School of Humanities
Discipline
Course Title
Philosophy
Bachelor of Arts (Omnibus), CONNECT BAs
Module Coordinator
Module Title
Lecture times
Teaching Format
Brief outline of
content
Dr. Tsarina Doyle and Professor Paul Crowther
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students should be able to
1. trace the emergence of philosophy from myth in ancient Greece;
explain how philosophy as rational inquiry differs from myth
2. outline Plato’s views on Justice, his opposition to the
Conventionalist view of Justice and the epistemological and
metaphysical underpinnings to Plato’s arguments
3. explain the concept of substance in ancient and medieval
thought; discuss philosophical arguments for the existence of
God
4. demonstrate an understanding of both rationalist and empiricist
epistemology in the history of modern philosophy; critically
assess the arguments of Descartes, Locke and Hume; outline the
central ideas informing Nietzsche’s philosophy
5. outline the central features of the analytic and
phenomenological traditions
Assessment Types
and Deadlines
Required Text
Exam at the end of the semester
Introduction to the History of Philosophy
PI107
Semester 1
24 x 1 hr lectures, plus weekly tutorials (tutorials begin in October)
The course will introduce students to key thinkers and ideas in the
history of western philosophy. Since ancient philosophy is so central to
this history, the first half of the course is devoted to some of its most
important achievements in the work of the pre-Socratics, Plato and
Aristotle. Attention is then turned to aspects of medieval philosophy,
and the great rationalist traditions (represented by Descartes, Spinoza
and Leibniz, and Locke and Hume, respectively). Lectures will also be
offered on Kant, Nietzsche, and the analytic and phenomenological
traditions.
General Readings:
Copleston, F., History of Philosophy, relevant volumes, (Image
Publishing)
Guthrie, W.K.C., The Greek Philosophers from Thales to Aristotle,
(Methuen)
Johnston, D., A Brief History of Philosophy, (Continuum)
Stumpf, S. E., and Fieser, J., Socrates to Sartre and Beyond, (McGraw
Hill)
A list of specific readings will be distributed at the beginning of the
semester