Philosophy
Philosophy
BDST3611 Buddhist Philosophical Traditions
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2,Summer Early Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Senior credit points from one area of study- (Buddhist Studies, or Asian Studies, or (Studies in Religion or World Religions), or Philosophy) Prohibitions: ASNS2621 Assessment: 1x2000wd Essay (30%), 1x1000wd tutorial written paper (20%), 1xTutorial presentation (15%), 1x1500wd exam (25%), Tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit provides a history of Buddhist ideas. It begins by introducing basic Buddhist teachings before moving on to their later philosophical systematization. Students are introduced to the assumptions of traditional scholasticism and the methods of comparative philosophy in exploring Buddhist approaches to such issues as selfhood, ethics, being and knowledge, and language and conceptuality. A key focus is on how ideas originally formulated in an Indian Buddhist milieu were later transformed and elaborated upon in Tibet, China and Japan.
GOVT2112 Modern Political Thought
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points from Philosophy or 12 Junior credit points from Government and International Relations Assessment: 1x1500wd Mid-semester Take-home exercise (30%), 1x2500wd final Essay (60%) and Tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit considers key themes in modern and contemporary political thought. It uses primary texts to address topics such as sovereignty, democracy, fascism, liberalism, human rights, politics and religion, violence, and political identity. Authors may include Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Kant, Nietzsche, Marx, J.S. Mill, Tocqueville, Rawls, Arendt, Schmitt, and Foucault.
PHIL1011 Reality, Ethics and Beauty
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prohibitions: PHIL1003 or PHIL1004 or PHIL1006 or PHIL1008 Assessment: Tutorial participation (10%), 1x2000wd Essay (30%), on-line quizzes (10%), 1x2hr exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit is an introduction to central issues in metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics. It opens with general questions about reality, God, personal identity and free will. The middle section of the unit will consider questions about values, goodness and responsibility. The final part is concerned with the question "what is art", the nature of aesthetic judgment and the role of art in our lives.
PHIL1012 Introductory Logic
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2,Winter Main Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Assessment: Tutorial participation (10%), 2x assignments (40%) and 1x2hr exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
An introduction to modern logic: the investigation of the laws of truth. One essential aspect of good reasoning or argumentation is that it is valid: it cannot lead from true premises to a false conclusion. In this unit we learn how to identify and construct valid arguments, using techniques such as truth tables, models and truth trees. Apart from being a great aid to clear thinking about any subject, knowledge of logic is essential for understanding many areas not only of contemporary philosophy, but also linguistics, mathematics and computing.
PHIL1013 Society, Knowledge and Self
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2x1hr lectures/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prohibitions: PHIL1010 Assessment: Tutorial participation (10%), 1x2000wd Essay (30%) and 1x2hr exam (60%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit is an introduction to central issues in political philosophy, theories of knowledge and philosophical conceptions of the self. The first part will consider the state, freedom and political obligation. The second part will examine some of the major theories of knowledge in the modern philosophical tradition. The final section will look at conceptions of the self as a knowing and acting subject.
PHIL2605 Early Modern Theories of Perception
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week, 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2005, PHIL3005 Assessment: 1x1000wd tutorial exercise (25%), 1x500wd essay plan (15%), 1x2500-3000wd essay (60%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit will trace theories of perception and representation by looking at Locke, Gassendi, Berkeley, and Hume whose fascinating, and often controversial, approaches urge us to base our concept of the world on experience. We will investigate the interplay between sense perception, reason and imagination, explore the limits of knowledge and examine the link between expereince and self-conception. The unit aims to develop a perspective that allows students to reflect critically on central issues of the contemporary debate.
PHIL2606 Knowledge, Reason and Action
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Prof Mark Colyvan Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week, 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Assessment: 1x2500wd essay (50%) and 1x2hr exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit covers three topics in epistemology: what knowledge is, how it can be obtained, and what to do with it. The first component involves a study of the nature of knowledge, and the various attempts to define it. The second is concerned with principles of reason and investigation, and how to assess whether they are good sources of knowledge. The final component is to do with the theory of decision: what methods should be used to apply knowledge in the choice of action.
PHIL2607 Eighteenth Century French Philosophy
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2 hour lecture, 1x1hr tutorial per week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Assessment: 1x1000wd tutorial exercise, 1x500wd essay plan, 1x3000wd essay Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit examines the thought of the central French philosophers of the eighteenth century from Voltaire to Rousseau, including the work of Diderot, d'Alembert and the encyclopaedists. It will trace the impact of, as well as reactions to, the new science and Locke's empiricist philosophy, and it will examine changing attitudes to religion and society.
Textbooks
Readings will be available from the University Copy Centre
PHIL2610 Exploring Nonclassical Logic
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: PHIL1012 Prohibitions: PHIL3214 Assessment: assignments (50%) and 1x2hr exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Classical logic is what you study in introductory units such as PHIL1012. This unit covers major extensions of and alternatives to classical logic, such as temporal, modal, intuitionist, relevance, and many-valued logics. As well as looking at the internal workings of these logics, we examine some of their applications, and the philosophical issues surrounding them.
