Semester One

100-level

PHIL110
Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus
Description
This course is a critical thinker's toolkit. It will teach you 20 principles you can use to tell science from pseudo-science, truth from falsehood, logic from rhetoric, sound reasoning from wishful thinking, effective medicine from quackery, and good evidence from lies, fraud and fakery. The critical thinking skills you learn in this course will be vital if you go on to do more philosophy. They are also readily applicable to other disciplines, and should help you steer clear of scam-artists, charlatans, confidence-tricksters and get-rich-quick-schemes in the world outside of academia. Topics covered include the fallibility of the senses, the fallibility of memory, the placebo effect, the tricks of the cold reader’s trade, confirmation bias, the Barnum effect, relativism, mind viruses, the basics of logic, formal and informal fallacies, and the scientific evaluation of competing hypotheses.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Semester One 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Restrictions
HAPS110

200-level

PHIL203
Dinosaurs, Quarks and Quasars: The Philosophy of Science
Description
Science studies the world, but what discipline studies science itself -- what it is, how it works, and why it works so well? Answer: the philosophy of science. Questions tackled in this course include: how do scientists develop theories, test them, and adjudicate between rival explanations of natural phenomena? Does the careful application of the scientific method lead to truth and certainty? Do unobservable entities, like quarks, really exist, or are they merely useful fictions? And should scientists try to show their theories are false instead of trying to show they are true? The course will be of interest to anyone fascinated by science, its history, its aims, and its methods, and will be value to scientists-in-training in providing a broad perspective on the extraordinary philosophical puzzles and perplexities hovering over all scientific inquiry.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Semester One 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level in PHIL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA or the BSc.
Restrictions
PHIL223, PHIL303
PHIL208
The Brain Gym: An Introduction to Logic
Description
An introduction to logical reasoning, critical analysis, and the art of proof.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Semester One 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level in PHIL, COSC, LING, MATH, or from the BE(Hons), or any 60 points at 100 level from any subject.
Restrictions
PHIL225, PHIL246, PHIL346, PHIL308, MATH208, MATH308
CLAS224
Greek Philosophy
Description
The intellectual rigour, which informed the Greeks’ speculations on life, the universe and everything, changed our understanding of the world forever. In this course we survey the origins and development of western philosophy in the Greek world, focusing on the 6th to the 4th centuries BC when many areas that preoccupy philosophers today were analysed and explored by the Greeks, including cosmology, physics, ethics, politics, psychology and more. Figures such as Socrates, Plato and many others before and after them will feature.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from CLAS or PHIL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
CLAS324; PHIL314; PHIL224
PHIL229
Philosophy of Religion: Rationality, Science, and the God Hypothesis
Description
Why does the universe exist, rather than nothing at all? Does life imply a designer? Can we show by pure logic that a supreme being exists? Is a person a non-physical soul or only a neural net encased in a skull? Can I survive my death or is belief in an afterlife a trick of evolution? Isn't all the suffering in the world evidence against the hypothesis of a benevolent God? Can human beings tell what is morally right and wrong, or do we need a 'God's-eye-view'? Is science compatible with religion? Is there one and only one true religion? What is 'faith' and what is 'reason' - and who decides? This course presupposes no prior knowledge of the philosophy of religion; it is aimed at students from a wide range of backgrounds, as well as philosophy majors.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Semester One 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level in PHIL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA or the BSc.
Restrictions
RELS210, PHIL318

