
Level: 5
Term: 2
Area: C
Assessment: Assessed Live Debate (20%); Debate Supporting Document, 500 Words (20%); Essay, 2500 Words (60%)
Description: The course, designed to take students through the central tenants of Plato’s thought, requires student participation in philosophical dialogue (reflecting Plato’s style of writing in dialogue form) in several respects. First, students will learn to discuss and debate their ideas by participating in several debates in the seminar groups after the lecture, the first being a piece of formative assessment, the second, pieces of summative assessment (worth 20% and 20% of the final mark). Second, students will vote on, and discuss, multiple-choice questions on material presented during the lectures. Finally, students are strongly encouraged to attend a meeting with the lecturer in week 9 or 10 to discuss their plans for the essay for summative assessment (worth 60% of the final mark). The course will look at a small selection of Plato’s works, with a strong focus on the Republic. The topics to be covered will be:
Week 1 – Virtue ethical moral theory in the Republic
Primary text: the Republic, books I-IV (excerpts)
Week 2 – Plato’s theory of Forms
Primary texts: the Phaedo; the Republic, books V-VII (excerpts)
Week 3 – Moral psychology in the Republic
Primary text: the Republic, books III-IV (excerpts)
Week 4 – Case study of a virtue in the Republic: Courage
Primary text: the Republic, books III-IV, VIII-IX (excerpts)
Week 5 – Was Plato a feminist?
Primary text: the Republic, book V (excerpt)
* seminar debate: Plato & feminism (formative)
Week 6 – Knowledge and belief in the Republic
Primary text: the Republic, books V (excerpt)
Week 7 – Plato’s banishment of poets from the ideal city, part 1
Primary text: the Republic, book X (excerpt)
Week 8 – Plato’s banishment of poets from the ideal city, part 2
Primary text: the Republic, book X (excerpt)
Week 9 – The ‘third man argument’ (TMA) in Plato
Primary text: the Parmenides (excerpt)
* seminar debate: Plato & art in the Republic (summative)
Week 10 – Potential solutions for the TMA in Plato
Primary text: the Sophist (excerpt)
Module Leader: Sam Carter
Level: 5
Term: 1
Area: A
Assessment: Essay, 2500 Words (100%)
Description: We have many tools for representing the world around us. We write words, draw diagrams, paint pictures, and send smoke signals. Each allows us to communicate information in a different way. This module provides an introduction to representation in language and beyond.
The first half of the module will focus on linguistic representation, discussing how we use words and sentences to mean things. We will look at questions such as:
• What is a language?
• How do languages encode meaning?
• How is linguistic representation related to thought?
• How is linguistic representation related to communication?
The second half of the course will turn to other forms of representation. In this section, we will consider a variety of non-linguistic ways representing the world, including pictures, maps, and gestures. We will look at questions such as:
• What is the difference between linguistic and non-linguistic representation?
• Can linguistic and non-linguistic representation be integrated?
• How is non-linguistic representation related to thought?
• How is non-linguistic representation related to communication?
In the course of the module, you will be introduced to key tools for studying philosophy of language. You will also become familiar with debates to do with topics such as truth, reference, communication, and meaning.
Module Leader: Giulia Cavaliere
Level: 5
Term: 1
Area: B
Assessment: Essay, 2500 Words (100%)
Description: What’s the best way to live? What obligations do we have to each other? Should we judge actions by their outcomes or by the intentions behind them? What does it mean to say we have a moral duty to do (or not do) something? Do we have special responsibilities toward the people closest to us? Why do promises matter? What’s the relationship between moral responsibility and punishment? Who (or what) counts as having full moral status, and what follows from that? Are there such things as just wars? Could killing ever be justified? Is death bad, and if so, why? Is there a moral right to abortion—and if so, what grounds it? This module is about thinking critically about questions like these, and about how philosophers have tried to answer them. We’ll be looking at both normative theory and applied ethics. That means we’ll survey some of the major theories and concepts in moral philosophy, and then test them against real-world cases—ranging from war and global poverty to abortion, death, and criminal justice.
Module Leader: Joe Horton
Level: 5
Term: 1
Area: B
Assessment: Essay, 1300 Words (25%); Essay, 2000 Words (75%)
Description: This module investigates questions that are both central to political philosophy and of current political importance. For example: What does it take for a political system to be just? Can we support equality of opportunity without also supporting equality of outcome? How can we come to own natural resources? Does global inequality matter as much as national inequality? Is it wrong to contribute to climate change? What do we owe to future generations?
Module Aims: This module focuses on central debates in political philosophy, and it is designed to help you develop the skills needed to evaluate them. These skills include reconstructing arguments, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of arguments, and identifying the connections between debates that might initially seem unrelated. These skills are fundamental in all areas of philosophy, but they are also important in many other disciplines.
Sample Readings:
- Elizabeth Anderson, ‘What is the Point of Equality?’, Ethics 109 (1999): 287–337
- G. A. Cohen, Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality (Cambridge University Press, 1995): Chapter 3 and Chapter 4
- Andrea Sangiovanni, ‘Global Justice, Reciprocity, and the State’, Philosophy & Public Affairs 35 (2007): 3–39
- Paula Casal, ‘Why Sufficiency is Not Enough’, Ethics 117 (2007): 296–326
- Julia Nefsky, ‘Consumer Choice and Collective Impact’, in Anne Barnhill, Mark Budolfson, and Tyler Doggett (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Food Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2018): 267–286
Module Leader: Simona Aimar
Level: 5
Term: 1
Area: C
Assessment: Essay, 1500 Words (35%); Essay, 2200 Words (65%)
Description: Aristotle is one of the most influential and wide-ranging thinkers in the history of Western philosophy. He belongs to the classical Greek philosophical tradition, and was a student of Plato for two decades (!). Over his lifetime, he pioneered entire areas of philosophical inquiry (from formal logic to biology and philosophy of mind) and transformed others in lasting ways (from metaphysics to ethics). This course offers an in-depth introduction to some central themes in his philosophy.
Although we are working with a historical figure, we will adopt a problem-based approach. Our aim is not only to learn what Aristotle thought; it’s to wrestle with his arguments ourselves. Was he right? Did he have good arguments for his claims? Are his ideas still relevant? And if so, in what way?
We will focus on key metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical questions in Aristotle’s work. Topics include: his theory of substance, change, and causation; his account of knowledge and the soul; his views on place, time, and God; and his reflections on women and virtue. Throughout, we will work closely with Aristotle’s own texts, considering how his arguments are structured, whether they succeed, and how they have influenced later thought.
Some of the questions we will think about:
- What is a soul?
- What is a substance for Aristotle?
- Is his definition of change coherent?
- Do the four types of causes that Aristotle distinguishes provide a complete explanation of natural phenomena? Why?
- How persuasive is Aristotle’s conception of time?
- Is Aristotle’s account of the soul compatible with materialism?
- What is virtue?
Course Structure (Please refer to Moodle for the finalized schedule)
The course is organised into ten weekly topics:
1. Substances and their properties
2. Change, matter, and form
3. The Four Causes
4. Knowledge
5. Souls
6. Women
7. Place
8. Time
9. God
10. Virtue OR a debate OR an extra topic chosen by the class.
Second Year Modules (Level 5) - Term 2
Module Leader: John Hyman
Level: 5
Term: 2
Area: B
Assessment: In-person Written Exam, 2 hours (100%)
Description: This course will explore some of the central questions in philosophy of the visual arts, focusing especially on the concepts of beauty and truth. We shall begin with classic debates about taste and judgement and consider whether artistic value is real or imaginary, subjective or objective, and whether it is answerable to standards. We then turn to some of the fundamental concepts involved in thinking about the visual arts specifically, namely, colour, form, representation, realism, and abstraction. Finally, we shall consider how works of art can communicate perceptions, thoughts and feelings, reveal aspects of the human condition, or contribute to our knowledge of ourselves, each other and the world. Readings range from Hume and Kant to Gombrich, Wollheim, and Greenberg. The entire course treats art not as an isolated phenomenon, but as a practice embedded in society, history, culture, and in a form of life.