PHIL2611 Problems of Empiricism
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture, 1x1hr tutorial per week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2211 or PHIL3211 Assessment: two essays (total 4500 words) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit will examine three problems that are part of the legacy of Empiricism: (i) the issues of induction, causation and causal explanation in science; (ii) the arguments from Berkeley and Hume concerning the external world; and (iii) the case of post-Humean ethical theory. Throughout we will be looking to the modern manifestations of these problems and the ways they might be rectified. We also look to emphasise the importance of these issues for the development of psychology of perception.
Textbooks
Readings will be available from University Copy Centre.
PHIL2612 History of Ethics
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2x1hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL3512 or PHIL2512 Assessment: 2x500wd text analysis exercises (20%), 1x1500wd Essay (40%), 1x2hr exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
The nature of duty and the good: how we ought to live and what is valuable in life. A selective survey of Western normative ethical theory, covering philosophers such as Aristotle, Hume, Kant and Mill.
PHIL2613 Plato and Aristotle
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week, 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: (12 Junior credit points in Philosophy) or (6 junior credit points of Philosophy and ANHS1600) Prohibitions: PHIL3013 or PHIL2013 Assessment: 1x2500wd essay (60%) and 1x2hr exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
An examination of the major philosophical themes to be found in the works of Plato and Aristotle, with close attention to a few central works. The course emphasises understanding the ways these philosophers think rather than learning a body of doctrine.
PHIL2614 The Presocratics
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week, 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: (12 Junior credit points in Philosophy) or (ANHS1600) Prohibitions: PHIL2014, PHIL3014 Assessment: 1x2500wd essay (60%) and 1x2hr exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
A critical examination of the first developments in philosophy among the early Greeks, emphasising two emerging traditions of philosophy, in Ionia and the Italian peninsula respectively. The main emphases are on the origin of thought about being and the development of different philosophical methods through the activities of criticism and response prevalent among the Presocratics. These activities are particularly well exhibited in the argumentative challenges of Parmenides and Zeno, and the responses made by the fifth-century B.C. thinkers.
PHIL2615 Logic and Proof
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy, including PHIL1012 Prohibitions: PHIL2215 or PHIL3215 Assessment: 1x2hr exam (50%) and weekly exercises (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
We examine the major ways of proving things in logic: tableaux (trees), axiomatic proofs, natural deduction and sequent calculus. We learn to construct proofs of each of these kinds and then establish fundamental adequacy results (e.g. soundness and completeness) for each kind of proof system.
PHIL2616 Philosophy of Human Rights
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in (Philosophy, or Government and International Relations) Assessment: 1x1500wd Take-home exercise (30%), 1x2500wd Essay (60%), Tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit addresses central themes from the history and philosophy of human rights. Topics may include the relationship between human rights and religion, natural law, moral and aesthetic justifications of human rights, claims and challenges to universality of the part of human rights, and tensions between human rights and state sovereignty. Thinkers may include Paine, Burke, Kant, Wollstonecraft, Tocqueville, Arendt, Schmitt, and Rawls.
PHIL2617 Practical Ethics
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2,Summer Late Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points Prohibitions: PHIL2517 or PHIL3617 Assessment: 1x2500wd Essay (40%), Tutorial participation (10%), Tutorial presentation (10%) and 1x2000wd Take-home exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit draws on contemporary moral philosophy to shed light on some of the most pressing practical, ethical questions of our time, including euthanasia, abortion, surrogacy, censorship, animal rights, genetic testing and cloning and environmental ethics. By the end of the unit, students should have a good understanding of these practical ethical issues; and, more crucially, be equipped with the conceptual resources to think through new ethical questions and dilemmas as they arise in their personal and professional lives.
PHIL2618 Aesthetics and Art
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr David Macarthur Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week and 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: (12 junior credit points in Philosophy) or (12 junior credit points in Art History) Prohibitions: PHIL2518 or PHIL3681 Assessment: 1x2500wd essay (50%) and 1x2000wd take-home exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
"Why is art important to us? What is an aesthetic response to something? What is the relation between art and aesthetics? Is there such a thing as objective interpretation of an artwork? Or is it all a matter of taste? Should we believe in ""the death of the author""? What is the relation between art and representation, expression and emotion? We shall discuss these and other questions (e.g. modernity, metaphor) from the perspective of an historical approach to the philosophical study of aesthetics and art."
PHIL2620 Probability and Decision Theory
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week, 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2220 Assessment: 1xin-class test (10%), 1x2000wd essay (40%), 1x2hr exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Throughout our lives, in making decisions large and small, we gamble in the face of uncertainty. Because we are always unsure what the future holds, we base our choices on estimates of probability. But what is probability, how do we know about it, and how should we use that knowledge in making rational choices? This unit provides an introduction to the foundations and philosophical puzzles of probability and rational decision theory.
