Discipline of Philosophy
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
Department of Philosophy
FLINDERS UNIVERSITY
HONOURS
IN PHILOSOPHY
2012
PROGRAM INFORMATION
AND HANDBOOK
Welcome to Honours in Philosophy!
This document gives you information about eligibility for admission into the
Honours program for Philosophy in 2012, details of the program of study
involved, and the enrolment procedure.
It also serves as a handbook providing information about assessment and
advice for you to consult during your Honours year.
CONTENTS
1. Honours Coordinators
2. Eligibility
3. Admission and Enrolment Procedure
Part-Time Enrolment
4. Program Structure
5. Thesis Supervision
Thesis Proposal
6. Seminars
7. Study Advice
8. Start-of-Year Meeting
9. Assessment
Submission Format
Marking
Deadlines and Penalties
Extensions
10. Degree Classification
11. Admission Form
1. HONOURS COORDINATORS
These are the people to consult with questions about any of the topics covered
in this handbook:
Garrett Cullity
University of Adelaide
Napier 711, 8303 6375
garrett.cullity@adelaide.edu.au
Lina Eriksson
Flinders University
Humanities 267, 8201 2016
lina.eriksson@flinders.edu.au
(Please consult the handbook first!)
2. ELIGIBILITY (UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE STUDENTS)
To be eligible for admission into the Honours program, you will need to
satisfy four conditions:
(i) have completed the requirements for a Bachelor degree
(ii) have completed a Major sequence of study in Philosophy (24 units
including 18 units at Advanced Level) and
(iii) have achieved an average of 70% or better in your Philosophy
courses
(iv) propose a thesis topic for which a staff member of the discipline is
willing and able to offer supervision.
3. ADMISSION AND ENROLMENT PROCEDURE
In order to enter the Honours program, you need to:
(i) be admitted by the Discipline/Department
(ii) formally enrol as an Honours candidate with the Faculty.
The procedure for admission by the Discipline is to fill out the admission
form at the end of this handbook and return it to your Honours Coordinator.
You will then be contacted by the Coordinator with confirmation of your
acceptance. The Faculty office will then contact you to inform you about your
formal enrolment (and payment), which takes place online.
PART-TIME ENROLMENT (UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE STUDENTS)
At the University of Adelaide it is possible to do Honours over two years (i.e.,
part-time), but the grounds for granting permission to do this are limited to:
(i)
students with care-giver responsibilities
(ii)
students in greater than or equal to half time employment
(iii)
students with a significant illness or disability
(iv)
students enrolled for part of the Honours program at an overseas
institution
(v)
compassionate reasons
In all circumstances, it should be clear that the student is unable to (rather
than chooses not to) pursue the coursework on a full-time basis. Furthermore,
part-time requires that the Honours course is completed over two consecutive
years.
Any student wishing to enrol in Philosophy Honours part-time should
consult with the Honours Coordinator at the earliest opportunity, so as to
determine eligibility.
4. PROGRAM STRUCTURE
The Honours program in Philosophy is run jointly by the Discipline of
Philosophy at The University of Adelaide and the Department of Philosophy
at The Flinders University of South Australia. The program, which is
completed over one year on a full-time basis or two years part-time,
comprises 3 semester-length seminars and a thesis.
All students must do at least one third of their program (i.e., at least two
seminar courses or thesis supervision) in the department in which they are
formally enrolled.
The arrangements for Joint Honours (i.e., a program of study divided
between Philosophy and another subject) will be determined on an individual
basis: interested students should contact their Honours Coordinator.
5. THESIS SUPERVISION
Students must submit a thesis of length 15,000–18,000 words.
Prospective Honours students are asked to see their Honours Coordinator at
the earliest opportunity to discuss a thesis topic and supervisor, as it is
expected that students will be working on their theses during the summer
vacation. At the very latest, Honours students should have arranged both a
supervisor and a thesis topic by early February (or late August for students
commencing in second semester).
Your supervisor has responsibility for meeting you regularly throughout the
year to supervise your thesis work. The frequency and duration of your
meetings with your supervisor should be established by mutual agreement.
If students wish to receive comments on a full draft of their thesis, they
should submit it to their supervisor six weeks prior to the submission
deadline. After this date, supervisors may have difficulty in providing timely
feedback.
The content of the thesis must be significantly different from the content of
any other work submitted for assessment as part of the Honours program.
THESIS PROPOSAL
Students must submit to their supervisor a thesis proposal of approximately
1000 words. Due dates for the thesis proposal are 16 March 2012 and 21
September 2012 for students commencing in first semester or second
semester, respectively.