Introductory Readings
- Malcolm Budd, Values of Art: Pictures, Poetry and Music (1996)
- Ernst Gombrich, Art and Illusion (1960)
- Witold Tatarkiewicz, A History of Six Ideas (1980)
- James Sully, ‘Aesthetics,' Encyclopaedia Britannica (11th ed.)
- Thomas Munro & Roger Scruton, ‘Aesthetics,' Encyclopaedia Britannica (current edition)
Module Leader: John Vorhaus
Level: 5
Term: 2
Area: B
Assessment: In-person Online Exam, 2 hours (100%)
Description: This course will examine some selected topics in applied ethics.
The following topics will be covered: abortion, rape, euthanasia, non-human animals, future people, affirmative action, disability, privacy and the ethics of immigration.
Students will be expected to read at least two papers for most topics, and to participate actively in the back-up seminar. Assessment will be by an two-hour examination, in which students will be expected to answer two questions. This final paper will offer a wide range of questions to choose from, but a question on each topic is not guaranteed.
Module Leader: Daniel Rothschild
Level: 5
Term: 2
Area: A
Assessment: Essay, 1500 Words (50%); In-person Written Exam, 2 hours (50%)
Description: Metaphysics is the study of the basic nature of reality. This module will give an introduction to contemporary metaphysics. We start with ontology, looking at different views about what things exist. We will move on to examine fundamental topics in metaphysics such as possibilities, scientific laws, and time. The overall goal of the module is to evaluate philosophical efforts to systematize scientific and everyday pictures of the world.
Module Leader: Rory Madden
Level: 5
Term: 2
Area: A
Assessment: In-Person Written Exam, 3 hours (100%)
Description: This module aims to introduce students to a range of problems, theories, and arguments in the philosophy of mind: the philosophical study of mental phenomena and their relation to the rest of reality. What defines the mind? How does the mind relate to the physical world? Is the mind just the brain? Can the mind affect the physical world? What is consciousness? How far does the mind extend? Which animals are conscious? Might every particle in the universe possess some consciousness?
Provisional syllabus and primary readings:
(1) What is the mind?
- Bayne, Tim 2022 Philosophy of Mind Ch 1 ‘Marks of the Mental’
(2) Mind-brain identity
- Smart, J.J.C 1959 ‘Sensations and brain processes’ Philosophical Review
(3) Functionalism
- Putnam, Hilary 1978 ‘The Nature of Mental States’ in Block ed. Readings in the Philosophy of Psychology
(4) Mental Causation
- Crane, Tim 2004 The Elements of Mind Ch 2 ‘Body’
(5) Consciousness
- Nagel, Thomas 1974 ‘What is it like to be a bat?’ Philosophical Review
(6) The Knowledge Argument
- Jackson, Frank 1982 ‘Epiphenomenal Qualia’ The Philosophical Quarterly
(7) Monitoring Theories of Consciousness
- Rosenthal 2002 'Explaining Consciousness' in Chalmers ed. Philosophy of Mind: Classic and Contemporary Readings
(8) The Extended Mind
- Clark, Andy and David Chalmers 1998 ‘The Extended Mind’ Analysis
(9) Animal Minds
- Birch, Jonathan 2020 ‘The Search for Invertebrate Consciousness’ Nous
(10) Panpsychism
- Goff, Philip 2017 ‘Panpsychism’ in Schneider and Velman eds. The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness, Second Edition.
Module Leader: Pavel Reichl
Level: 5
Term: 2
Area: C
Assessment: Essay, 2500 Words (100%)
Description:
The Critique of Pure Reason is among the most influential texts in the history of philosophy and has made a lasting impact not only on the way we do philosophy but on the way we see ourselves and our world.
This work arose in a landscape dominated by a contentious disagreement on the foundational problems of philosophy: questions such as ‘Are we free or determined?’ and ‘Does God exist?’ sparked lively debate, yet little progress was made toward consensus. Kant’s revolutionary insight was that before attempting to respond to such questions, we must first of all carry out a critique that would fix the bounds of reason and enable us to determine which questions we can and cannot answer. In this manner, Kant believed he had discovered ‘the key to the whole secret of metaphysics’, capable of resolving these seemingly endless and fruitless debates once and for all.
In this module, we explore Kant’s innovative epistemological framework, his account of the limits of cognition, and his resolution to the basic problems of metaphysics. Students will gain an understanding of the details of Kant's position in the first Critique, an ability to critically assess its central arguments, and an appreciation of its broader historical significance.
Module Leader: Colin Chamberlain
Level: 5
Term: 2
Area: C
Assessment: In-Person Exam (100%)
Description: Descartes bequeaths to 17th- and 18th-century European philosophers a range of problems: about the distinction and interaction of mind and body, the relationship between God and nature, the concept of substance, whether the existence of the world is necessary and the extent to which things could have been different, etc. In this module, we will examine the way two philosophers—Baruch Spinoza (5 weeks) and Anne Conway (3 weeks)—grapple with these post-Cartesian problems by reading large chunks of their major works: the Ethics for Spinoza and the Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy for Conway. Despite different orientations and styles, Spinoza and Conway converge on a surprising number of positions. In addition, we will read a little bit of Pierre Bayle as a critic of Spinoza (1 week), as well as some Henry More as articulating a non-Cartesian form of dualism to which Conway responds (1 week).
Final Year (Level 6) - Term 1
Module Leader: José Zalabardo
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 1
Area: C
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: The purpose of this module is to present some of the central doctrines of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. The module focuses on the account offered in this book of the structure of reality and our ability to represent it in thought and language. We will also study ideas of Bertrand Russell and Gottlob Frege that are relevant for the development of Wittgenstein’s thought.
The module will enable you to understand these important ideas, overcoming the obscurity of Wittgenstein’s writing. This will contribute to your general understanding of the central philosophical issues that Wittgenstein addresses. It will also develop your ability to interpret difficult philosophical texts.
Topics covered by the module will include:
- Russell’s dual-relation theory of judgment
- Russell’s multiple-relation theory of judgment
- Russell and Wittgenstein on forms
- Wittgenstein’s picture theory
- Frege on unity and unsaturatedness
- Wittgenstein on the unity of the proposition
- Wittgenstein on the unity of facts
- Objects and expressions as common structural features
- Substance and simplicity
Teaching Delivery: The module will be delivered by weekly two-hour lecture/seminars, combining presentation of material by the lecturer and general discussion of the ideas presented. You will be expected to do preparatory reading for each session.
By the end of the module:
- You will have gained a deep understanding of some of the central ideas put forward by Wittgenstein in his early period.
- You will be able to connect Wittgenstein’s proposals to contemporary debates in metaphysics, philosophy of language and philosophy of mind.
- You will have enhanced your interpretative skills regarding difficult philosophical texts.
- You will have developed your ability to grasp and discuss highly abstract philosophical issues.
Recommended Reading: In preparation for the module, we advise reading the following core texts. These can be found in the UCL Library.
- Wittgenstein, Ludwig. 1974. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Translated by D. F. Pears and B. McGuinness. 2nd ed. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Original edition, 1961.