PHIL2621 Truth, Meaning and Language
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Assessment: 1x2500wd Essay (60%) and 1x2hr exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit covers central issues in contemporary philosophy of language, such as the relationship between language and the world, the nature of meaning and truth, problems involved in interpreting and understanding the speech of others, the role of context in determining meaning, and the nature of metaphor.
PHIL2622 Reality, Time and Possibility: Metaphysics
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL3662 Assessment: 1x1400wd Essay (33%), 1x2000wd Essay (45%) and 11 short multiple choice quizzes (22%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This is a unit in metaphysics: the discipline that tells us about the nature of the world. The unit carries on from the Reality component of first year. We engage with questions like: What is time? What is space? What makes something a person? How much change can I undergo and still be me? Are objects four-dimensional space-time worms? Do the past or future exist, and could we travel to them? Are there numbers?
PHIL2623 Moral Psychology
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2513 or PHIL3513 Assessment: 1x2500wd Essay (50%) and 1x2000wd Take-home exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
We go beyond the question of which actions are morally right to consider the following: How should we evaluate motives and emotions? Is anyone actually virtuous, or are we all weak-willed, self-deceived confabulators? Are any actions or persons evil? When should we feel guilty or ashamed? Should forgiveness be unconditional? Is morality the product of Darwinian natural selection, or of culture and learning? Is there any objective truth in morality, or are moral claims merely subjective or culturally relative?
PHIL2625 Hannah Arendt
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Assoc Prof John Grumley Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week, 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2515, PHIL3515 Assessment: 1x250wd tutorial paper (5%), 1x2250wd essay (50%) and 1x2000wd take-home essay (45%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
No 20th century political philosopher has captured as much attention as Hannah Arendt. Those seeking a fresh approach beyond the traditional right and left, as well as contemporary feminists are all drawn to her vivid reading of tradition, her diagnosis of the present and path-breaking analysis of totalitarianism, human rights and refugees. This unit of study examines key concepts like natality and novel reading of politics, freedom and promising and her contemporary appropriation by Giorgio Agamben with his concept of "bare life".
PHIL2626 Philosophy and Psychoanalysis
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2207 or PHIL3207 or PHIL3226 or PHIL2226 Assessment: 1x2500wd Essay (50%) and 1x2000wd Take-home exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
An analysis and critique of the main ideas in Freudian psychoanalysis, their philosophical background, and their influence in subsequent philosophy of mind.
PHIL2627 Philosophy and Psychiatry
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: (12 Junior credit points of Philosophy) or (12 Junior credit points from Gender and Cultural Studies) Prohibitions: PHIL2227 Assessment: 2x2250wd Essays (100%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Can the concept 'mental illness' be a valid one? What might delusions tell us about the structure of the mind? What assumptions underlie attempts to classify mental disorder? Can we be justified in compelling people to submit to psychiatric treatment? This unit will examine philosophical questions raised by mental disorder and our attempts to understand/treat it, and will connect psychiatry to debates in philosophy such as the mind/body problem, the concept of a person, and the possibility of knowledge.
PHIL2629 Descartes and Continental Philosophy
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL3004 or PHIL2004 Assessment: 1x1000wd tutorial exercise (30%), 1x1000wd presentation (20%), 1x2500 word Essay (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Descartes is generally regarded as the founder of modern philosophy, and in this unit we look both at his own contribution, and at his influence on the subsequent course of philosophical thought in the work of Malebranche, Spinoza, and Leibniz. Just over half the unit will be devoted to Descartes' own thought, and we will look at the various stages in the development of his ideas. In the second half of the unit, we will examine the ideas of his successors on selected metaphysical themes, above all on perception and the mind/body question.
PHIL2632 Modernity in Crisis
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2 hour lecture and 1x1 hour tutorial per week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2532, PHIL3532 Assessment: 1x500wd tutorial paper (10%), 1x2000wd essay (50%), 1x2000wd take-home exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit continues the themes developed in Theorising Modernity into the Twentieth Century. We will see how the new realities of free markets, democracy, the state and bureaucracy, individualism and cultural rationalisation presented new problems and opportunities and gave rise to new theoretical frameworks for their comprehension. The unit will focus on the work of Weber, The Frankfurt School, Foucault and Habermas.
PHIL2633 Theorising Modernity
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL1007 or PHIL2533 Assessment: 1x2000wd Essay (50%) and 1x2500wd Take-home exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
A survey of a range of classical 19th century theories from the standpoint of what they offer to the understanding of the newly emerging modern bourgeois social world. The work of Hegel, Marx, de Tocqueville, and Nietzsche will serve as paradigmatic attempts to discover the essence of this new society. Recurring themes and features will be examined through the prism of these thinkers: these include the problem of meaning after the collapse of tradition, the rise of secularism, capitalism, industrialisation, democracy, bureaucratisation and individualism -- their features, antinomies and problems. The unit is also intended as an introduction to the thinkers concerned while focusing in each case on their theorisation of modernity.
