Department of Philosophy

 

Undergraduate Courses - Introduction

 

The course in Philosophy seeks, firstly, to introduce students to a discipline with which they are unlikely to have had any previous formal acquaintance but one that has, nevertheless, been foundational in Western education.

The introductory function is achieved in the first year by providing two modules that are designed to expose the student to typical Philosophical questions and to some standard answers to them, using both a historical and an issue-centred approach.

The course is designed, secondly, to promote the development of a sophisticated philosophical consciousness among those students who wish to study the subject in depth.

This goal is achieved by providing, in successive years, modules that:

• deal with the modern and contemporary eras of Philosophy and with both the Continental European and Anglo-American traditions;
  
• offer in-depth topical treatments which cover the main sub-disciplinary areas of Philosophy;
  
• may be substituted for or added to by modules in areas of special expertise within the department.

There is, in addition, an opportunity through project-work to develop the research skills that augment the analytic and synthetic capacities that are the most conspicuous fruit of a Philosophical education.