Postgraduate Course: Reason and Experience: Seventeenth Century Philosophy MSc (PHIL11142)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course will provide a critical overview of themes from seventeenth century philosophy from Descartes to Berkeley. Issues covered include the nature of material and immaterial substances; the self and its relation to its body and to the non-human world in general; attitudes regarding animals and other living organisms; inanimate bodies and the mechanical philosophy; epistemological scepticism; innatism; sense perception, imagination, intellect; the epistemological role of language and abstract ideas; and moral issues concerning freewill and determinism and the nature of God and theodicy.
The course will be shared with the undergraduate version Reason and Experience: Seventeenth Century Philosophy (PHIL10150)
Formative feedback available:
- opportunity to submit a formative essay by the week 6 closing deadline
-the course organiser will be available to discuss drafts and or plans of essays individually with students before submission (face-to face and via email)
- general advice in class
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| Course description |
Provisional lecture plan
1. General introduction and substance monism, dualism and pluralism
2. Nature and Knowledge of the Self
3. Living nature
4. Mechanical nature and causation
5. Scepticism
6. Ideas and Perception
7. Language and communication
8. Mind and Body
9. Freedom and Determinism
10. God and theodicy
11. Revision
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2014/15, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 10 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Revision Session Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
2500 word assignment
Essay deadline: Monday 20th April 2015 by 12 noon
Word limit: 3000 words maximum
Return deadline: Tuesday 12th May 2015 |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
| Students will gain an understanding of the often sophisticated and frequently heated debates that raged in the seventeenth century on matters scientific, theological and philosophical. They will come to appreciate the inter-relation between the epistemological, metaphysical, ethical, scientific and theological positions discussed. They will learn to evaluate critically the arguments offered both in defence of, and in opposition to, these positions. By the end of the course, students will be able to defend their own views on these issues and be able to develop and assess different interpretations of the texts studied.
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Reading List
Primary sources
Descartes, The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, tr. & ed. by John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff and Dugald Murdoch, 2 vols (Cambridge University Press, 1984-85)
Spinoza, Ethics, tr. & ed. by G. H. R. Parkinson (London: Dent, 1989)
Malebranche, Nicolas, Dialogues on Metaphysics and on Religion, ed. by Nicholas Jolley, tr. by David Scott (Cambridge University Press, 1997)
Leibniz, Philosophical Essays, tr. and ed. by Dan Garber and Roger Ariew (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1989)
Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding, ed. by Pauline Phemister. Oxford World¿s Classics (Oxford University Press, 2008)
Berkeley, Principles of Human Knowledge / Three Dialogues, ed. by Roger Woolhouse (Penguin).
The full weekly reading list is available on Learn. |
Additional Information
| Course URL |
Please see Learn page |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Taught by Dr Pauline Phemister |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Pauline Phemister
Tel: (0131 6)51 3747
Email: p.phemister@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lynsey Buchanan
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: Lynsey.Buchanan@ed.ac.uk |
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