PHIL2634 Democratic Theory
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: (12 Junior credit points in Philosophy) or (6 Junior credit points of Philosophy and ANHS1600) Prohibitions: PHIL2514 or PHIL3514 Assessment: presentation (10%), 1x2000wd Essay (45%) and 1x2000wd Take-home exam (45%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
A unit in normative political philosophy. The unit will examine ideas of democracy, as well as historical foundations of these ideas, and it will do so in order to address key issues in contemporary democratic theory, such as the tension between republican and liberal ideas, the relationship between justice and democracy, the challenges of social and cultural pluralism, the limits of democratic inclusion, and, importantly, the nature of political legitimacy and the challenge of a suitably inclusive justification of political principles.
PHIL2635 Contemporary Political Philosophy
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: (12 Junior credit points of Philosophy) or (12 Junior credit points from Government) Prohibitions: PHIL2535 or PHIL3535 Assessment: 1x2000wd Essay (50%), 1x500wd tutorial paper (10%) and 1x2000wd Take-home exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit offers a critical introduction to the major schools of thought in contemporary political philosophy organised around the theme of inclusion and exclusion. The inclusive ambitions of liberal political theory will be confronted with objections from thinkers motivated by concern with various aspects of social and political exclusion based on categories such as gender, cultural difference, and statelessness.
PHIL2640 Environmental Philosophy
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 junior credit points in Philosophy or 12 junior credit points in History and Philosophy of Science or 12 junior credit points in Biology Prohibitions: PHIL2240 Assessment: 1x1500wd assignment (30%), 1x3000wd essay (60%), tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit presents a variety of philosophical issues associated with the study and management of the natural environment. We will look at questions such as: what does it mean to live in harmony with the environment? what is sustainability? why should we preserve biodiversity? what is the best way to achieve conservation goals? what are ecological models and how do they work? and what is the proper relationship between environmental science and the values found in environmental policy and management?
PHIL2642 Critical Thinking
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2,Winter Main Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points Assessment: 1x1500wd Essay (30%), 1xin-class test (20%) and 1x2hr exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
An introduction to critical thinking and analysis of argument. By examining arguments drawn from diverse sources, including journalism, advertising, science, medicine, history, economics and politics, we will learn how to distinguish good from bad arguments, and how to construct rationally persuasive arguments of our own. Along the way we will grapple with scepticism, conspiracy theories and pseudoscience. The reasoning skills imparted by this unit make it invaluable not only for philosophy students but for every student at the University.
PHIL2643 Philosophy of Mind
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL3213 or PHIL2205 or PHIL2213 or PHIL3643 Assessment: 1x2500wd Essay (60%) and 1x2000wd Take-home exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
An introduction to modern theories of the nature of mind, and some important contemporary issues in the philosophy of mind. Topics will include the problem of mental representation (how can minds think about the world?), the relationship of minds to brains, and the problem of consciousness.
PHIL2644 Critical Theory: From Marx to Foucault
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr John Grumley Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture and 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Assessment: 1x2000wd essay (50%), 1x2000wd take-home exam (40%), 1x500wd tutorial paper (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
The idea of critical theory emerged as an attempt to go beyond the alleged impasses of philosophy and actually challenge the world. This unit will consider various phases in the history of this project: from Marx, the Frankfurt School, to Foucault and Habermas. It will examine both the innovations and weaknesses of these various formulations in their historical context, as well as considering contemporary efforts to reanimate the idea of critical theory.
PHIL2645 Philosophy of Law
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2510 or PHIL2604 or PHIL3510 Assessment: 1x2000wd essay (40%), 1x2000wd take-home exercise (40%), 4x125wd critical reflections (10%), tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit will analyse a range of theoretical and practical issues in the philosophy of law, both historical and contemporary. Issues addressed may include: legal obligation; punishment; legal responsibility; legal exclusion, including exclusion of race, gender, and class; citizenship; rule of law; legal pluralism; the nature of rights and duties; autonomy; and the relations between law and morality.
PHIL2646 Philosophy and Literature
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week, 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 junior credit points in Philosophy Assessment: 1x2000wd essay (40%), 1x500wd tutorial paper (10%) and 1x2hr exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit addresses the 'ancient quarrel' between philosophy and literature. We will examine arguments about the importance of imagination and sympathy to moral judgement by putting various philosophical and literary texts in dialogue with each other.
