PHI-40004 - Module Specification
School of Social Sciences
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2024/25

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

Barred Combinations

Description for 2024/25

This module will introduce key terms and debates in metaphilosophy. Questions addressed will include: What is distinctive about philosophical problems? Can there be progress in philosophy? What would count as progress in philosophy? Are philosophical problems likely to wither away with the progress of natural science? Is philosophy an armchair activity, like mathematics or literature, or can it be experimental? How much and what kind of knowledge can be gained from the philosophical armchair? What is the relationship between epistemology (the theory of knowledge) and ontology (the study of being or of what exists)? What is first in the order of logical priority? What is the relationship between philosophy and other disciplines, such as history? Are philosophical problems everlasting or historically transient?

The module aims:
To introduce students to key critical debates in metaphilosophy
To encourage critical reflection on the nature of philosophical enquiry, its methods, subject matter and relation to natural science.
To evaluate critically how different conceptions of the role and character of philosophical analysis inform our understanding of specific philosophical problems.
To assist students to orientate themselves towards planning a research dissertation

Intended Learning Outcomes

Detect the metaphilosophical assumptions at work in a given philosophical position/argument.: 1
Critically examine the ways in which different metaphilosophical positions inform the approach to specific philosophical problems.: 1
Critically discuss the nature of philosophical problems and the relation of philosophy to other forms of enquiry: 1
Show originality in the application of meta-philosophical positions to first order philosophical problems.: 1
Act independently in planning and carrying out written work.: 1
Show self-direction and originality in writing a research essay on an agreed meta-philosophical topic.: 1
Trace back disagreements at first order level to second-order differences in meta-philosophical positions.
: 1

Study hours

8 x 2 hour seminars (16 hrs)
64 hrs seminar preparation
110 hrs reading, annotating and reflecting on module texts
110 hrs assessment preparation

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment