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PHIL131 Mind, Meaning and Metaphysics (Semester 2, D E X)

This unit introduces the big philosophical questions about human nature, personal identity, and the meaning of life. What is the fundamental nature of reality? Are human beings somehow unique in nature? Do we have distinct selves that endure through time? What is the relation between our identity and the things that matter to us? We take a broadly historical approach, reading the classic philosophical texts as well as contemporary work. But three themes recur across the unit: the relation of mind and body, the quest for knowledge, and the nature of the self.

We begin with the philosophers of Ancient Greece. We look at how they understood the relationship between the self and the cosmos, and the relation between body and soul. We then turn to conceptions of the mind at the dawn of the modern period, asking whether mind is entirely physical, or could in principle survive bodily death. We also explore the links between the self, time, and memory. The third section of the unit introduces some key thinkers of the twentieth century. We explore their views on lived experience, shame, gendered embodiment, and the struggle between Self and Other. So the unit as a whole offers a detailed introduction to controversial questions about the nature of the mind, showing how historical understanding animates current debates, and demonstrating the relevance of philosophy to live modern issues about science, human nature, and culture.

PHIL132 Philosophy, Morality and Society (Semester 1, D E X)

This unit provides a general introduction to some of the major topics in ethics, moral theory and contemporary political philosophy. The first section of the unit, ‘Ethics and the Good Life’, focuses on the nature of happiness, and on the relationships between happiness and pleasure and happiness and duty. Is pleasure essential to happiness? Or does the pursuit of pleasure harm our chances of true and lasting happiness? Is the happy life compatible with the dutiful life? Or do we have to choose between them? These issues are discussed with particular reference to the views of Aristotle and later ancient philosophers.

The second section, ‘Moral Theory: Relativism and Universalism’, explores questions about the source and nature of morality and moral judgment.  Do moral principles and judgments have any claim to objectivity or are they relative to specific societies and cultures? Is morality ultimately founded on self-interest? We consider a number of different answers to these questions and then discuss two of the most influential modern attempts to provide an impartial, universal and non-relativist foundation for morality: Kantianism and Utilitarianism.

The third section, ‘Contemporary Problems of Justice’, provides an introduction to contemporary political philosophy, focusing on a number of topical issues concerning social justice. We begin with a discussion of John Rawls’ influential theory of distributive justice, which articulates principles for a just distribution of resources within a society. We then look at the topic of global justice and consider whether these principles could be extended globally, to address the gross inequalities of wealth, opportunities and resources that exist in our world. In the final two weeks we consider the relevance of historic injustice to indigenous rights claims, as well as the justice claims of immigrants and refugees.

 

PHIL134 Introductory Formal Logic (Semester 2, D X)

Logic is the study of good reasoning. Formal logic applies the tools of the formal sciences to the study of reasoning. This approach to logic has flourished in the 20th century, and it has become of fundamental significance to many other disciplines, such as Philosophy, Maths, Computing and Linguistics.

In this unit we introduce the basic concepts of formal logic. Students will learn how to represent arguments symbolically and to use formal techniques to analyse these representations. We will also critically examine some of the assumptions underlying formal approaches to logic.

The unit is suitable both for those who want to study logic for its own sake, and those who need to understand the techniques of formal logic in Computing, Mathematics, Linguistics and Philosophy.

PHIL137 Critical Thinking (Summer, Semester 1, D E X)

This unit aims to teach the fundamentals of critical thinking and reasoning. Students will learn how to construct, analyse and critically evaluate arguments, how to detect common fallacies in reasoning, and how to think both logically and creatively. We teach these skills by way of looking at arguments from business, law, science, politics, philosophy and articles from newspapers and journals.

These sorts of critical thinking skills are an invaluable background, not just for those working in philosophy and the humanities, but for students in any area.