- Zalabardo, José L. 2015. Representation and Reality in Wittgenstein's Tractatus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Module Leader: Fiona Leigh
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 1
Area: C
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: The module focuses on Aristotle's philosophy of mind and moral psychology. After a brief introduction in the first week to the central tenets of his metaphysics and epistemology, the module will cover topics including Aristotle's views human nature and human flourishing, the kinds of cognitive capacities attributable to humans and non-human animals, the emotions, virtue ethics, the doctrine of the mean and learning to be good, weakness of the will, and vice. The central primary text will be the Nicomachean Ethics, although other texts will be consulted, notably de Anima. It is intended that students will learn to read passages from Aristotle’s works in ethics and psychology. They will develop the ability to evaluate the arguments proposed in the sources and to propose and assess different possible interpretations. They will be encouraged to reflect critically on the significance of the material. A sample syllabi, with the relevant primary texts, is as follows (selected secondary reading is also assigned each week):
Week 1
Introduction & metaphysics – overview of life and works, relation to Plato – and Aristotle’s metaphysics: hylomorphism, substance, the four causes, body and soul
Primary Text: Metaphysics, VII.1-4, 6, 10-11, 13, 15, 17; Physics II.1-9; III.1-3, VIII.6; de Anima, book 1.1, 1.4
Week 2
The soul & cognition
Primary Text: de Anima, books I-III, and (optional) de Motu Animalium, 6-11
Week 3
Phantasia & emotion
Primary Text: Rhetoric book II.1-10; de Anima, book III.3
Week 4
Understanding the ‘doctrine’ of the mean
Primary Text: Nicomachean Ethics, books II-III (especially II.1-9, III.5-12)
Week 5
The mean ‘relative to us’
Primary Text: Nicomachean Ethics, books II-III (especially II.1-9, III.5-12)
Week 6
The structure of habituation
Primary Text: Nicomachean Ethics, I.13, II.1-4
Week 7
Habituation & action
Primary Text: (the same as for week 6) Nicomachean Ethics, I.13, II.1-4
Week 8
Virtue and Akrasia (weakness of the will)
Primary Text: Nicomachean Ethics, Nicomachean Ethics, VII.1-10
Week 9
Vice and moral conflict
Primary Text: Nicomachean Ethics, III. 2-5, 10-12, VII.7-8 (already read in week 8), IX.4
Week 10
Vice as a unified psychological state
Primary Text: (mostly the same as for week 9) Nicomachean Ethics, III. 2-5, 10-2, VII.7-8, IX.4
Module Leader: Mark Kalderon
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 1
Area: A
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: C. D. Broad offers a comparative phenomenology of vision, audition, and touch highlighting the important differences between them. We will assess Broad’s comparative phenomenology drawing upon analytic, continental, historical and psychological literature. The aim is to introduce the student to advance themes in philosophy of perception through this assessment of Broad’s comparative phenomenology. The class will be conducted as a seminar with student presentations
For relatively recent analytic discussion of these issues, the student might consult the optional reading Perception and Its Modalities edited by Dustin Stokes, Mohan Matthen, and Stephen Biggs. Oxford University Press, 2014.
Module Leader: Rory Phillips
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 1
Area: C
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Please note that this module is not displaying correctly in the UCL Module Catalogue, but it will be available in 2025/26.
Description: This historically-focused module will introduce students to a range of thinkers from the European tradition who have made important contributions to the philosophy of religion. Importantly, this course will try to take seriously the importance of many authors’ theological and philosophical commitments, especially when concerning authors for whom these disciplines were inseparable, like authors of late antiquity and the medieval period. Primary texts will be the core readings for every week, supplemented by commentary and engagement from contemporary philosophers. Every week there will be a 45-minute lecture followed by an hour-long seminar. Representative thinkers and topics include: Augustine on sin and grace; Anselm on the ontological argument and the workings of salvation; Aquinas on the argument from contingency; Luther on the separation of theology from philosophy and the nature of free will; Leibniz on the actual world as best of all possible; Hume on miracles and the argument from appearance of design; Kant on the impossibility of traditional arguments for God; Schleiermacher on religion as a feeling of absolute dependence.
Module Leader: Giulia Cavaliere
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 1
Area: B
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: What is the object of feminist theory and practice—and what role should the concept of ‘woman’ play within it? How do women’s biological capacities shape experiences of sex-based oppression? What role do markets play in regulating reproductive labour? What do we mean by gender justice, and how should waged and unwaged labour be distributed fairly? Why do beauty norms matter, and how do they contribute to oppression? What is the politics of sex and desire, and how should we understand the conditions of consent?
This module introduces you to central debates in feminist philosophy. We’ll explore questions at the intersections of metaphysics, political philosophy, and ethics, paying close attention to how feminist thinkers have challenged—and reshaped—traditional philosophical approaches.
The module begins with the big picture: Why feminism, and why philosophy? We’ll look at feminist metaphysics and epistemology, and the role of concepts like ‘gender’ in structuring social and political life. From there, we’ll move into debates about freedom and reproduction, pregnancy, and reproductive labour—asking how these are shaped by economic structures and market norms.
We’ll then turn to questions about beauty standards, autonomy, and the regulation of bodies, before tackling ideas of gender justice and the politics of domestic and care work. Toward the end of the module, we’ll consider contemporary debates on the ‘right to sex’, the politics of desire, and the boundaries of valid consent.
By the end of the module, you’ll have a clearer sense not just of what feminist theory says, but of what it does: how it reframes philosophical debates, offers new tools for critique, and provides resources for thinking about justice in a world structured by gender.
Module Convenor: To Be Confirmed
Level: 6
Terms: 1 and 2
Area: n/a
Assessment: Dissertation, 8000 Words (100%)
Description: The dissertation module is an optional module that can only be taken in your final year of study. The dissertation is a 8,000-word essay on a philosophical topic of your choosing, subject to the availability of a member of staff with appropriate expertise to supervise it, and approval by the Dissertation Tutor. Tuition involves four one-hour sessions of one-on-one supervision by a member of staff. The module is taken over the course of Term 1 and Term 2. The research will be self-directed, though with the guidance of your supervisor. The dissertation submission deadline is first day of Term 3 term by 4.00 pm (BST).
Fact Sheet and Application Form can be found on Moodle (Philosophy Department - Student Guides). Deadline for 2026/27: 4pm on Monday 15th June 2026.
This module is only available to students enrolled on the BA Philosophy course, joint honours Philosophy courses and PPE students.
Module Convenor: José Zalabardo
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 1
Area: A
Assessment: Essay, 3600 Words (100%)
Description: On the standard conception of the place of linguistic meaning and mental content in the world, there are facts about what speakers mean by linguistic expressions and about what people believe and desire. Interpretation is the process by which we gain access to these facts—we use the evidence at our disposal to determine what people mean by what they say and the contents of their mental states. On this standard conception, facts about meaning and content are generated by connections between language and the mind, on the one hand, and the world, on the other. These facts do not depend in any way on the interpretative procedures by which we seek to discover them.
Since the last few decades of the 20th century, several philosophers have challenged this conception, arguing that facts about linguistic meaning and mental content are somehow produced by the procedures that we employ for ascribing meanings and contents. The goal of this module is to provide a general introduction to this approach. We will focus on the work of four of its main advocates: WVO Quine, Donal Davidson, Saul Kripke and Daniel Dennett.
Topics covered by the module will include:
1. Quine on the indeterminacy of translation
2. Davidson on truth, meaning and radical interpretation
3. Kripke’s interpretation of Wittgenstein’s rule-following considerations
4. Dennett on the intentional stance
Recommended Reading
In preparation for the module, we advise reading the following core texts. These can be found in the UCL Library:
· Gibson, Roger F. 1998. Radical translation and radical interpretation. https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/radical-translation-and-radical-interpretation/v-1.