PHIL2647 Philosophy of Happiness
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1,Summer Late Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points Prohibitions: PHIL3647 Assessment: 2x 500wd Argument Analysis Exercise (20%), 1x2000wd Research essay (35%), 1x2000wd Take-home Exercise (35%), Tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
We all want to be happy and to live a worthwhile life. But what is happiness? Why should we want it? And how do we get it? These are among the most fundamental questions of philosophy. We will evaluate the answers of major thinkers from ancient and modern and eastern and western traditions; and consider the implications of current psychological research into the causes of happiness for the question of how to live well, as individuals and as a society.
PHIL2648 19th C. Philosophy: Kant to Nietzsche
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2641 or PHIL3011 Assessment: 1x1000wd Tutorial Exercise (20%), 1x500wd Essay Outline (15%), 1x3000wd Final Essay (50%), Tutorial participation (15%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit surveys the history of 19th Century philosophy, from Kant and idealism to Nietzsche and existentialism. The first half examines Kant's "Copernican revolution" in philosophy, and the critical responses to Kant's project in the work of Fichte, Schelling and Hegel. The second half investigates the critique of idealism in the works of Kierkegaard, Dosteovsky and Nietzsche. Throughout, questions of science, morals and politics, art, education, and religion will be considered.
PHIL2649 The Classical Mind
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: (12 Junior credit points in Philosophy) or (6 Junior credit points of Philosophy and ANHS1600) Prohibitions: PHIL2613 or PHIL3639 Assessment: Tutorial participation (10%), 1xin-class test (15%), 1x1500wd Essay (25%), 1x2hr exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
An introduction to the philosophical outlook, conceptions, and arguments of Classical Greek philosophy. This unit will survey the rich period of Greek thinking from 600 BCE to the beginning of the Common Era, examining the Presocratics, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Hellenistic philosophers. This unit will demonstrate the incredible originality of Greek philosophy, and reveal both its legacy in and differences from philosophy today.
PHIL2650 Logic and Computation
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Nicholas Smith Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week, 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: PHIL1012 or PHIL2628 or permission of instructor Assessment: 2x1000wd assignments (problem sets) (2x25%) and 1x2hr exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit covers central results about the nature of logic, the nature of computation, and the relationships between the two. Topics treated include basic set theory, Turing machines, the theory of computability and uncomputability, the decision problem for first order logic, Tarski's theorem on the indefinability of truth, and Gödel's famous incompleteness theorem.
PHIL2651 Bodies and Passions
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL3651 Assessment: 1xTutorial presentation (20%), 1xin-class test (30%) and 1x2000wd Essay (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit is an introduction to theories of the passions. Paying special attention to Descartes, Spinoza and Hume, it will explore the notion that the body is the source of error and irrationality. However, bodily passions and associations also are crucial to our wellbeing and can make positive contributions to cognitive processes. In addition to the study of central figures in the history of philosophy, this unit aims to provide historical grounding for important issues in contemporary moral psychology.
PHIL2655 Philosophical Ethics
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week, 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points of philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL3655 Assessment: 4x600wd editing assessments (10%), 2x 600wd argument analysis assessments (15%), 3x 600wd multiple-choice tests (15%), 1x 1200wd research essay (30%) and 1x 1.5hr exam (30%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit addresses philosophical issues concerning how we should live our lives. It surveys theories of which goals are good and which actions are right. Students will gain an overview of philosophical approaches to questions like: Must we act for the greater good, or is it ok to show a special concern for our friends? Can we be justified in harming some people to help others? Can small benefits to many people justify imposing a great loss on a few?
PHIL2658 Philosophy in Film
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week, 1x film screening/week Prerequisites: (12 Junior credit points of Philosophy) or (18 Junior credit points, including ENGL1011) Assessment: 1x500wd Tutorial presentation (10%), 1x1500wd Take-home assignment (30%), 1x2500wd Essay (50%) and Tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit will use the screening and criticism of carefully chosen classical and contemporary films to raise important philosophical questions and to contribute to our response to them. Each film screening will be paired with a key philosophical question that is explored in the film and further investigated in class: problems of freedom, human action, democracy, crime, love, otherness, marriage, conversation, selfhood, and being human. The class will also explore some central questions in the philosophy of film.
PHIL2660 Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week and 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL3012, PHIL3612 Assessment: 1x500wd tutorial presentation (10%), 1x1500wd take-home assignment (30%), 1x2500wd essay (50%), tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
In this unit we will study the way in which the appeal to logical analysis in the context of Frege's new quantificational logic gave rise to Analytic Philosophy in the early 20th century. A central theme will be to explore the way in which questions of metaphysics and epistemology were transformed into questions about the logical form of language. We shall also explore the extent to which early analytic philosophy is a reaction against Kant and post-Kantian idealism by focusing on the writings of Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein.
