400 Level

The following is a list of the 400 level, fourth year papers available in the Philosophy Department in 2012. Some of the papers can be taken at 300 level. Click here for more information on papers offered and course requirements.

PHIL 401 Advanced History of Philosophy

Points value: 24 points

First Semester

Peter Anstey

This paper examines the historiography of early modern philosophy with special reference to the writings of John Locke and the philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment. Traditionally early modern philosophy is studied through a Kantian lens, dividing philosophers into rationalists and empiricists. This paper argues that the early modern distinction between experimental and speculative philosophy should replace the Kantian distinction. It surveys the evidence for the claim that the experimental/speculative distinction provides an explanatorily superior set of terms of reference for understanding many facets of the philosophy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. (This course description supersedes that found in the Philosophy Course Handbook 2012.)

PHIL 406 Why Be Moral?

Points value: 24 points

First Semester

Charles Pigden

Also available as PHIL 335

What is morality good for? And why should I do right if doing wrong would pay better? Plato, Laclos, Dostoevsky and Shakespeare help answer these questions.

PHIL 413 Ethical Theory

Points value: 24 points

Second Semester

Andrew Moore

Also available as PHIL 338

Philosophical ideals of the human good, and their role in morality, politics, applied ethics and literature.

PHIL 451 Special Topic: Truth and the Liar Paradox

Points value: 24 points

Second Semester

Jc Beall, Zach Weber

The basic logical apparatus required to think clearly about truth and the liar paradox.

PHIL 490 Dissertation

Prerequisite: 72 PHIL points at 300-level or above

Full Year

A piece of philosophical writing on a chosen topic, supervised by a member of the department. Normally not longer than 15,000 words, and worth 48 points, or the equivalent of two 400-level papers.

PHIL 491 Dissertation

Full Year: Limited to BA (Hons), PGDipArts

Same as PHIL 490 except that the period of enrolment is from the start of Semester 2 of one academic year until the end of Semester 1 of the following academic year.

For further information regarding Postgraduate Studies in Philosophy, please contact the Head of Department.

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