PHIL225 Ethical Theory (Semester 1, D)

The ethical theories of Aristotle, John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant have had a major impact on contemporary ethical thought both within and outside philosophy. While providing an introduction to these theories, the unit also aims to show how they have influenced contemporary ways of thinking about moral agency and our moral relations with others. We focus on Aristotle's conceptions of voluntary and involuntary actions, excuses, justifications and culpability, which ground contemporary understandings of moral and legal responsibility. We also discuss Aristotle's views on friendship, which resonate with contemporary views about the good of friendship and underpin much current philosophical discussion of friendship.  John Stuart Mill's text On Liberty provides the classic defense of individual liberty. We discuss Mill's views on the scope and limits of liberty, his defense of the importance of freedom of speech and consider the application of his arguments to the issue of "hate speech". In the final section of the unit, we consider the impact of Kant's moral theory on contemporary human rights discourse. We also look at Kant's analysis of hospitality, which is particularly relevant to the plight of refugees and stateless persons.

PHIL232 Philosophy of Science (to be offered in 2009)

How does science work? Should scientific method be privileged over other ways of knowing? How do scientific theories change over time? Should the history of science be seen as an unfolding tale of intellectual and technological progress, or as a messier and ambivalent process? This unit introduces central issues in the philosophy of science, including the nature of facts, the rationality or irrationality of scientific revolutions, the relation between science and values, and the relation of the sciences to other forms of thinking like magic, myth, and religion.

This unit presumes no particular background in science – it is suitable for students with a background in arts disciplines as well as for students in the social, behavioural, biological, and physical sciences.

PHIL238 Phenomenology and Existentialism (to be offered in 2009)

At the beginning of the 20th century, philosophy was revolutionized by the emergence of phenomenology, the method devised by German philosopher Edmund Husserl. The aim of phenomenology is to “return to the things themselves”, to describe the multiple ways in which the world gives itself to us in experience. Phenomenology thus aims to retrieve the layers of conscious and bodily experience at the origins of, for instance, the perception of objects in space, the consciousness of time, the relationship of the self to its own body, to other selves, and to other bodies.

The course begins with Husserl himself and examines his definition of phenomenology. We study its applications to two specific topics: artistic discovery (how phenomenology proceeds in ways akin to the creative methods of artists), and the social world (the experiential aspects of social interaction). We then study the thoughts of his most influential heirs: Heidegger’s turn towards everyday experience and the fundamental question of Being, Sartre’s interpretation of phenomenology in terms of existence and human freedom, and Merleau-Ponty’s emphasis on the body, as the primary locus of meaning. Two weeks are dedicated to phenomenological and existentialist ethics and aesthetics. In the final week, we assess the influence of phenomenology in contemporary thought by looking at its critical reception in Lévinas and Derrida.

PHIL242 Practical Ethics (to be offered in 2009)

This unit focuses on philosophical debates concerning a range of ethical issues at the boundaries of life and death. Topics include: death and harm, abortion, suicide, euthanasia, just war theory, terrorism, nonviolence and environmental ethics. Discussion of these topics is structured around a number of key philosophical concepts, including: notions of harm; conceptions of the body, the person and identity; justified killing; the nature of harm and the type of things that can be harmed. Although there are scientific, technological, legal, political and religious dimensions to many of the issues discussed, this unit aims primarily to develop an understanding of some of the specifically philosophical and conceptual problems that they raise.

PHIL245 History of Philosophy 1 (Semester 2, D)

This unit offers a detailed introduction to the history of western philosophy. Drawing on key texts from the ancient and early modern periods, the unit examines the nature of the passions and the emotions, the relation between chance and necessity, the meaning of life and death, and the significance of evil. The philosophers we study will include a selection from the following: Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley and Hume. In each case we also examine their influence on contemporary thought, and the relevance of their ideas to the modern world.

PHIL246 Philosophy of Religion (to be offered in 2009)

What properties do the major religions ascribe to God? Is the concept of God coherent? What does the word ‘God’ mean? Indeed, what does the word ‘religion’ mean? What arguments have been given for and against the existence of God? Are any of these arguments any good? What is the relationship between faith and reason? Are there good reasons to believe that our existence might continue on after our deaths? Could miracles occur? What is the relationship between religion and morality? These are some of the many questions we will examine critically in this course. Our goal is to get a fix on the nature of the cosmos and our place in it. The focus of this course will be on classical Theism – that is, the set of beliefs that the major Western Religions (roughly, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) have in common. No particular religious perspective will be assumed.

