Undergraduate Course: Puzzles and Paradoxes (PHIL10156)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course provides an overview of a number of famous philosophical puzzles and paradoxes, and important attempts to solve them. |
| Course description |
Paradoxes have formed a central topic of philosophical investigation, stretching back from Zeno of Elea up to David Lewis. Paradoxes figure both in influential arguments for philosophical theses and in famous (alleged) refutations of philosophical theses. Bertrand Russell advised that one should "stock the mind with as many puzzles as possible, since these serve much the same purpose [in philosophy] as is served by experiments in physical science". This course provides an overview of a number of famous philosophical puzzles and paradoxes and important attempts to solve them. In so doing students will be introduced to some important issues in philosophy of language, philosophical logic, decision theory, and formal epistemology. The course will put emphasis on both methodology and philosophical content: (i) method: emphasis will be put on the deployment of logical and formal methods in the service of philosophical problems, (ii) content: the main philosophical themes will center around the nature of reference, truth, rational belief, and knowledge. The puzzles and paradoxes to be discussed include Russell's paradox, the liar paradox, the sorites paradox, Cartwright's paradox, Bhartrhari's paradox, Frege's puzzle, the puzzle of empty names, the surprise exam paradox, the paradox of knowability, the preface paradox, the St. Petersburg paradox, among others. With critical engagement as a primary goal the course sessions will be discussion oriented and include various peer-teaching activities.
In addition to online papers reading will include the following books:
- Sorensen (2005) A Brief History of the Paradox: Philosophy and the Labyrinths of the Mind, Oxford University Press.
- Sainsbury (2009) Paradoxes, Cambridge University Press.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Philosophy courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2016/17, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 30 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
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 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Presentation: 20%
Final Essay: 80%
|
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
|
| Academic year 2016/17, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)
|
Quota: 6 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Presentation: 20%
Final Essay: 80%
|
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- An understanding of some core philosophical puzzles and paradoxes, and the important attempts to solve them.
- An ability to deploy logical and formal methods in the service of philosophical problems.
- Development of general analytical skills, such as the ability to analyse and evaluate a jointly inconsistent set of individually plausible platitudes.
- Acquaintance with a wide-range of philosophical problems, and an appreciation of an overarching pattern in terms of both the structure of the problems and the methodology used to confront them.
- An ability to independently research and then concisely present a philosophical puzzle.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Brian Rabern
Tel:
Email: brian.rabern@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Samantha Bell
Tel: (0131 6)50 3602
Email: sam.bell@ed.ac.uk |
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© Copyright 2016 The University of Edinburgh - 3 February 2017 5:03 am
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