· Quine, Willard Van Orman. 1960. Word and Object. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, Chapter 2.
· Davidson, Donald. 1973. ""Radical Interpretation"". Dialectica 27:313-28.
· Dennett, Daniel C. 1987. ""True Believers"". In The Intentional Stance. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
· Kripke, Saul. 1982. Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language. Oxford: Blackwell.
Module Leader: John Vorhaus
Level: 6
Term: 2
Area: B
Assessment: In-Person Online Exam (100%)
Description: An introduction to questions in applied ethics and philosophy of law about human and animal dignity, and the prohibition on degrading treatment and punishment.
We explore conceptions of dignity and degradation, and examine the characteristics and any wrong inherent in degrading treatment and punishment, as imposed upon prisoners, people held in detention centres, people with dementia and other disabilities, and non-human animals.
The course includes readings in applied ethics, jurisprudence and international human rights law.
The course will include lectures on the following ten topics:
- Distinctions: torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment
- Degrading treatment and punishment
- Corporal punishment and bodily searches
- Kantian dignity and respect for persons: Korsgaard, Wood, Parfit, Kerstein
- Contemporary accounts of dignity: Waldron, Rosen, Hill
- Advocates of human dignity: Velleman, Nussbaum, Margalit
- Scepticism about human dignity: Sangiovanni, Rosen, McMahan
- Unawareness: the dignity of people with advanced Dementia
- Dignity and disability
- Non-human animals: the ethics of captivity
Module Leader: Ulrike Heuer
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 1
Area: B
Assessment: Oral Presentation (25%), Essay, 2500 Words (75%)
Description: Many current philosophical discussions, both in practical and theoretical philosophy, centre around the explanation of normativity. This module will introduce you to contemporary debates about the nature of normativity. We will ask questions about the nature of our reasons for performing various kinds of action, for possessing various kinds of feelings and attitudes, and for believing various propositions. We will investigate these questions by learning about contemporary theories and debates concerning each of these areas, covering both classic texts as well as more recent research within this area.
The module will be structured around three broad areas:
• Reasons for action. Here, we will examine the nature of reasons for actions, what they are and when we have them. This may include examining views such as internalism, externalism, and constructivism about reasons.
• Reasons for emotions. Here, we will examine the nature of reasons for emotions in general, as well as philosophical questions arising from specific emotions. This may include examining emotions like grief and anger, as well as issues like the ‘wrongkind of reason’ problem.
• Other kinds of reasons. Here, we will examine whether there are distinctive kinds of reasons relating to various distinctive normative domains. This may include examining whether there are distinctive reasons relating to domains such as rationality, prudence, and epistemology.
Teaching Delivery This module is delivered in weekly two-hour classes, which are a mixture of lecture and discussion. Students are expected to read the compulsory reading set each week and prepare for discussion in the class. It is expected that all students will contribute to the discussion.
By the end of the module, you should be able to:
• Understand and explain the broadest aims and questions of contemporary theorizing about normativity and reasons.
• Understand and explain the most popular contemporary theories of reasons and normativity and some prominent problems and questions investigated by philosophers in this area relating to action, emotion, and the scope of normativity.
• Philosophically evaluate and assess the answers given to these problems and questions, and understand what kinds of considerations are relevant to this assessment.
• Understand and explain how these theories and questions, and their evaluation, connect with one another and with broader philosophical issues.
Recommended Reading
In preparation for the module, you may wish to read the following introductory texts to get a flavour of some of the topics that may be covered (these will not exhaust the topics covered). These can be found in the UCL Library or online through UCL Library Services.
On internalism vs externalism about reasons:
• https://ucl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44UCL_INST/18kagqf/cdi_scopus_primar y_2_s2_0_84876381196
• https://ucl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44UCL_INST/18kagqf/cdi_informaworld _taylorfrancisbooks_10_4324_9781315213217_21_version2
• https://ucl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44UCL_INST/18kagqf/cdi_credo_entries_ 23828811 On the ‘wrong kind of reason problem’: • https://ucl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44UCL_INST/18kagqf/cdi_credo_entries_ 23828811
• https://ucl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44UCL_INST/18kagqf/cdi_informaworld _taylorfrancisbooks_10_4324_9781315213217_22_version2
• https://ucl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44UCL_INST/18kagqf/cdi_wiley_primary _10_1111_phc3_12412_PHC312412 On the varieties of normativity:
• https://ucl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44UCL_INST/18kagqf/cdi_informaworld _taylorfrancisbooks_10_4324_9780429266768_39_version2
• https://ucl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44UCL_INST/18kagqf/cdi_informaworld _taylorfrancisbooks_10_4324_9781315213217_22_version2
• https://ucl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44UCL_INST/18kagqf/cdi_wiley_primary _10_1111_phc3_12412_PHC312412
Module Leader: Pavel Reichl
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 1
Area: C
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: Among the key developments of modernity was the emergence of the Philosophy of History as a field enquiry. In this course, we will study its rise, fall, and possible return. Classical philosophers of history pursued an unusually ambitious set of questions: Is there a purpose to history as a whole? What (if anything) counts as progress in history, and by what standards can progress be judged? Are there transhistorical standards by which we can judge development, or are such standards always internal to particular historical worlds and possibly incommensurable? We will examine some of the classical answers to these and other questions articulated by figures such as Herder, Kant, Fichte, and Hegel. We will then turn to later attempts to critically transform this tradition in more recent currents of thought, including Marxism, Critical Theory, and the Philosophy of Liberation.
Module Leader: Clara Bradley
Level: 6
Term: 1
Area: A
Assessment: Essay, 3000 Words (100%)
Description: Science constitutes the most successful human endeavor in cumulative acquisition of knowledge of the natural world. But we are bombarded by information guised as science, and there is more distrust in science and its experts today than ever. While some of this information is harmless, much of it is extremely costly to individuals and society. Given that we are flooded with so much misinformation, how are we supposed to make informed rational judgments?
In this module, we will consider this issue from the perspective of philosophy of science: What is the difference between science and pseudoscience? What constitutes scientific explanation? What role do values play in science? How should we form beliefs on the basis of scientific evidence? We will ask these questions not only in the abstract but also with reference to several case studies including flat earth arguments, anti-vaxxers, homeopathy, and tobacco science.
Module Leader: Laura Guerrero
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 1
Area: C
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: Buddhism is not just one of the world’s largest and most diverse religious traditions, it is also the source of a rich variety of philosophical theorizing. In dialectical exchange with non-Buddhist philosophies and with each other, Buddhist philosophers have developed sophisticated views in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind, among other areas.
This module will trace the development of various Buddhist philosophies, focusing on their origins in the Indian subcontinent. We will familiarize ourselves with the central philosophical concerns of the main traditions of Buddhist thought in its foundational era (roughly the second century BCE to the eighth century CE), specifically the Abhidharma, Yogācāra, and Madhyamaka traditions of Buddhist philosophy. Philosophers during this period debated topics such as the fundamental nature of reality, the reality of selves and the nature of persons, the means by which we acquire knowledge, the reflexivity of consciousness, and the reality of the external world. In this module we will examine such topics focusing on Buddhist views about what is real, how we come to have knowledge, and the nature of the mind. To do this properly we will familiarize ourselves with some of Buddhism’s opponents, and thus we will also examine some arguments made by non-Buddhists against their views. We will read selections of primary source texts (in translation) as well as various contemporary materials engaging with the ideas in those source texts.
As this module focuses on philosophical argumentation, the approach to Buddhism in this module will likely be very different from the approach you might encounter in an anthropology, sociology or religious studies module. This module will thus also serve as a complement to study in those areas for those students interested in Buddhism more broadly.