PHIL249 Biology, Mind, and Culture (Semester 2, D)

This course is devoted to examining the ways in which evolutionary biology can shed light on the nature of the human mind and culture. The course begins with an introduction to evolutionary theory and a discussion of some foundational issues concerning its nature and structure. What is fitness? What is adaptationism? What is the unit of selection? A substantial part of the course, however, will be taken up with investigating extensions of evolutionary theory to the explanation of human mind and culture. The course will examine recent theories of cultural evolution, evolutionary epistemology, and evolutionary psychology. A special study will be made of the ambitions and limitations of sociobiology: in particular, of sociobiological explanations of human sexual and ethical behaviour.

PHIL250 Aesthetics ((Semester 1, D X)

What is beauty? What is art? Can art provide us with a kind of knowledge, and what sort of knowledge would that be? Can art transform our experience of the world? What is the role of art in contemporary society?

Aesthetics inquires into the nature of art and the significance of aesthetic experience for our understanding of the world. In this course we begin with the core aesthetic problems of beauty and pleasure, and examine the question of whether taste is merely subjective or in some sense objective. We then look at the idea that art is a way in which a culture expresses its understanding of nature, reality and the self. We also consider the controversial idea, famously articulated by Hegel, that art in modernity has “reached its end”.

Finally we turn to more recent debates in aesthetic theory looking at what the relationship between art and philosophy should be, and whether art can provide alternative ways of defining knowledge and experience in modernity. These philosophical theories will be examined in conjunction with a discussion of contemporary artists and art works in a variety of media from painting and photography to cinema and the digital arts.

PHIL254 Freedom and Alienation (Semester 2, D X)

What does freedom mean to us as modern individuals? Is there more freedom in modern society than in other forms of society? What are the social and political dimensions of our individual freedom? Does modern society in fact increase alienation rather than freedom?

This unit explores these questions by examining the work of key philosophers of the Enlightenment and critics of the modern world such as Kant, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche. We shall explore Kant’s idea of freedom as moral and individual autonomy, showing its connection with contemporary theories of liberalism and its relevance for current debates in international politics. We then turn to Hegel’s critique of the individualist notion of autonomy, and his influential account of the social and political conditions of individual freedom. We revisit recent debates around the Hegelian idea of an alleged “end of history,” the historical victory of liberal democracy over other forms of human community. We then examine Marx’s critical reception of Kant and Hegel and his radical critique of modern society, focusing on his account of alienation in our social, economic, and political life. Finally, we explore Nietzsche’s critical diagnosis of modern culture and society, and consider his challenging response to the problem of overcoming nihilism in modernity.

Throughout the course we aim to highlight the ongoing influence of these important theories of freedom and alienation and to show their continuing relevance for contemporary moral, social, and political problems.

PHIL256 Knowledge and Reality (Semester 1, D)

This unit introduces central philosophical problems about relations between knowledge and reality, or about our 'hook-up' to the world. Topics covered may include perception, colour, dreams, memory and the past, scepticism, the nature of explanation, rationality and irrationality, perspectivism, subjectivity and objectivity, testimony, and certainty. Students will continue to develop skills in argument by addressing key questions about realism and relativism in a range of philosophical domains.

PHIL260 Bioethics and Biotechnology (Semester 2, D)

This unit introduces students to the most pressing ethical questions and concerns raised by current developments in biotechnology, especially in the sphere of genetic technology. The first section of the unit provides an introduction to ethical reasoning, to issues of social justice and to the relationship between social values and scientific enquiry in the context of biotechnology. The second section focuses on the ethics of gene technology in the spheres of human medicine and reproduction, including genetic screening/testing, genetic therapies (somatic cell and germline cell therapies), genetic enhancement, and cloning. In the third section we explore the impact of biotechnologies on other aspects of human, non-human animal and environmental wellbeing, including engineering of plants and animals (GMOs); genetically engineered food; genetic testing for criminal databases and insurance purposes; and commercial exploitation of genetic material.