The thesis proposal is an initial description of the ground you intend to cover
in your thesis. It should be developed in consultation with your supervisor,
and should demonstrate extensive reading and include a bibliography. This
proposal will provide you with a framework to guide your ongoing thesis
work. (However, the proposal is not part of the formal assessment of your
thesis, and it is possible for your thesis to depart from it as it develops.)
6. SEMINARS
Honours students complete three semester-length seminars. The list of
seminar offerings for 2012 is given below.
The seminars are divided into two groups: Epistemology & Metaphysics (E&M),
and Moral & Social Philosophy (M&S). All Honours students must take at least
one seminar from each group.
Each of the seminars meets for two hours per week during teaching weeks for
the duration of the semester (time and place to be advised).
As part of the assessment requirements for each seminar, students must make
at least one in-class presentation during the course of the semester, which can
serve as an essay plan or draft.
Each seminar is assessed by one essay of 5,000-6,000 words in length.
SEMINAR LIST
The following list of seminars is offered subject to availability. (If there are
insufficient enrolments, seminars on this list may be withdrawn.)
SEMESTER 1
SEMESTER 2
Kant’s Ethics (M&S)
Denise Gamble, Garrett Cullity
Adelaide
Time and Space (E&M)
Graham Nerlich
Adelaide
Self-Knowledge (E&M)
Jordi Fernandez
Adelaide
Meaning and Mental Representation (E&M)
Jon Opie
Adelaide
The Evolution of Cooperation (M&S)
Lina Eriksson
Flinders
Emotions and Ethics (E&M/M&S)
Ian Ravenscroft
Flinders
Ethics and Literature (M&S)
Craig Taylor
Flinders
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
KANT’S ETHICS
Semester 1, M&S
Denise Gamble and Garrett Cullity
In this course, we will examine the ethical theory of Immanuel Kant. The
emphasis will be on trying to understand Kant's three great ethical works -Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Critique of Practical Reason, and The
Metaphysics of Morals -- with some help from the secondary literature. The
Groundwork will be read in its entirety, and we will study selections from the
other two works. The course will have the aims of critically examining the
overall structure of Kant's ethical thought, assessing its plausibility, and
trying to appreciate why it is regarded as making such a significant
contribution to Western moral philosophy. In the first half of the course, we
will examine the two foundational works (Groundwork and CPR), with a view
to understanding what kind of foundation Kant claims for morality, and what
kind of arguments he thinks can establish that foundation. In the second half,
we will turn to the details of the ethical system he builds on this foundation in
his later work The Metaphysics of Morals, paying particular attention to Kant's
account of virtue.
Preliminary reading:
It will be assumed that students have read the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of
Morals before the course commences.
SELF-KNOWLEDGE: PERSPECTIVES FROM PHILOSOPHY AND
COGNITIVE SCIENCE
Semester 1, E&M
Jordi Fernandez
In philosophy, it is widely believed that people have a special access to their
own thoughts. Philosophical discussions of self-knowledge typically start
from a statement of this fact, and proceed to develop theories that are aimed
at explaining it. Recently, though, there has been a range of evidence from
cognitive science that has put pressure on the philosophical notion that we
know our own thoughts in a special way. The relevant evidence comes from
experimental studies in social psychology, through introspection-sampling
studies, studies of systematic failures of self-knowledge in schizophrenia, as
well as brain-imaging data for self versus other tasks.
In this course, we will (1) consider different theories of self-knowledge, and
what makes self-knowledge interesting, and (2) we will review the justmentioned evidence from cognitive science, and discuss its significance for
the philosophical thesis that we have a special access to our own thoughts.
Preliminary reading:
Peter Carruthers, The Opacity of Mind: an integrative theory of self- knowledge
(OUP, 2011).
THE EVOLUTION OF COOPERATION AND HELPING BEHAVIOUR
Semester 1, M&S
Evolution benefits behaviour that is conducive to having more – and
reproducing – offspring than others have. It is thus a competitive process, and
as a result, it seems evolution would generally generate self-interested
behaviour. After all, helping others do not benefit you and your offspring.
And yet, we know that human beings are capable of cooperation and of
altruistic acts. How can this be? To answer this puzzling question, we will
look at the main suggestions as to what drives the evolution of pro-social
behaviour, cooperative as well as altruistic: kin selection, reciprocity, selection
of mates, and group selection.
Much of the basic discussion will be based on basic game theory, in
particular the Prisoners’ Dilemma game and the Stag Hunt and other social
dilemmas. These games illustrate the problem of how self-interested
behaviour can be better in the short-term but worse in the long-term, and
what conditions have to be fulfilled for pro-social behaviour to be likely to
result in good outcomes also for the people who, it seems, sacrifice some of
their own good for others.
The preliminary readings are two key books presenting the basic game
theory foundation for the analysis of cooperative behaviour: Axelrod’s pathbreaking book on successful strategies in Prisoners’ Dilemma games – aptly
named The Evolution of Cooperation - and Brian Skyrms’ famous book The Stag
Hunt and Evolution of Social Structure. We will complement this literature with
journal articles and book chapters on kin selection, reciprocity, the selection of
mates, and the controversial notion of group selection, by, among others,
Samir Okasha, Elliot Sober and David Sloane Wilson, and Alexander
Rosenberg.
Preliminary reading:
Axelrod, Robert (1984), The Evolution of Cooperation
Skyrms, Brian. (2004) The Stag Hunt and Evolution of Social Structure.
TIME AND SPACE
Semester 2, E&M
Graham Nerlich
This course will be based on a single book: Barry Dainton, Time and Space
Acumen 2nd edition 2010.
Time and space are somehow very familiar indeed. Every perception
happens sometime and almost all of them are perception of things in space
and time. They pervade every action too. But both are deeply puzzling.
Especially time is. St Augustine said [roughly] “If no one asks me what time
is, I know. But if someone asks me I can’t say”. Are space and time real? Is
space simply nothing? Does time flow? Can you travel in time? These
questions come at the beginning of any systematic thinking about these
concepts.
Most thought about space has ignored geometries other than Euclid’s. It is
easy enough to see the importance of this oversight by considering spaces of
just 2 dimensions. These can be drawn or modelled and their 3-D analogues
pretty well understood from the simpler spaces.
Space and time will be given equal attention in the course.
Dainton’s book is an excellent introduction to the challenges of this area
of metaphysics. It is written at a standard ideal for an Honours course. There
is some physics in the book but we will avoid almost all of that and also the
more technical analysis of Zeno’s paradoxes.
However, anyone interested in the topic should put in some time on the
Special Theory of Relativity. That will not be compulsory, but I will give a
couple of hours, over and above what’s scheduled for the course, teaching it
for those who would like it. It can be learnt without any maths.
MEANING AND MENTAL REPRESENTATION
Semester 2, E&M
Jon Opie
Mental representation has been somewhat on the nose, of late. There have
been a number of recent attempts to envisage a science of the mind without
this foundational concept. We will buck the trend, examining various
accounts of mental representation and its role in cognition, with a view to
defending representationalism against the naysayers. Your mission, if you
accept it: to decide if philosophy can do without mental representation.
Preliminary reading:
Cummins, R. (1991) Meaning and Mental Representation, Bradford Books
Shapiro, L. (2010) Embodied Cognition, Routledge
EMOTIONS & ETHICS
Semester 2, E&M/M&S
Ian Ravenscroft
It is clear that emotions play an important role in both ethical judgements and
ethical motivation, but the nature of the connection between emotions and
ethics is a matter of dispute. We will begin by looking at important research
on the evolution of emotions and on cultural variation in emotional
expression. Then we will examine a variety of philosophical theories about
the role of emotions in ethical life before turning to important new empirical
work on emotions and ethics. One issue of particular interest will be the role
emotions might have played in the evolution of moral behaviour. (For
students taking Dr Eriksson's seminar on the evolution of cooperation there
will be useful points of connection here.) We will also consider ways in which
emotions may provide strategies for bringing about ethical change, both in
ourselves and in our communities.
I think an honors seminar should address issues of current interest to the
profession, be inspiring, and be fun. My aim is that students will have a good
time and learn a heck of a lot. Besides learning about emotions and ethics, I
also hope you'll learn about contemporary philosophical method and about
writing a good essay.
Preliminary reading:
We will look particularly at work by Jesse Prinz, Jonathan Haidt and Robert
Frank (amongst others). A fun (infuriating?) place to begin is Haidt, J. &
Kesebir, S. (2010). "Morality", in S. Fisk & D. Gilbert (Eds.) Handbook of Social
Psychology (Hobeken NJ: Wiley) 5th Edition. You can request a copy from
Jonathan Haidt's website:
http://people.virginia.edu/~jdh6n/moraljudgment.html
Feel free to contact me with questions or comments:
ian.ravenscroft@flinders.edu.au
ETHICS AND LITERATURE
Semester 2, M&S
Craig Taylor
This seminar will examine recent debates concerning the possible role of
literature as a mode of moral thought contributing to moral understanding. Is
the role of literature in moral thought simply to provide good examples to aid
someone’s understand of some (perhaps difficult) moral problem or concept,
examples that are superfluous once the relevant moral problem or concept is
understood? Or, are the ways in which literature (though not necessarily just
literature) illuminates important human values essential to any adequate
understanding of those values? Here there is a divide, at least in the case of
philosophers broadly in the analytic tradition, between two conceptions of
moral thought and reflection; a divide that is illustrated by a now well known
exchange between Cora Diamond and Onora O’Neill (who offer respectively
affirmative and negative answers to the second question above). The
exchange between Diamond and O’Neill then forms part of the preliminary
reading for this seminar, and the seminar itself will examine in detail
arguments by various contemporary philosophers concerning the possible
role of literature as a mode of moral thought and the relation between
literature and moral thought and understanding more generally. In particular,
we will examine arguments here by, amongst others, Alice Crary, Gregory
Currie, Cora Diamond, Peter Lamarque, Iris Murdoch, Martha Nussbaum,
Onora O’Neill and D. D. Raphael.
Preliminary reading:
Diamond, C. 1991. “Anything but Argument?” In her The Realistic Spirit, 291308. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.
O’Neill, O. 1980. “Review: The Moral Status of Animals, by Stephen Clark”. The
Journal of Philosophy 77(7): 445.
Further readings to be provided but if you are keen you could look also at:
Lamarque, P. 2009. The Philosophy of Literature. Oxford: Blackwell, chapter 6
and 7.
‘Literature and/as Moral Philosophy’ New Literary History 15 (1983), especially
papers by Nussbaum, Diamond and Raphael
7. STUDY ADVICE
We hope that you will enjoy and get a great deal out of Philosophy Honours.
The crucial determinant of this is your own level of commitment and
participation. Seminars are not lectures. To ensure success remember the
following:





It is essential to keep up with seminar reading.
Don’t miss classes unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Speak to your supervisor and seminar coordinators about potential
problems before they become severe.
Cut down on part-time work and distracting social life – it’s only one
(very important) year of your life.
One of the things being tested is your ability to apply yourself to your
studies under your own direction. It can help to treat the Honours year
as a 35-hour-a-week job. Make appointments with yourself and stick to
them!
8. START OF YEAR MEETING
A start of year meeting for Honours students and staff will be held in late
February 2012. This will be an opportunity to meet fellow students, and to
receive information about seminars and Honours administration. You will
receive email notification of the meeting details in February.
9. ASSESSMENT
The contribution of individual pieces of assessment towards your overall
Honours degree classification will be determined as follows:
Adelaide: thesis 40%, each seminar essay 20%
Flinders: thesis 50%, each seminar essay 16.66%
The following marking scales are used:
Adelaide
0-49
Fail
50-59 Class III
60-69 Class IIB
70-79 Class IIA
80-100 Class I
Flinders
0-49
Fail
50-64 Class III
65-74 Class IIB
75-84 Class IIA
85-100 Class I
For the rules governing the determination of overall degree classifications, see
Section 10 below.
SUBMISSION FORMAT
Each piece of Honours work must be submitted in triplicate, as follows:

two printed copies to the Philosophy Office at the university
where you are enrolled;

one electronic copy emailed to your Honours Coordinator.
Each printed copy should have your department’s essay cover sheet on the
front.
MARKING
Each individual piece of work (either seminar essay or thesis) will be marked
by two examiners – where possible, one from Adelaide and one from
Flinders.
Since each piece of work is marked by at least two examiners, requests for remarking will only be granted in extraordinary circumstances.
The Department recognises the importance of feedback. All first Semester
essays submitted on time are required to be returned to students by midAugust 2012.
DEADLINES AND PENALTIES
The due dates for seminar essays are as follows:
First Semester Essays
12 pm Friday 22 June 2012
Second Semester Essays
12 pm Monday 12 November 2012
The thesis due dates, for both full-time and part-time students, are:
Semester 1 Commencement
12 pm Monday 29 October 2012
Semester 2 Commencement
12 pm Monday 11 June 2012
Overdue work will be penalised at a rate of 2% for each working day
overdue. Work submitted more than two weeks late without an extension will
not be marked.
There are penalties for exceeding the seminar essay and thesis word limits. In
general, the following penalties (deducted from the percentage mark achieved
in the relevant assessment component) apply:
Exceeding the word limit by more than 25%
Exceeding the word limit by more than 50%
Exceeding the word limit by more than 75%
5 marks
10 marks
20 marks
If an essay or thesis exceeds the word limit by more than 100%, it will not be
marked.