PHIL2661 Philosophy of Sex
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: (12 Junior credit points of Philosophy) or (12 Junior credit points from Gender and Cultural Studies) Assessment: 1x2500wd Essay (50%) and 1x2hr exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This course addresses philosophical issues concerning sex. From the perspective of metaphysics, we will ask what sexual differences and relations are. From the perspective of moral and political philosophy, we will ask which sexual relationships and identities are ethically justifiable. Sample questions include: What is it to have a sexual identity? Is sexual difference innate or socially constructed? Is intoxicated sexual consent valid? Is there anything wrong with being a sex object? Is pornography problematic? Is bestiality ever ok?
PHIL2663 Justice
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL3663 Assessment: 600wd editing assessments (5%), 600wd argument analysis assessment (15%), 600wd multiple-choice tests (20%), 1x1200wd Research essay (30%) and 1x1.5hr exam (30%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit examines ethical questions concerning social justice. It surveys influential theories of which institutions and social relationships are necessary for a just society. The unit provides students with an overview of views of freedom and equality. Finally, it critically reviews attempts to reconcile these apparently conflicting goals, e.g. as they pertain to questions like: Is taxation theft? Is private education inegalitarian? Are there moral limits to markets? Should we be free to engage in speech that undermines others' statuses?
PHIL2664 Philosophy of Nature and the Environment
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2x1hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in Philosophy Assessment: 1x2500wd Essay (40%), 1x1hr Exam (30%), 1x1000wd Tutorial Presentation (20%), Tutorial Participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
The idea of nature has undergone several significant shifts over the course of Western philosophy and science. What are the competing accounts of nature, and of the relationship between the human being and the natural world? Which accounts underlie the current environmental crisis, and which have the potential to forge more sustainable relations to the natural world? This course approaches the environmental crisis from both a historical and contemporary perspective.
PHIL2665 Philosophy of Economics
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2x1hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: (12 Junior credit points of Philosophy) or (12 Junior credit points of Economics) Assessment: 2x1250wd Essay (50%), 1x2000wd Take-home Exercise (40%), Tutorial Participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
We will explore questions at the intersection of economics and philosophy, such as: What is it to make rational decisions, and how well do we live up to the rational ideal? Does individual selfishness promote the common good? Are there things that should be kept out of the market? What should be the goals of economic policy? Is economics a science?
PHIL2667 From Illusion to Reality
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: (12 Junior credit points of Philosophy) or (6 Junior credit points of Philosophy and 6 Junior credit points from Gender and Cultural Studies, Sociology or Psychology) Prohibitions: PHIL2605 Assessment: 1x1500wd Scaffolded Essay (50%), 1x3000wd Take-home Exercise (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
What is the boundary between reality and illusion? Can we be certain that we do not just project our own feelings and thoughts onto reality? Can we know that we are not dreaming? This unit will address these questions by analysing sceptical arguments and theories of knowledge from antiquity to modernity. The unit is designed to introduce students to epistemological topics in the historical context, thereby offering the basis for further studies in contemporary epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of mind.
PHIL2670 Philosophy of Science
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: (12 junior credit points in Philosophy) or (12 junior credit points in History and Philosophy of Science (HPSC)) Assessment: 2x1250wd essay (50%), 1x2000wd take-home exam (40%), tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
We will explore philosophical questions about the nature of science, such as: When does evidence count for or against a scientific theory? What does it take for a theory to be explanatory? Should we believe that our best scientific theories are true (or approximately true), or only that they are predictively successful? What does it take for a truth to count as a law of nature?
PHIL2671 Locke and Natural Philosophy
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: PHIL1010 or PHIL1011 or PHIL1013 Assessment: 1x2500wd essay (50%), 1x2hr exam (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This course examines John Locke's views on the correct method of the acquisition of knowledge of nature with a special focus on his Essay concerning Human Understanding. Topics include experimental philosophy, natural history, hypotheses and analogy, matter theory, generation and species, and the theory of qualities.
PHIL2672 Time and Space
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2x1hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: PHIL1011 and (either PHIL1012 or PHIL1013) Assessment: 1x1000wd essay 1 (20%), 1x1000wd essay 2 (20%), 1x1500wd essay 3 (40%), 1x1000wd take-home exercise (20%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Are time and space substances, or is there nothing more to them than the relations between objects or events? How is time different from space? Does time have a direction? If it does, what gives it its direction? If it doesn't, why does it seem to us that it does? Does space have a direction? This unit investigates the nature of time and space and objects (including persons) within space and time.
PHIL2675 Existentialism
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 2x1hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Junior credit points in PHIL Assessment: 1x1500wd mid-term essay (30%), 1x500wd tutorial presentation (10%), 1x2500wd final essay (50%), tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This course examines a major movement in 19th and 20th century European philosophy, and focuses on key questions and figures from the movement. Topics to be considered include: the possibility of morality after the death of God, meaning in human life, the self, freedom, finitude and historicity.