Background knowledge: This course does not presuppose any familiarity with Buddhism or the intellectual context of the Indian subcontinent in the period. However, students may find it helpful to do some background reading (see below).
Background readings
For those interested in doing some background reading, I recommend the following optional texts:
- Rupert Gethin. 1998. The foundations of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. Gethin’s book is an overview of the history of Buddhism and the commitments of the most prominent Buddhist traditions.
- John Keay. 2000. India: a history, Chapters 6–9. Grove Press.
Keay gives a general survey of the history of the Indian subcontinent. Chapters six through nine focus on the time period this course covers.
Module Leader: Daniel Rothschild
Level: 6
Term: 1
Area: A
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: Recent developments in artificial intelligence have been so startling that many believe computer scientists have uncovered and reproduced some of the basic mechanisms behind human intelligence. This module will look to evaluate this claim in the light of what cognitive scientists have discovered about the human mind in recent decades. The module does not presuppose any knowledge of artificial intelligence or computer science, but many technical topics will be approached, and students will be expected to engage with difficult texts in computer science and cognitive science. (About three quarters of the reading will be in computer science and/or cognitive science and one quarter in philosophy.)
Restrictions: Students who have previously taken PHIL0046 Advanced Class in the Philosophy of Mind in 24/25 or 25/26 will not be permitted to enrol in this module.
Module Leader: Elena Cagnoli Fiecconi
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 1
Area: C
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: Plato’s ethical theory is a theory of ethical virtues. Thus, unlike consequentialist theorists or deontological theorists, Plato sees agents, instead of actions, as the primary locus of value. It is perhaps for this reason that moral education and other kinds of moral transformation were at the centre of his attention throughout his dialogues. In fact, in this module, by looking at his account of moral education, we will get a fuller understanding of his ethical theory.
Our key questions will be: how do we learn to be good, according to Plato? How do we become bad? Why does Plato think that loving beauty can lead to moral transformation? Does Plato think that moral education and moral transformation require a well-ordered society, or does he think that they can be achieved privately in societies that are not well-ordered?
You will be asked to present on a paper once (in a group).
Background knowledge: I will not presupposed background knowledge beyond basic notions like deontology or consequentialism. Having taken modules in Ancient Greek Philosophy might be helpful but it is not necessary.
Syllabus:
Week one: Introduction. Meno. Can Virtue be Taught?
Meno (Selections)
Week two: Protagoras. Is virtue a sort of knowledge?
Protagoras (Selections)
Week three: Vice in the Gorgias, can Callicles be cured?
Gorgias (Selections)
Week four: Division of the soul and the education of appetitive desire in the Republic.
Republic 3 and 4 (Selections)
Week five: Musical Education (Plato and Aristotle)
Republic 3, Politics 8 (Selections)
Week six: Sun, Line, Cave
Republic 6-7 (Selections)
Week seven: Moral Corruption
Republic 8-9 (Selections)
Week eight: the ascent in the Symposium and the education of Alcibiades
Symposium (Selections)
Week nine: Phaedrus on madness and self-mastery
Phaedrus (Selections)
Week ten: Laws on moral education and drinking parties
Laws (Selections)
Background readings: Here are some (totally optional) recommendations!
Primary:
• Plato. Republic. Reeve (Hackett) and Rowe (Penguin) are good translations.
• Plato. Laws. Griffith edited by Schofield (CUP) is a good translation (just read book 1 and 2)
• Plato, (2006). Plato on Love: Lysis, Symposium, Phaedrus, Alcibiades, with Selections from Republic and Laws. Hackett Publishing Company. Edited by C. D. C. Reeve.
Secondary:
• Scott, Dominic (1999). Platonic pessimism and moral education. Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 17.
• Sheffield, Frisbee (2006). Plato's Symposium: the ethics of desire. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Obdrzalek, Suzanne (2010). Moral Transformation and the Love of Beauty in Plato’s Symposium. Journal of the History of Philosophy 48 (4):415-444
• Baima, Nicholas R. (2018). Playing with Intoxication: On the Cultivation of Shame and Virtue in Plato’s Laws. Apeiron 51 (3):345-370
Final Year (Level 6) - Term 2
Module Leader: Mark Kalderon
Level: 6
Term: 2
Area: A
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: C.D. Broad offers a comparative phenomenology of vision, audition, and touch highlighting the important differences between them. We will assess Broad’s comparative phenomenology drawing upon analytic, continental, historical and psychological literature. The aim is to introduce the student to advance themes in philosophy of perception through this assessment of Broad’s comparative phenomenology. The class will be conducted as a seminar with student presentations
For relatively recent analytic discussion of these issues, the student might consult the optional reading Perception and Its Modalities edited by Dustin Stokes, Mohan Matthen, and Stephen Biggs. Oxford University Press, 2014.
Module Leader: Clara Bradley
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 2
Area: A
Assessment: In-Person Written Exam, 3 hours (100%)
Description: In this module, we’ll explore the probabilistic representation of belief and its deep connections to rationality, evidence, and action. Some of the questions we’ll ask include: What are degrees of belief? What rules should these degrees of belief follow—and why are they rationally required? How do beliefs change over time when we learn new information? How do probabilities shape the way we act and make decisions? Can probability theory help us solve long-standing philosophical problems in the contexts of induction and scientific confirmation?
The module will roughly follow the structure of the text for the module (see below). We’ll begin with the mathematical foundations of probability theory and see how it can represent—and constrain—our degrees of belief, both at a single moment and as they change over time. From there, we’ll apply probabilistic reasoning to philosophical problems in scientific confirmation, induction, and decision making under uncertainty. We’ll finish by exploring some of the most influential justifications for the probabilistic representation of belief: Dutch book arguments, representation theorems, and accuracy arguments.
The primary texts for this module are:
Titelbaum, Michael (2022), Fundamentals of Bayesian Epistemology Volumes I and II.
There are also several other books/readings that are complementary to the course:
• Hacking, Ian, An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic
• Bradley, Darren, A Critical Introduction to Formal Epistemology
• Skyrms, Brian, Choice and Chance: An Introduction to Inductive Logic
• Easwaran, Kenny, Bayesianism I and II.
• Weisberg, Jonathan, Odds and Ends
Background Knowledge
This module presupposes introductory logic (at the level of first year Introduction to Logic 1 & 2). Students will be required as part of the formative and summative assessment to solve mathematical problems and do basic mathematical proofs. If you would like a better sense of the level of mathematics involved in this module, please look at the primary text for the module. The problems that you will be required to solve as part of this module will be similar to the end of chapter problems in the primary text.
Chapter 2 of Titelbaum (see above) includes a summary of the relevant first-order logic you’ll need. If you’re unsure about your background, speak to the module leader, who can suggest readings to help you get up to speed. Mathematically, the module will introduce and make use of basic set theory and probability theory, and you will be required to do some mathematical proofs as part of your problem sets. We will go through the concepts from the ground up, and we will do plenty of practice problems in class, but you should be ready to engage with formal definitions, simple proofs, and symbolic reasoning.
Provisional Syllabus:
Week 1: Full vs. partial belief
Week 2: Axioms and rules of probability
Week 3: Conditionalization
Week 4: Priors and interpretations of probability
Week 5: Confirmation and induction
Week 6: Decision theory I
Week 7: Decision theory II
Week 8: Dutch book arguments and representation theorems
Week 9: Accuracy arguments
Week 10: Further problems for bayesianism
Module Leader: Ulrike Heuer
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 2
Area: B
Assessment: In-Person Written Exam, 2 hours (100%)
Description: We will explore theories of responsibility, in particular their explanations of its grounds, its scope and its limits. We will also discuss some fundamental skeptical challenges to the practice of holding ourselves and others responsible. In light of these general considerations, we will then examine more specific topics, such as responsibility for attitudes, moral luck, blameworthiness, excuses and collective responsibility. The aim of the module is to develop an understanding of the nature of responsibility, and the resources and problems of contemporary approaches. Introductory readings:
- R. Jay Wallace, Responsibility and the Moral Sentiments, Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press 1996.