PHIL262 Body and Mind (to be offered in 2009)

This course explores the relationship between the body and the mind. It introduces students to the central issues in contemporary philosophy of mind, focusing on the issue of whether the mind can be incorporated into the scientific picture of the world. The first part of the course will consist of a survey of competing philosophical theories of the mind: dualism, behaviourism, the identity theory, and functionalism. The second half will consist of a discussion of some topical issues in contemporary philosophy of mind and cognitive science. What is the nature of phenomenal (subjective) experience? Is a physical theory of consciousness possible? Is there a language of thought? If so, what is its nature? How do mental states represent the world? Does neurophysiology show us that common-sense psychology is scientifically dispensable?

PHIL264 Business and Professional Ethics (Semester 2, D X)

Recent corporate collapses have highlighted the importance of ethical governance in the corporate sphere. In the first section of the unit we examine the roles and responsibilities of corporations in relation to the societies and environments in which they operate. Topics to be discussed include: justice, markets and capitalism; the obligations of corporations to stakeholders as well as shareholders; corporate social responsibility; environmental sustainability; globalisation and international business ethics. In the second section of the unit we examine the responsibilities of corporations towards their employees, as well as the rights and obligations of employees. Topics to be discussed include discrimination; trust and codes of conduct; whistleblowing; trade secrets and corporate disclosure; marketing, truth and advertising; and information technology and privacy. The unit is relevant to students in accounting and business, as well as to students in humanities and social sciences.

PHIL280 Truth and Existence (Semester 1, D)

This course in philosophical logic is divided into two parts.

In the first part, students will be introduced to some of the important contemporary debates on truth. We will begin by considering a number of important theories of truth, and then turn to an examination of the semantic paradoxes such as the Liar paradox (‘This sentence is false’), which seem to undermine our ability to provide an adequate definition of truth.

In the second part, students are introduced to the basics of modal propositional and predicate logics. However, the focus of this part of the course will be on philosophical questions arising within the semantics of modal logic concerning the existence of possible worlds and the nature of possible and necessary existents. Students will also study applications of modal logic to provide logics for knowledge, time, and conditionals.

PHIL281 Language and Logic (to be offered in 2009)

How is meaning possible? What constitutes the fact that a linguistic symbol means one thing rather than another? Can meaning be explained in naturalistic or scientific terms? What is the relationship between language and thought, between linguistic meaning and mental content? Questions such as these dominate philosophy of language, and this course provides an overview of the main themes in 20th century and contemporary philosophical theorising about language.

Topics covered include: Frege on sense and reference, Russell's theory of definite descriptions, logical positivism and the verification principle, Quine on the analytic/synthetic distinction and the indeterminacy of translation, Kripke's Wittgenstein's meaning-scepticism, naturalistic theories of meaning, non-reductionism about meaning, Grice's theory of meaning, Davidson on Tarskian truth-theories and truth-conditional semantics.

PHIL341 Contemporary Ethics (Semester 2, D)

Moral theories are intended to guide everyday moral practice and to help us to ‘live well’. Yet some contemporary philosophers have argued that close adherence to specific moral theories, and in particular those that require impartiality or ‘agent-neutrality’, necessarily comes at a significant moral cost: namely, the preclusion of certain other elements typically deemed central to the good life. These goods are ‘agent-relative’ and include the maintaining of intimate personal relationships and one’s own projects and commitments. Such a critique of the ‘agent-neutrality’ of influential ethical theories poses serious questions concerning the character of the ‘lived’ moral life and the role and application of ethical theory in our lives.

We begin with a consideration of important challenges to consequentialism on the grounds that it is self-defeating, leads to ‘moral schizophrenia’, and cannot accommodate important moral ‘goods’ such as integrity and close personal relationships. We then consider virtue ethics and evaluate its capacity to avoid the problems encountered by impartial or ‘agent-neutral’ ethical theories, focusing on its characterisation of human flourishing, the identification of virtues and virtuous agents, and the cultivation and unity of virtue. We examine and evaluate critical responses to virtue theory, including the charge that is not action-guiding and therefore does not represent a genuine normative alternative to consequentialist or deontological theories of ethics.