PHIL2676 Democracy and Voting
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2x1hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 junior credit points in PHIL Assessment: 2x1250wd essays (50%), 1x2000wd take-home exercise (40%), tutorial particiaption (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Voting is often taken to be the cornerstone of a democratic society. We will look at a variety of voting systems and consider various philosophical questions about these systems and their proper role in democratic governance. We will consider famous theoretical results such as Arrow's Theorem and the Condorcet Jury Theorem and investigate whether these results have any implications for the scope and limits of democratic governance. We will also look at recent work on alternative approaches to democratic decision making.
PHIL2677 How Biology Matters to Philosophy
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 2x1hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 junior credit points, including at least one of either PHIL1011 or PHIL1012 or PHIL1013. Assessment: 1x1000wd report (20%), 1x1500wd essay (30%), 1x2000wd take-home exercise (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit introduces students to debates in which contemporary philosophers appeal to biology. Claims about human nature, race, normality, innateness, and evolutionary design feature in arguments in epistemology, philosophy of mind and language, and ethics. Students will learn how to evaluate such efforts to base philosophical theories on biology.
PHIL3615 Contemporary Pragmatism
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL3015 Assessment: 1x1000wd Tutorial Exercise (20%), 1x1000wd Take-home Exercise (30%), 1x2500wd Essay (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit will explore the distinctive philosophical outlook known as "Pragmatism" which many see as a third way beyond the analytic-continental divide. After a brief survey of classical American Pragmatism (C.S. Peirce, William James, John Dewey) we will consider in depth neo-pragmatism (Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam), linguistic pragmatism (Robert Brandom, Huw Price), and methodological pragmatism (David Macarthur). Key issues will include realism, empiricism, naturalism, scientism, metaphysical quietism, the fact/value distinction, and the agent point of view in philosophy.
PHIL3617 Practical Ethics Advanced
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Senior credit points in Philosophy, including at least one of (PHIL2623 or PHIL2655 or PHIL2663) Prohibitions: PHIL2617 Assessment: 1x1250wd Research essay (30%), 1x500wd Essay feedback to peers (5%), 1x1250wd revision of Research essay in response to feedback (30%) and 1x1.5hr exam (35%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This is the advanced version of PHIL2617, with common lectures, but advanced readings and separate assessment. Students will apply advanced methods of contemporary moral philosophy to the understanding of practical ethics. They will evaluate approaches to pressing questions concerning euthanasia, abortion, surrogacy, censorship, animal rights, genetic testing and cloning and the environment. Students will learn how to apply their understanding of practical ethical issues to extant ethical dilemmas, and, more crucially, new ones that arise in their personal and professional lives.
PHIL3638 Hegel
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr John Grumley Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2 hour lecture and 1x1 hour tutorial per week Prerequisites: 16 Senior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: : PHIL3038 or PHIL3509 Assessment: tutorial presentation (10%), 1x essay (50%) and 1x take-home exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit will focus on Hegel's mature social and political ideas as present in Elements of a Philosophy of Rights. Hegel offers one of the great alternative conceptualisations of modern politics and state to the dominant classical liberal tradition This course will contextualise his ideas in terms of both their own development and of Hegel's philosophy as a whole. However, the emphasis will be on a careful reconstruction of Hegel's mature political philosophy and his critique of his most important competitors both then and now.
PHIL3639 Hellenistic Philosophy
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Anstey Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2hr lecture and 1hr tutorial per week. Prerequisites: 12 Senior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: : PHIL3023, PHIL3039 Assessment: Essay and exam. Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This course will cover the period from the death of Aristotle up to the beginnings of Christian philosophy. It is designed to give a comprehensive introduction to the philosophy of the Stoics, Epicureans and Sceptics. Approximately half the course will be devoted to questions in Hellenistic metaphysics, epistemology and logic. The other half of the course will be devoted to Hellenistic ethics and psychology.
PHIL3643 Philosophy of Mind Advanced
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Senior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL3213 or PHIL2205 or PHIL2213 or PHIL2643 Assessment: 1x1500wd Essay (30%), 1x2500wd Essay (50%) and 10xweekly tests (20%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This is an advanced Philosophy of Mind course which has common lectures with PHIL2643 but different assessments and tutorials. It will cover the latest research on metaphysics of mind, and the theory of the content of mental states - how it is that mental stages get to be 'about' the world. It deals with similar issues as PHIL2643 but at a more advanced level, with reading from contemporary journal articles and research-based Essays as the principal assessment.
PHIL3647 Philosophy of Happiness Advanced
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Senior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2647 Assessment: 1x1250wd Independent Research essay (30%), 1x500wd Essay feedback to peers (5%), 1x1250wd Revision of Essay (30%), 1x1500wd Take-home Exercise (35%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This is the advanced version of PHIL2647, with common lectures but separate tutorials and assessments. Students will apply advanced philosophical methods to the understanding of happiness. Students will analyse influential theories of what happiness is, why we should want it and how we get it. They will evaluate the implications of psychological research into happiness's causes. Students will learn to apply their understanding of happiness to the question of how to live well, as individuals and as a society.