- Susan Wolf, Freedom Within Reason, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1990.
- Daniel Statman (ed), Moral Luck, SUNY Press 1993.
Module Convenor: To Be Confirmed
Level: 6
Terms: 1 and 2
Area: n/a
Assessment: Dissertation, 8000 Words (100%)
Description: The dissertation module is an optional module that can only be taken in your final year of study. The dissertation is a 8,000-word essay on a philosophical topic of your choosing, subject to the availability of a member of staff with appropriate expertise to supervise it, and approval by the Dissertation Tutor. Tuition involves four one-hour sessions of one-on-one supervision by a member of staff. The module is taken over the course of Term 1 and Term 2. The research will be self-directed, though with the guidance of your supervisor. The dissertation submission deadline is first day of Term 3 term by 4.00 pm (BST).
Fact Sheet and Application Form can be found on Moodle (Philosophy Department - Student Guides). Deadline for 2026/27: 4pm on Monday 15th June 2026.
This module is only available to students enrolled on the BA Philosophy course, joint honours Philosophy courses and PPE students.
Module Leader: Clara Bradley
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 2
Area: A
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: What is space? What is time? Are they real, physical things—or just ways we describe relationships between objects? And how do we even measure or gain empirical access to spacetime in the first place? In this module, we’ll explore these questions at the intersection of philosophy and physics, tracing how ideas about space and time have evolved from the paradoxes of Ancient Greece to Einstein’s theory of General Relativity. Along the way, we’ll investigate debates about motion, the nature of space and time, and how choices are made between theories of something as abstract as spacetime.
The week-by-week schedule is as follows (subject to change):
1. Zeno’s paradoxes - Mind-bending puzzles about motion and infinity.
2. The Aristotelian conception - A natural, commonsense view of the cosmos, and how it was overthrown.
3. Cartesian physics - A ‘relationalist’ picture of space and time.
4. Newtonian physics - A ‘substantivalist’ picture of space and time.
5. The Leibniz-Clarke correspondence - A philosophical debate about ‘relationalism’ vs. ‘substantivalism’.
6. Space-time - A modern way of characterizing the debate between substantivalism and relationalism in terms of the geometric structure of space and time.
7. The origins of special relativity - What the alternative theories were and why Einstein’s theory became the accepted one.
8. The philosophy of special relativity - What relativity tells us about reality.
9. Conventionality of geometry - Whether multiple geometries can describe space.
10. General Relativity - What our best current physics of space-time says and what new philosophical puzzles it raises.
The primary texts for this module are:
Huggett, Nick (1999), Space From Zeno to Einstein.
Maudlin, Tim (2012), Philosophy of Physics: Space and Time
If you would like to get a sense of the level of mathematical detail of the course, I would suggest taking a look at the second reading above (Tim Maudlin’s book).
There are also several other books that are complementary to the course:
• Sklar, Larry (1977), Space, Time, and Spacetime
• Cushing, James (2012), Philosophical Concepts in Physics
• Disalle, Robert (2006), Understanding Space-Time
• Geroch, Robert (1978), General Relativity from A to B
• Earman, John (1989), World Enough and Spacetime
• Norton, John, Einstein for Everybody
• Read, James (2023), Special Relativity
Background Knowledge
There are no formal prerequisites for this module, but we will tackle some challenging physical ideas and their mathematical representations—for example, the concept of four-dimensional spacetime. This means that we’ll sometimes engage with abstract thought experiments and use elements of mathematical geometry.
A background in physics, mechanics, or geometry will certainly help, but it’s not essential. You can succeed in this course as long as you’re curious about physics (and the maths behind it) and ready to embrace some abstract thinking.
Some example essay questions are:
• Which of Newton’s arguments were directly attacking Descartes’ views? Are they successful?
• Does Leibniz’s Principle of the Identity of Indiscernibles succeed at refuting substantival space?
• Explain Bell’s spaceship scenario. What is the best explanation for the effect?
• Can empirical evidence alone determine the geometry of physical space?
Module Leader: Rory Madden
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 2
Area: A
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: What are you? What does it take for you to remain in existence? Are you a material thing, perhaps an animal, or a brain? Or something else? Or are you nothing at all: is the self an illusion? The best recent work on questions of personal identity draws upon not only metaphysics and the philosophy of mind, but also the philosophy of cognitive neuroscience, biology, and technology.
In 26/27 the seminars will focus upon the interaction between personal identity and (1) the unity of consciousness (must a person have a unified consciousness?) and (2) self-creation (what literal sense, if any, can be made of the claim that we are authors of ourselves?).
Some background readings:
• Snowdon, P.F. 2014 Persons, Animals, Ourselves OUP
• Schechter, Elisabeth 2018 Self-Consciousness and ‘Split’ Brains OUP
• Dennett, Daniel 1992. ‘The Self as a Centre of Narrative Gravity’. In F.S. Kessel, P. M. Cole and D. L. Johnson eds. Self and Consciousness: Multiple Perspectives
Module Leader: Thomas Stern
Level: 6
Term: 2
Area: C
Assessment: Group Work (20%); Essay, 1500 Words (40%); Essay, 2000 Words (40%)
Description: An ‘essay’ can mean many different things, but for most philosophy students it means an assignment which aspires to imitate the aims and style of an article in a contemporary academic philosophy journal. There is, of course, another kind of philosophy essay, the kind that is usually taken to begin with Montaigne. This other philosophy essay has various characteristics, which mark it out against its academic counterpart. Most importantly, the author appears directly as an idiosyncratic character, writing in the first person, rather than an impartial, authoritative voice. Often, this kind of essay has a particular or quite specific subject, which does not appear to have the universal significance of the academic article or treatise. Montaigne wrote on cannibals, fatherly love, liars and so on, rather than the knowledge or morality. The reader is invited into an ongoing conversation, rather than told, step by step, how things are. While many of the traditional tools of philosophy are used along the way, the reader is not expected to have specialist knowledge, but rather to be an interested member of the reading public.
One aim of the course is that students will study examples of this other kind of essay, beginning with Montaigne, and including other well-known philosophical essayists from the past (Rousseau, Emerson, Adorno) and present, including recently published personal-philosophical essays. One assignment will take such an essay, and subject it to a standard, academic, philosophical analysis. What is its argument and how might that argument be criticised? What is gained and lost by choosing this particular essay form?
Another aim of the course, however, is that students will write their own personal philosophy essay. As well as studying essays, that is, students will learn about the craft and process of writing an essay like this for a contemporary magazine or journal: choosing a venue; writing a proposal; drafting the essay and responding to editorial comments.
This module is only open to final year BA students on Philosophy degrees with permission from the module leader.
Module Leader: Andreas Ditter
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 2
Area: A
Assessment: In-Person Wrtitten Exam, 3 hours (100%)
Description: This module will be focused on paradoxes. A paradox is a set of jointly inconsistent claims each of which is individually plausible. Paradoxes are not merely entertaining puzzles; they also raise serious philosophical problems. In many cases, they lead us to rethink basic assumptions about some of our most fundamental concepts, including space, time, motion, truth, knowledge, and belief. In this module, we will examine several paradoxes and the philosophical issues they raise. Along the way, students will be introduced to some central conceptual and formal tools that are relevant not only to the paradoxes but also to a wide range of other philosophical debates.