PHIL351 Social Philosophy (to be offered in 2009)

Defenders of modernity point to the achievements of modern science and technology, the consumer affluence in market economies, and the individual freedoms protected by the liberal democratic state. Critics of modernity point to the environmental costs of unconstrained economic growth, the alienating nature of much work, enormous inequalities in the distribution of wealth, and threats to our sense of personal and social identity. Has the modern world ‘progressed,’ become more rational or enlightened? Or is the very idea of such progress a dangerous illusion? Do modern societies carry the potential for transformation into something radically better?

This unit explores these questions by examining the work of various twentieth-century social philosophers. We shall consider a number of key themes in social philosophy, such as the critique of instrumental reason, the question of technology, our relationship with nature, the prospects for modern selfhood and social freedom, and the problem of historical progress in modernity. We shall draw on the work of well-known philosophers such as Heidegger, Habermas, Adorno, Marcuse, and Honneth, and will be concerned to analyse their insights in light of contemporary social debates on technology, globalisation, environmentalism, and modern freedom.

PHIL352 Philosophical Problems of Gender (to be offered in 2009)

Is sexual equality an important ideal? How can the pursuit of equality best accommodate a recognition of differences between the sexes? What is the relation between sex and gender? How does gender-based oppression intersect with other forms of oppression, such as those based on race, ethnicity and class? This unit will focus on these and other questions about the implications of gender for ideals of equality, freedom and justice, as well as for conceptions of morality, identity and the body. The unit will include discussion of the work of important historical thinkers, such as Mary Wollstonecraft, John Stuart Mill and Simone de Beavuoir, as well as the work of contemporary feminist philosophers. In addition, it will examine contemporary feminist debates in ethics and epistemology.

PHIL354 Seminar Unit in Philosophy (Semester 1, D)

This unit is designed for students who want to pursue their interest in Philosophy in more depth.  The unit provides students with the opportunity to become acquainted with current, cutting-edge research in the discipline.  The unit also focuses on the skills required for independent philosophical research.  Completion of the unit is a condition for completion of an Honours degree in Philosophy.

The unit is taught in seminar format, in which the main issues and texts in contemporary philosophical research are discussed every week.  The emphasis is put on the research areas in which the members of the Department are themselves active.

PHIL356 Contemporary European Philosophy (Semester 1, D X)

This unit introduces students to very recent work deriving from the tradition of modern European philosophy and attempts to bring this into dialogue with debates in other areas of ethics and political philosophy.
The course focuses in particular on current debates about the potentials and limitations of democracy; debates about the power and the risks of modern law and of the political state; and arguments over the consequences of the historical experiences of revolutions and genocides in the modern period.

The course ends with a study of the important philosophical debate (between Jürgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida) concerning September 11 and the so-called ‘war on terror’. What do these events signify about our contemporary geopolitical situation? Is terrorism an aberrant response to the modern world or a violent manifestation of its internal logic?

PHIL357 Theories of Justice (to be offered in 2009)

Liberal democratic societies confront a range of social justice issues relating to inequalities of power, economic distribution, and social status. Are such inequalities inherently unjust and if so, how should they be redressed? Specific issues of justice also arise from the position of ethnic minorities, and indigenous peoples in a multicultural society. What responsibilities do liberal democratic states have to such groups and what rights can they legitimately claim against the state? The global and international environment presents further issues of justice. What are the responsibilities of affluent nations and global institutions in dealing with global poverty, corruption and political violence? In this course we discuss some of the major contemporary philosophical theories of justice and assess their capacity to respond to these specific problems of justice.

PHIL358 Metaphysics (Semester 2, D)

This unit examines some traditional questions in metaphysics, focusing on questions about the fundamental nature of reality. The first half of the course is structured around a discussion of time travel. It addresses questions such as: What is the nature of time? Does time flow or is it static? What is causation? Is time travel possible? The second half of the course is devoted to a critical examination of the metaphysical theory of materialism, which states that everything is ultimately physical in nature. We will examine this theory’s explanations of colour, consciousness, free will, and value. The course concludes with a discussion of whether there is, indeed, a single, ultimate reality, or whether a pluralistic view makes more sense.

