Postgraduate Course: Introduction to Philosophical Methodology (Online) (PHIL11132)
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) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course offers an introduction to philosophical methodology, with a particular focus on thought experiments, conceptual analysis and the role of rational
intuitions. Conceptual analysis was once considered to be of primary concern to philosophers: to understand what a particular property is, such as being morally good, being conscious, being caused, or being known, one must produce necessary and sufficient conditions for something to fall under the concept of that property. Moreover, such conditions must be spelled out in a way that is independent of the concept in question. For instance, to say that someone falls under the concept of pain if and only if they are in pain is uninformative. Next to all such analyses have been confronted with counterexamples that rely on rational intuitions about how to describe possible cases. For instance, to say that someone falls under the concept of pain if and only if they display withdrawal behaviour when their tissue is damaged is informative, but also false. Imagine a perfect actor pretending to suffer pain. In response, some philosophers have given up on conceptual analysis altogether, some have adopted various weaker kinds of conceptual entailments, and some have argued that such intuitions are defeasible if the analysis in question leads to an otherwise explanatorily powerful philosophical theory about the property in question.
The course is shared with the on-campus course Introduction to Philosophical Method (PHIL11008). On weeks 3/5/7/9 and 11 students on this course will first watch a video lecture (approx. 40 - 50 mins) on Learn and attend live seminars using the online Collaborate system with the instructor for the week. |
| Course description |
Week 1: Introduction to Conceptual Analysis and Thought Experiments (Asynchronous forum seminar)
Week 2: Functionalism, Inverted Qualia and Blockhead (Asynchronous forum seminar)
Week 3: Physicalism and Philosophical Zombies (Synchronous seminar)
Week 4: JTB Analysis of Knowledge and Gettier Cases (Asynchronous forum seminar)
Week 5: Reliabilism, Clairvoyance and the New Evil Demon (Synchronous seminar)
Week 6: Artificial Intelligence and the Chinese Room Argument (Synchronous seminar)
Week 7: Galileo's Falling Bodies, Newton's Bucket, and Einstein's Elevator (Asynchronous forum seminar)
Week 8: The Open Question Argument and the Paradox of Analysis (Asynchronous forum seminar)
Week 9: Utilitarianism and Trolley Problems (Synchronous seminar)
Week 10: Descriptivism about Proper Names (Asynchronous forum seminar)
Week 11: Kripke's Epistemic, Modal and Semantic Arguments (Synchronous seminar)
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
| Course Start Date |
21/09/2015 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Online Activities 20,
Revision Session Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
164 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
85 %,
Practical Exam
15 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Students will be assessed by a 2500 word essay at the end of the semester (85%) and successful participation in the on-line activities associated with the course (15%).
Online participation activity: Journal papers
Word limit: 800 words maximum (excluding references)
Essay deadline: Thursday 17th December 2015 by 12 noon.
Word limit: 2500 maximum (excluding references)
Return deadline: Thursday 21st January 2016 |
| Feedback |
Students have the opportunity to submit a formative essay by week 6 deadline on Turnitin via Learn. The essay cannot be draft of summative essay but it can be on the same topic.
Formative essay deadline: Thursday 29th October 2015 by 12 noon
Return deadline: Friday 20th November 2015 |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- have a grasp of fundamental issues in philosophical methodology, e.g. the nature of thought experiments, the role of rational intuitions, conceptual analysis.
- be able to critically analyse and engage with literature by key philosophers in this field.
- be able to present arguments clearly and concisely both within a classroom context and in a 2,500 word essay.
- gain transferable skills in research, analysis and argumentation
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Reading List
Week 1
Class Readings
Chris Daly, An Introduction to Philosophical Methods, Broadview Press, 2010. Chapter 2.
Week 2
Class Readings
Ned Block (1978) 'Troubles with functionalism', in Timothy O'Connor and David Robb (eds.), Philosophy of Mind: Contemporary Readings. Routledge, 2003. 222 - 233. Available as an e-book.
Week 3
Class Readings
Todd Moody (1994) 'Conversations with zombies' Journal of Consciousness Studies, 1, 196 - 200 (read this first)
Daniel Dennett (1995) 'The unimagined preposterousness of zombies' Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2, 322 - 326
Week 4
Reading list TBD
Week 5
Reading list TBD
Week 6
Class Readings
Norton, J. D. (1995) 'Are Thought Experiments Just What You Thought?' Canadian Journal of Philosophy 26(3): 333 - 366.
Week 7
Class Readings
Searle, J. R. (1980) 'Minds, Brains and Programs,' Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3(3): 417 - 424.
Plus these responses (also in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 3, 1980): Abelson, R. P. 'Searle's argument is just a set of Chinese symbols,' 424 - 5. Block, N. 'What intuitions about homunculi don't show,' 425 - 6. Dennett, D. 'The milk of human intentionality,' 428 - 30. Hofstadter, D. R. 'Reductionism and religion,' 433 - 4. Minsky, M. 'Decentralized minds,' 439 - 40.Rorty, R. 'Searle and the special powers of the brain,' 445 - 6.
Week 8
Class Readings
Moore, G. E. (1903) 'The Subject Matter of Ethics' in his Principia Ethica, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Baldwin, T. (2010) 'The Open Question Argument' in The Routledge Companion to Ethics, John Skorupski (ed.), Oxford: Routledge
Week 9
Class Readings
1. Hare, R. M. (1952) The Language of Morals (OUP) p148-50.
2. Horgan, T. and Timmons, M. (1991) 'New Wave Moral Realism Meets Moral Twin Earth' Journal of Philosophical Research 16
Week 10
Class Readings
Jesper Kallestrup, Semantic Externalism, London: Routledge, 2011. Chapter 1.
Week 11
Class Readings
Jesper Kallestrup, Semantic Externalism, London: Routledge, 2011, Chapter 2.
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 |
This course is only for MSc/Dip/Cert Epistemology, Ethics and Mind students.
Team taught by Dr Suilin Lavelle, Dr Debbie Roberts, Dr Alistair Isaac and Prof Jesper Kallestrup |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jesper Kallestrup
Tel:
Email: jesper.kallestrup@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lynsey Buchanan
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: Lynsey.Buchanan@ed.ac.uk |
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