Paradoxes to be discussed may include: Zeno’s paradoxes about space, time and motion; paradoxes of infinity (the Ross-Littlewood paradox, Benardete’s paradox); the Sorites paradox; logical and semantic paradoxes (Russell’s paradox and the Liar paradox); paradoxes of rationality (Newcomb’s problem, Prisoner’s Dilemma); paradoxes of belief and knowledge (the surprise examination paradox, the preface paradox, the lottery paradox); and paradoxes of personal identity, coincidence, time travel, and modal variation.
Please note that the course combines philosophical and formal elements. A good knowledge of first-order (predicate) logic is presupposed.
Module Leader: Shai Agmon
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 2
Area: B
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin' And you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'
(Bob Dylan.)
This course addresses one of the most fundamental aspirations in politics: changing the world for the better. Social activists, journalists, politicians, policymakers, and social movements all share the desire to make a difference and to drive meaningful change.
However, the question of how change should be pursued is far from obvious. This course examines this normative challenge, inviting students to engage with key questions such as: When acting for change, should we aim for an ideal society or focus on what is feasible in the present? What constitutes political power, and how can we discern which changes are achievable? Should we advocate for revolution or incremental reforms? Should we pursue change through electoral politics, social movements, courts, or by altering social norms and culture? Should we aim for change as a result of intentional collective action or through the spontaneous order arising from individual actions? Should we try to change from within by making our voices heard, or by leaving the group?
Examining these philosophical debates will engage us with some of the most important and enduring problems in contemporary politics. Throughout the course, we will bridge abstract philosophical discussions with a series of concrete, real-world examples.
Pre-requisites: There are no formal prerequisites for this module, but it is a shared course for third-year undergraduates and master's students. Therefore, some background in political philosophy is assumed, such as the content covered in the first-year module, PHIL0007 Introduction to Political Philosophy. Familiarity with key concepts, theories, and debates in political philosophy will be beneficial for engaging with the course material. Teaching delivery: The course consists of 2 hours per week: a 1-hour lecture and a 1-hour seminar. The lecture will cover key concepts, and the seminar will allow for discussion and deeper analysis. You will be expected to do preparatory reading for each session and to be able to take part in seminar discussion.
By the end of the module:
- You will explore and evaluate key theories of political and social transformation, engaging with normative debates on power, collective action, spontaneous social order, compromise, revolution, institutional mechanisms for change, and more.
- You will be able to apply philosophical insights to contemporary political debates such as climate change, housing segregation, abortion, judicial activism, Brexit, and more.
- You will be able to articulate your views and present them in an analytical, rigorous, and philosophically informed manner.
- You will have developed your ability to normatively assess arguments presented in texts, case studies, and real-world scenarios, identifying logical fallacies, inconsistencies, and biases in reasoning.
Module Leader: Rory Phillips
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 2
Area: C
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: This module focuses on the practical – moral, social, and political – philosophy of the German Idealists (Fichte, Schelling, Hegel). All the German Idealists were concerned with questions about moral demands, the source of normativity, the nature of freedom, just political orders, and so on. It is these questions and their answers that we survey in this module. Our focus will be on understanding the texts and arguments, reconstructing them and seeing their lasting value. Each week there will be readings from the primary texts, and suggested extra readings from scholars and commentators.
There are no hard restrictions on this module, but it is generally expected that you will have done some history of philosophy. Knowledge of Kant’s moral philosophy and Early Modern political philosophy (especially Locke and Rousseau) would be advantageous.
Teaching delivery: This module is taught with 10 classes of 2-hours each. The first half of each class will be a lecture, and the second half a seminar. There will also be a fortnightly back-up seminar led by a PGTA.
Indicative Topics: The exact topics will vary and are subject to change, but key themes will include:
- The nature and freedom of the will
- Political freedom
- The individual’s place in society
- Historical progress
- The source of moral authority
- The nature of the moral demand
- Recognition
Module Aims:
Students will be able to read complex philosophical texts regarding moral and political philosophy and extract the meaning.
Students will show understanding of the relevant questions such as: the relationship between morality and law, the role of consent in political legitimacy, the rationality of acting morally, and so on.
Students will be able to understand arguments for and against the positions under discussion in the Moodle and critically appraise their strengths and weaknesses.
Recommended readings:
Primary texts:
For an example of primary texts of this era, you could look at:
- J. G. Fichte (2005) System of Ethics tr. Günther Zöller & Daniel Breazeale (Cambridge, CUP)
Or
- G. W. F. Hegel (1991) The Philosophy of Right tr. H. B. Nisbet (Cambridge, CUP)
Introductory:
The most accessible introduction is:
- Will Dudley (2007) Understanding German Idealism (Stocksfield, Acumen)
- Two further introductory texts on Hegel and his influence:
- Tom Rockmore (1993) Before and After Hegel (Berkeley, University of California Press)
- Allen Speight (2008) The Philosophy of Hegel (Ithaca, McGill-Queen’s University Press)
Module Leader: Laura Guerrero
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 2
Area: C
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: This module introduces students to the central philosophical concerns and commitments of the main traditions of philosophical thought in Classical India: Mīmāṣmsa, Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Vedānta, Buddhism, Jainism, and Cārvāka. The module will emphasize views in metaphysics and epistemology. Students will, for example, examine fundamental philosophical questions concerning what exists, the nature of the self, and the nature of knowledge. We will read and discuss selections of primary source texts (in translation) as well as various contemporary materials engaging with the ideas in those source texts. The goal of the module is to acquire a foundational understanding of the philosophical landscape of classical India.
Module Leader: Laurenz Casser
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 2
Area: B
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: Few human practices are as wondrous and simultaneously horrifying as medicine. Indeed, one can marvel at the remarkable successes that medicine has boasted throughout its history, and yet be utterly intimidated by its invasive nature, penetrating our minds and bodies. Since medical institutions and practices can come so close to our core, it is perhaps not surprising that medicine has also been of great philosophical significance. And while it was frequently neglected in the core curriculum of philosophy of science, recent years have seen a drastic resurgence of interest in the philosophy of medicine as a central area of philosophical investigation.
This course aims to introduce students to core debates in the philosophy of medicine. By drawing on metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical issues that arise in the context of medical practice and the biomedical sciences, we will investigate such topics as health and disease, medical evidence, diagnosis, race and gender as medical categories, public health, and many others.
Topics:
- Health & Disease
- Death
- Causation
- Holism and Reductionism
- Controversial Diseases
- Evidence in Medicine
- The Social Structure of Science
- Race and Gender as biomedical categories
- Diagnosis and Screening
- Psychiatry
- Public Health
Sample Readings:
1. Alexandrova, Anna. Forthcoming. "Can the science of well-being be objective?" British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.
2. Boorse, C. 1977. "Health as a theoretical concept." Philosophy of Science 44 (4):542573.
3. Broadbent, A. (2019). Philosophy of medicine. Oxford University Press.
4. Ereshefsky, Marc. 2009. "Defining 'health' and 'disease'." Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci 40:221-227.
5. Fuller, J. (2018). What are chronic diseases?. Synthese, 195(7), 3197-3220.
6. Plutynski, Anya. 2017. "Safe, or Sorry? Cancer Screening and Inductive Risk." In Exploring Inductive Risk, Oxford University Press.
7. Stegenga, J. (2022). Care & cure: An introduction to philosophy of medicine. University of Chicago Press.
8. Stegenga, J. (2018). Medical nihilism. Oxford University Press.
Module Leader: Elena Cagnoli Fiecconi
Level: 6 (co-taught with graduate students)
Term: 2
Area: C
Assessment: Essay, 3500 Words (100%)
Description: This module offers an introduction to the philosophy of the three major Hellenistic schools: the Epicureans, Stoics and Sceptics. These schools were prominent in ancient Greece for three centuries after the death of Aristotle in 322 BCE.