PHIL3651 Emotions and Embodied Cognition
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Senior credit points of Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2651 Assessment: 1x2000wd Research Project (50%), 1x1000wd Group Presentation (20%), 1x Applied Methods Assignment (30%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Students will apply advanced philosophical methods to the understanding of the passions. Students will analyse the most influential theories, historical and contemporary, about how passions function in society. They will evaluate how passions have reflected and interacted with the predominant culture since the early-modern era. Students will learn how to apply their understanding of the passions to the social and political challenges of today.
PHIL3655 Philosophical Ethics (adv)
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week, 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: PHIL2617 or PHIL2663 Prohibitions: PHIL2655 Assessment: 1x1250wd research essay (30%), 1x500wd essay feedback to peer (5%), 1x1250wd revision of research essay in response to feedback (30%) and 1x1.5hr exam (35%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This is the advanced version of PHIL2655, with common lectures but separate tutorials and assessment. Students will apply advanced philosophical methods to issues concerning how we should live our lives. Students will analyse theories of which goals are good and which actions are right. Students will evaluate moral controversies, and learn how to apply their ethical understanding to questions like: Must we act for the greater good? May we harm some people to help others?
PHIL3662 Reality Time and Possibility M'physics Adv
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 2x1hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 Senior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2622 Assessment: 1x1475wd Essay (33%), 1x2000wd Essay (45%) and 12 quizzes (22%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit is an advanced version of PHIL2622. It explores the relationship between space, time and modality. It asks the questions: What is time? What is space? How do objects exist through time? Could our world have been other than it is? What sorts of things are persons? Is it possible to travel backwards in time? Is our world ultimately composed of fundamental simple objects? The course provides a general background in analytic metaphysics.
PHIL3663 Justice (Advanced)
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: PHIL2617 or PHIL2655 Prohibitions: PHIL2663 Assessment: 1x1250wd Research essay (30%), 1x500wd Essay feedback to peers (5%), 1x1250wd revision of Research essay in response to feedback (30%), 1x1.5hr exam (35%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This is the advanced version of PHIL2663, with common lectures but separate tutorials and assessments. Students will apply advanced ethical methods to the understanding of social justice. Students will analyse influential theories of a just society's institutions and social relationships. They will evaluate views of freedom and equality. Students will learn to apply their understanding of justice to reconciling these goals, e.g. when answering: Is taxation theft? Is private education inegalitarian? Are there moral limits to markets?
PHIL3673 Fundamentality
Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 2x1hr lecture, 1x1hr tutorial per week. Prerequisites: PHIL2622 or PHIL2672 Assessment: 1x2000wd paper (40%), 1x2500wd paper (60%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This is an advanced course in metaphysics building on concepts introduced in PHIL2622 Reality, Time and Possibility: Metaphysics and PHIL2672 Time and Space. In it, we consider whether some things are more fundamental than others, and, if so, what fundamentality consists in. Must there be some most fundamental things, or could there be chains of dependence all the way down?
PHIL3681 Aesthetics and Art Advanced
This unit of study is not available in 2017
Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr David Macarthur Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week and 1x1-hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 12 senior credit points in Philosophy Prohibitions: PHIL2518 or PHIL2618 Assessment: 1x500wd tutorial presentation (20%), 1x4000wd essay (70%) and tutorial participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This is the advanced version of PHIL2681, with common lectures, but separate tutorials and assessment. In this unit we will explore the idea that a work of art is best thought of on the model of intentional action. By considering examples of painting, sculpture, literature, conceptual art, film and photography we will consider questions of artifactuality, artistic intentionality, interpretation, and objecthood. A guiding theme will be the challenge to a demanding conception of art posed by various forms of skepticism about art including relativism, physicalism, and a modern scientific-minded cynicism about non-scientific understanding.
PHIL4011 Philosophy Honours A
Credit points: 12 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 2x2hr seminars/week Assessment: A thesis of 12,000-15,000 words, 4,000-5,000 words of written work or its equivalent for each seminar and a 20 minute mini-conference presentation Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Honours is an intensive year-long program of advanced study based around research. Honours is undertaken after successful completion of a Bachelor degree and where the overall mark is a minimum credit average (70%). Entry into Honours is selective and work at this level is challenging. Honours is available in most subjects areas taught in the Faculty, and which are listed under Tables A and B in the Handbook. Students will complete a thesis and coursework seminars throughout the year. For further information contact the Honours Coordinator in the department or consult the Handbook entry for the relevant subject area.
PHIL4012 Philosophy Honours B
Credit points: 12 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Corequisites: PHIL4011 Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Refer to PHIL4011
PHIL4013 Philosophy Honours C
Credit points: 12 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Corequisites: PHIL4012 Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Refer to PHIL4011
PHIL4014 Philosophy Honours D
Credit points: 12 Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Corequisites: PHIL4013 Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Refer to PHIL4011