Postgraduate Course: Metaphysics MSc (PHIL11156)
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 | Metaphysics is the study of the most basic and general features of reality. This course will focus on a range of traditional and contemporary problems in metaphysics. |
| Course description |
Specific topics to be discussed may include: universals and particulars; objects, properties and events; composition and constitution; the nature of necessity and possibility; fundamentality; ontological dependence; realism and anti-realism about truth; conceptual relativity; and the question 'Why is there something rather than nothing?'.
Shared with undergraduate course Metaphysics PHIL10155.
For courses co-taught with undergraduate students and with no remaining undergraduate spaces left, a maximum of 8 MSc students can join the course. Priority will be given to MSc students who wish to take the course for credit on a first come first served basis after matriculation.
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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: 8 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 11,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 11,
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
75 %,
Practical Exam
25 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1500 word mid-term essay worth 25%; 2500 word final essay worth 75%
Mid-term essay deadline: Thursday 29th October 2015 by 12 noon
Word limit:
Return deadline: Friday 20th November 2015
Final essay deadline: Thursday 17th December 2015 by 12 noon.
Word limit:
Return deadline: Thursday 21st January 2016 |
| Feedback |
- Weekly tutorials
- Students can meet individually with course organiser for mid-term essay feedback after marking
- Students can meet individually with course organiser to discuss a draft of their final essay |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate core skills in philosophy, including the ability to interpret and engage with philosophical texts, to evaluate arguments, and to develop one's own critical ideas in response.
- acquire an understanding of some of the central problems in metaphysics and of leading approaches to resolving them.
- analyse these problems and the strengths and weakness of various approaches made to resolving them.
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Reading List
Indicative bibliography:
Allaire, E. 'Bare Particulars', Philosophical Studies 14:1-2, pp. 1-8 (1963)
Anscombe, G.E.M. 'Causality and Determination', (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971) (excerpts)
Armstrong, D.M. Universals: An Opinionated Introduction (Boulder, CO:Westview, 1989). (Excerpts)
Armstrong, D.M. 'Against "Ostrich Nominalism": A Reply to Devitt', Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 61 (1980): 440-49.
Beebee, H. 'Causation and Necessary Connection', in D. O'Brien and A. Bailey, eds., Continuum Companion to Hume (London: Bloomsbury, 2012), pp. 131-45.
Beebee, H. 'Causing and Nothingness', in L. A. Paul, E. J. Hall & J. Collins (eds.), Causation and Counterfactuals. The Mit Press. 291--308 (2004)
Black, M. 'The Identity of Indiscernibles', Mind 61:242, pp. 153-164 (April, 1952)
Cartwright, N. 'Causal Laws and Effective Strategies', Noûs, 13 (1979): 419-37.
Hume, D. A Treatise of Human Nature, Book I, Part III; An Enquiry Concerning the Human Understanding, sect. 4 (any edition)
Kim, J. 'Causes and Events: Mackie on Causation', The Journal of Philosophy, 68 (1971): 6-41.
Lewis, D. 'Causation,' Journal of Philosophy, 70(17), 1973, pp. 556-567.
Lewis, D. On the Plurality of Worlds (Oxford: Blackwell, 1986), ch. 1, sect. 1 & 2; ch.2; ch. 3, sects. 1-2; ch. 4, sects. 1-2.
MacBride, F. 'Universals: The Contemporary Debate', in R. Le Poidevin, et al.,eds., The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics (London: Routledge, 2009), pp.
276-85.
Mackie, J.L. 'Causes and Conditions', American Philosophical Quarterly, 2 (1965): 245-264.
Mackie, J.L. The Cement of the Universe: A Study of Causation. Oxford:Clarendon, 1974, ch. 3.
Mill, J.S. A System of Logic, vol. 1, 1843, book III, ch. 5.
Price, H.H. 'Universals and Resemblances', in Thinking and Experience (London:Hutchinson, 1953), pp. 7-32. Reprinted in C. Landesman, ed., The Problem of Universals (London: Basic, 1971).
Quine, W.V.O., 'On What There Is', Review of Metaphysics, 2 (1948): 21-28.
Paul, L. 'Aspect Causation', Journal of Philosophy xcvii (4), 235-256.
Van Inwagen and D.W. Zimmerman, eds., Metaphysics: The Big Questions, Blackwell 2008
Williams, D.C. 'The Elements of Being', Review of Metaphysics 7(2):3-18 & 171-192 (1953)
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Additional Information
| Course URL |
Please see Learn |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- clarity and precision in written and spoken communication
- understanding of central issues in metaphysics
- strengthened ability to argue with creativity and logical discipline |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
The course will be taught by Dr Nick Treanor.
The course has a 1 hour lecture and 2 x 1 hour tutorial teaching arrangement in place; students must go to ALL lectures and choose only ONE tutorial group. Students do not attend both shared tutorial groups. Courses may also have additional postgraduate-only tutorials. |
| Keywords | metaphysics,modality,ontology,fundamentality |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Nick Treanor
Tel: (0131 6)51 3085
Email: nick.treanor@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lynsey Buchanan
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: Lynsey.Buchanan@ed.ac.uk |
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