The Epicureans, Stoics and Sceptics constructed fascinating systematic theories, and we will attempt to reconstruct them and assess them critically by touching mostly on issues to do with ethics and epistemology. We will engage with the writings of Epicurus, Cleanthes, Cicero, Lucretius, and Sextus Empiricus. We will also engage with the often fragmentary writings of other authors.
We will start with an account of Epicurean philosophy. The focus will be in particular on Epicurus’ account of action and responsibility in a mechanistic world, on his peculiar view that all impressions are true, and on his strategy to achieve happiness by removing fear of death and fear of the gods.
Then we will look at central tenets in Stoicism, including: the Stoics’ conception of moral responsibility in a fated world, their view that virtue is sufficient for happiness, their view that virtue is the only good, vice the only bad, and all the rest is indifferent. We will then consider the Stoic emotions and why the Stoic sage should get rid of them. In conclusion, we will consider a heated debate between the Stoics and the Academic Sceptics about the possibility of acquiring knowledge. We will conclude with assessing a challenge to the Sceptic, i.e. that without beliefs, she cannot act.
Students will be asked to present (in groups).
Background knowledge: I will not presupposed background knowledge beyond basic notions in ethics and epistemology. Having taken modules in Ancient Greek Philosophy might be helpful but it is not necessary.
Syllabus (secondary readings to be added):
• Week one: Introduction. Epicurus on Atoms, Void, the Swerve, and Human Action
Epicurus, Letter to Herodotus 39-40, 61-21, 68-73; Lucretius i.419-44, 1.334-90, 2.216-50, Epicurus, On nature 34.26-30, Cicero, On fate 21-5
• Week two: Epicurean Knowledge and Pleasure
Epicurus, Letter to Herodotus 46—53, Lucretius 4.722-822, Lucretius 4.469-521, Cicero, On ends 1.29-32, 37-9
• Week three: Epicurean Happiness and Community
Epicurus Letter to Menoeceus
• Week four: Stoic Physics, God, Responsibility
Sextus Empiricus, Against the professors 9.75, Gellius 7.1.1-13 (SVF 2.1169-70), Alexander, On fate 191,30-192,28
• Week five: Stoic Ethics
Diogenes Laertius 7.101-3, Cicero, On ends 3.17,20-1, 58-59, Plutarch, On Stoic self-contradictions 1046E-F
• Week six: Stoic Emotions
Stobaeus 2.88,8-90,6, Andronicus, On passions 1, Diogenes Laertius 7.116, Gellius 19.1.17-18
• Week seven: Stoic Happiness
Stobaeus 2.77,16-27, Diogenes Laertius 7.87-9, Cicero, Tusculan disputations 5.40—1, Plutarch, On common conceptions 10701^-107IE, Cicero, On ends 3.22
• Week eight: Stoic epistemology and academic objections
Diogenes Laertius 7.49-51, Diogenes Laertius 7.54, Cicero, Academica 2.77-8, Sextus Empiricus, Against the professors 7.247—60, Sextus Empiricus, Against the professors 7.151—7, Stobaeus 2.111, 18-112,8
• Week nine: the New Academy
Selections from Cicero Academica
• Week ten: Pyrrhonism and Scepticism as a way of life
Selections from Sextus Empiricus
Background readings
Here are some (totally optional) recommendations!
Primary:
• A. A. Long and David Sedley (1987). The Hellenistic Philosophers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Secondary:
• Tad Brennan (2005). The Stoic Life: Emotions, Duties, and Fate. Oxford University Press
• Margaret Graver (2007). Stoicism & Emotion. University of Chicago Press
• Raphael Woolf (2004). “What Kind of Hedonist Was Epicurus?” In: Phronesis 49.4, pp. 303–322
• Dorothea Frede (2003). “Stoic Determinism”. In: The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics. Ed. by Brad Inwood. Cambridge University Press, pp. 179–205
• James Warren (2009). “Removing Fear”. In: The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism. Ed. by James Warren. Cambridge University Press, pp. 234–248
• Rachel Barney (2003). “A Puzzle in Stoic Ethics”. In: Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 24, pp. 303–40
In addition BA Philosophy and Philosophy joint honours students may take the following modules as Philosophy modules (i.e. do not count as a module from another department). Acceptance on these modules is at the discretion of the teaching department and the Philosophy Department cannot guarantee availability.
| Module Code | Module Title | Philosophy Area | FHEQ Level | Teaching Term 2026/27 | Teaching Department |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLAS0025 | The Dialogues of Plato | C | 6 | 2 | Greek & Latin |
| CLAS0036 | Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics | C | 6 | Not Taught 2026/27 | Greek & Latin |
| CLAS0173 | Moral Education in Ancient Greek Philosophical Sources | C | 6 | 2 | Greek & Latin |
| ECON0027 | Game Theory | A | 6 | Not Taught 2026/27 | Economics |
| ESPS0016 | German Political and Social Thought | C | 6 | 2 | EISPS |
| ESPS0020 | Nietzsche | C | 5 | 2 | EISPS |
| ESPS0022 | Why Democracy? | B | 5 | 1 | EISPS |
| ESPS0044 | Ethics and Society | B | 5 | Not Taught 2026/27 | EISPS |
| ESPS0060 | Philosophy of Economics | B | 6 | 2 | EISPS |
| HPSC0004 | Philosophy of Science 1 | A | 4 | 2 | STS |
| HPSC0014 | Philosophy of Science 2 | A | 5 | 1 | STS |
| HPSC0033 | Special Topics in History and Philosophy of Science | A | 6 | 1 | STS |
| HPSC0109 | Philosophy of Medicine | A | 6 | 1 | STS |
| MATH0050 | Logic | A | 6 | 2 | Mathematics |
| POLS0030 | The Ethics of Crime and Punishment | B | 6 | 1 | Political Science |
| POLS0078 | The Ethics of War and Violence | B | 6 | Not Taught 2026/27 | Political Science |
| POLS0095 | Property, Inequality and Ideology | B | 6 | Not Taught 2026/27 | Political Science |
| POLS0097 | History of Political Thought | B | 6 | 2 | Political Science |
| POLS0100 | Global Justice | B | 6 | 2 | Political Science |
| POLS0103 | Historical Injustice and the Politics of Decolonisation | B | 6 | 1 | Political Science |
| POLS0114 | Social Justice and Alternatives to Capitalism | B | 6 | 1 | Political Science |
| POLS0115 | The Ethics and Politics of Emotion | B | 6 | 2 | Political Science |
Information for UCL students from other departments
The following modules can only be taken by students studying Philosophy degrees (Single and Joint Honours): PHIL0008 Philosophical Study Skills, PHIL0083 Philosophy Dissertation and PHIL0200 Introduction to Philosophy of Computer Science (BA Philosophy and Computer Science Year 1 students only).
Registration for all modules is via Portico. Some modules are very popular and it is not always possible to offer a space to everyone on their desired modules. In Philosophy, modules are assigned according to the priority groups detailed below. Within each group, modules are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis according to sign-ups on Portico. A limited number of spaces on Philosophy modules are held for affiliate registration in September and January.
| 1) | Students studying BA Philosophy and joint honours degrees such as BA Philosophy and Economics, BA Philosophy and History of Art, BA French and Philosophy, and Philosophy Affiliate Students |
| 2) | Students studying on courses related to Philosophy, such as PPE and programmes in EISPS. |
| 3) | Students studying on the BASc and courses within Greek & Latin and History of Art. |
| 4) | Students studying on other UCL degrees and incoming intercollegiate students |