EXTENSIONS
Honours Coordinators only can authorize extensions.
Extensions will only be granted on significant medical or compassionate
grounds. Requests for extensions must be made in writing and must be
supported by appropriate documentation from a doctor or counsellor.
Do not ask your Seminar Coordinator for an extension. Fill out Extension
application forms available from the respective Philosophy Departments to be
returned to Honours Coordinator. The request for an extension should always
be made before the due date. Pressure of other work will not be accepted as
grounds for an extension.
10. DEGREE CLASSIFICATION
Degree classifications are determined by an examiners’ meeting governed by
the following rules. The figures they contain refer to the Adelaide scales.
Flinders students who are unsure about the translation into the Flinders
equivalents should refer to the Flinders Honours Coordinator.
1. The purpose of the Honours Examiners’ Meeting is to assign degree classifications
which appropriately reflect the assessed performance of students who have
completed the requirements for Honours in Philosophy.
Single Honours Philosophy students complete three assessed seminar courses
and one dissertation.
The degree classification is based upon the grades awarded for these assessed
components, with each seminar contributing 20% and the dissertation
contributing 40%.
2. Grades for each assessed component of the Honours Program (i.e., for each
seminar and dissertation) will be reported to the Examiners’ Meeting as agreed
whole number percentage marks.
These marks will be agreed before the Examiners’ Meeting, and not adjusted
during the meeting.
3. The weighted average of the grades awarded for the assessed components will be
calculated to one decimal place.
Using the Adelaide grading scheme:
If the weighted average falls in the range 49.5-58.4 inclusive, the candidate will
be assigned to the Third Class.
If the weighted average falls in the range 59.5-68.4 inclusive, the candidate will
be assigned to the Second Class, Division B.
If the weighted average falls in the range 69.5-78.4 inclusive, the candidate will
be assigned to the Second Class, Division A.
If the weighted average lies at or above 79.5, the candidate will be assigned to
the First Class.
4. If the weighted average falls in the discretionary bands:
48.5-49.4 inclusive
58.5-59.4 inclusive
68.5-69.4 inclusive
78.5-79.4 inclusive
the Examiners’ Meeting will discuss whether to assign the candidate to the
immediately higher class.
A case for assigning the candidate to the higher class must be based solely on the
grades awarded in each of the assessed components. Such a case can be supported
by:
i) a predominance of component marks in the higher band
ii) a dissertation mark of 55 or better (for promotion to the Third Class)
a dissertation mark of 65 or better (for promotion to the Second Class,
Division B)
a dissertation mark of 75 or better (for promotion to the Second Class,
Division A)
a dissertation mark of 85 or better (for promotion to the First Class)
iii) evidence of improved performance over the course of the candidate’s
Honours studies.
5. Within the First Class, candidates will be assigned to the Upper, Middle or Lower
third of the First Class.
In making these assignments, the Examiners’ Meeting will exercise its judgement
concerning whether the candidate’s assessed performance ranks in the upper, middle
or lower third of those to which First Class degrees have been awarded in
Philosophy at Adelaide and Flinders.
Data will be provided to the meeting concerning the distribution of weighted
averages of previously awarded First Class degrees. The discussion will be guided
by these data.
In addition:
- a case for the award of a Middle First will be supported by a predominance of
marks in the band 87-93 inclusive, or a thesis mark of 90 or better
- a case for the award of an Upper First will be supported by a predominance of
marks of 94 or better, or a thesis mark of 95 or better.
6. The Examiners’ Meeting will not discuss any extenuating personal circumstances
which may have affected a student’s performance.
Such circumstances are to be taken into account, where appropriate, through the
granting of extended deadlines on assessed work, at the discretion of the Honours
Coordinator.
The marks submitted to Examiners’ Meeting are marks for assessed components
which have been agreed after taking into account any such circumstances.
HONOURS PHILOSOPHY ADMISSION FORM 2012
Students intending to take up their offer do Philosophy Honours in
2012 at either The University of Adelaide or Flinders University should
print, complete and return the following Acceptance Form to the
Honours Coordinator in the department in which they intend to enrol.
Please in include your preferred seminars. Which seminars go ahead
will depend on numbers of students expressing an interest in the topic.
Name
Student Number
Address
Phone Numbers
Home:
Work:
Mobile:
Email
Department
Adelaide

Flinders

Thesis Topic
Thesis Supervisor
Seminar Courses
1.
2.
3.
I satisfy the four conditions for eligibility for admission into the Honours program set
out in Section 2 of the 2012 Honours in Philosophy Handbook.
signed: ___________________