PHIL359 History of Philosophy 2 (to be offered in 2009)

This unit examines Kant’s transcendental philosophy through a study of his major work, the ‘Critique of Pure Reason’. We discuss Kant’s conception of experience, his account of the relationship between experience and the world, and his understanding of the method of a genuinely ‘critical’ philosophy. The unit also considers how the ‘Critique of Pure Reason’ became such a crucial point of reference for nineteenth and twentieth century philosophy - in both ‘analytic’ and ‘continental’ traditions.

PHIL363 Philosophy and Cognitive Science (Semester 1, D X)

Many people are suspicious of the very idea of cognitive science. But new movements in the sciences of mind suggest that psychological theorising can deal with subjectivity, emotion, culture, and complexity. This unit covers the philosophical foundations of cognitive science, examining the nature of consciousness and the self, and introducing recent connectionist and dynamical approaches to the mind. Topics include delusions and psychopathology; divided consciousness; dreaming; representation and computation; pain; vision; embodiment and body-image; emotion; memory and the perception of time. No background in psychology or science is assumed.

PHIL364 Business and Professional Ethics (Semester 2, D X)

Recent corporate collapses have highlighted the importance of ethical governance in the corporate sphere. In the first section of the unit we examine the roles and responsibilities of corporations in relation to the societies and environments in which they operate. Topics to be discussed include: justice, markets and capitalism; the obligations of corporations to stakeholders as well as shareholders; corporate social responsibility; environmental sustainability; globalisation and international business ethics. In the second section of the unit we examine the responsibilities of corporations towards their employees, as well as the rights and obligations of employees. Topics to be discussed include discrimination; trust and codes of conduct; whistleblowing; trade secrets and corporate disclosure; marketing, truth and advertising; and information technology and privacy. The unit is relevant to students in accounting and business, as well as to students in humanities and social sciences.

PHIL365 Philosophy and Cinema (Semester 2, D X)

What is philosophical about film? What does philosophy have to say about cinema? How can a film be philosophical? How can a camera movement or narrative twist be a form of thought? This course explores these questions across a range of philosophical writings dealing with ontological, phenomenological, hermeneutic, and aesthetic aspects of the cinematic experience. Rather than treating cinema as an illustration of various theories, we shall examine the ways in which cinema as a medium itself raises philosophical problems, explores philosophical themes in visual and narrative terms, and has philosophical implications for understanding modern culture.

We begin by examining the problems of cinematic representation, visual perception, and the ontology of the moving image. We then consider the question of subjectivity in cinema, exploring the phenomenology of movement and time-consciousness, as well as cinematic reflections on personal identity, and filmic explorations of unconscious desire. Finally, we discuss the cultural, aesthetic, and ideological implications of cinema as a technological artform. Throughout the course, we investigate the work of philosophers who analyse specific film genres or aesthetic aspects of film interpretation (e.g. Stanley Cavell), philosophers who theorise the cultural and ideological dimenions of cinema (e.g. Walter Benjamin) as well as recent work on 'film as philosophy' (Gilles Deleuze, Stephen Mulhall). Various films and cinematic auteurs will also be studied throughout the course.

PHIL382 Agency and the Self (Semester 1, D X)

This unit explores some of the central issues in contemporary moral psychology. The first section focuses on freedom of the will, the nature and value of autonomy and debates about whether autonomy is compatible with socialisation. In the second section we discuss a range of issues concerning moral responsibility, including the implications of luck and causal determination for responsibility, whether moral responsibility requires an ability to do otherwise, and the conditions under which persons should be exempted from responsibility for their actions. The third section focuses on classical and contemporary accounts of personal identity, exploring the differences between metaphysical, practical and narrative theories of identity. Philosophers to be discussed in the unit include Harry Frankfurt, Christine Korsgaard, Derek Parfit, Paul Ricoeur, P.F. Strawson, Gary Watson, Bernard Williams, and Susan Wolf.