300-level

POLS301
Contemporary Political Theory
Description
The study of politics focuses not only on how the political world operates, but also the normative question of how it ought to operate. Is redistribution of wealth justified? Do people have a right to what they earn in the market? Is equality of opportunity possible? Is it desirable? This course examines theories of distributive justice and their implications for economics and markets. Topics covered include: Utilitarianism; Rawls’s theory of justice; Dworkin’s equality of resources; Libertarianism; Universal basic income; Market socialism; Citizenship; and culture and politics.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Semester One 2024 (Distance)
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from PHIL or POLS, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA, or LAWS, GEOG, or the Schedule V of the BCom.
Restrictions
PHIL317, POLS351
PHIL303
Quarks, Quasars and Dinosaurs: The Philosophy of Science
Description
This course examines a number of ground breaking discoveries, breakthroughs and conceptual revolutions in the history of science, with an eye to the lessons they hold about what Science is and how it works. Fundamental questions the course considers are: How do scientists develop theories, test them, and adjudicate between rival explanations of natural phenomena? What is the scientific method? Why does this method yield such uncannily accurate predictions about future events? By what criteria can genuine sciences, like Physics, Chemistry and Biology, be distinguished from pseudosciences like Astrology and Homeopathy? Is Science progressing slowly but steadily towards a grand, unified Theory of Everything, or is the idea of scientific progress just a myth? Do the unobservable entities that scientists postulate - quarks, gluons, and their ilk - really exist, or are they merely predictively useful fictions? Should scientists try to verify their theories, or falsify them? What is scientific objectivity, and is it attainable? The course will be of interest to anyone fascinated by Science, its history, its aims, and its methods. It is intended to be especially valuable to scientists-in-training, in providing a broad perspective of the philosophical issues that hover over all scientific inquiry.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Semester One 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level in PHIL, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA or BSc.
Restrictions
PHIL203
PHIL305
Paradoxes
Description
This course surveys a wide range of paradoxes and bizarre brain-twisters drawn from all corners of philosophy.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Semester One 2024 (Distance)
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level in PHIL, COSC, or MATH, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA or BSc.
Restrictions
PHIL494, PHIL444
PHIL308
The Brain Gym: An Introduction to Logic
Description
An introduction to logical reasoning, critical analysis, and the art of proof.
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Semester One 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level in PHIL, COSC, LING, MATH or from the BE(Hons), or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA or BSc.
Restrictions
PHIL225, PHIL246, PHIL346, PHIL208, MATH208, MATH308
PHIL310
History of Philosophy
Description
This course introduces you to the philosophy of the early modern period. We shall pay particular attention to the epistemological and metaphysical questions addressed by Descartes in his Meditations and by Hume in Book 1 of his A Treatise of Human Nature. We also study Hume’s moral theory in Bk. III of the Treatise, Locke’s epistemology and Berkeley’s metaphysics. Topics covered include rationalism and empiricism, dreaming, scepticism, proofs of the existence of God, mind-body dualism, idealism, the nature of self, personal identity, causation, reason and the passions. Is knowledge based on reason or experience? Can I be sure that I’m not dreaming? Can I be sure of anything? What, in any case, is this ‘I’? What is the relationship between mind and body? What is it to remain the same person over time? Does the external world exist and, if so, what is its nature? Can ‘ought’ be derived from ‘is’? Is morality based on reason or the passions?
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from PHIL, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
PHIL318
Philosophy of Religion: Rationality, Science, and the God Hypothesis
Description
Why does the universe exist, rather than nothing at all? Does life imply a designer? Can we show by pure logic that a supreme being exists? Is a person a non-physical soul or only a neural net encased in a skull? Can I survive my death or is belief in an afterlife a trick of evolution? Isn't all the suffering in the world evidence against the hypothesis of a benevolent God? Can human beings tell what is morally right and wrong, or do we need a 'God's-eye'view'? Is science compatible with religion? Is there one and only one true religion? What is 'faith' and what is 'reason' - and who decides?
Occurrences
Semester One 2024
Semester One 2024 (Distance)
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from PHIL, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA or the BSc.
Restrictions
RELS210 and PHIL229

Semester Two

100-level

POLS106
Plato to Nato: Introduction to Political Thought
Description
What’s the right thing for a group of people to do? How does a society know it is well governed? How do you know you are doing the right thing for your country, or your fellow citizens, or how that will impact on your family and friends? Who matters more, your family or your fellow citizens? The best way to answer these questions has been debated for more than over 2000 years. This course is an introduction to the thinkers that have suggested answers to these questions and influenced everyone from Plato to Trump and you. In this course, you will study the evolution of the ideas that form the building blocks of the political and social sciences. The course traverses the political ideas that arose in the Greek and Roman civilisations, the Renaissance, the birth of America, the death of the English and French despotic monarchies, and the great traumas of socialism, Marxism and the political upheavals that followed the wars of the 20th century. We will trace the changes in the fundamental political concepts such as freedom, equality, rights, justice, government, the state, markets, and domination.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Semester Two 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Restrictions
PHIL145
PHIL133
Philosophy and Human Nature
Description
The human record is full of contradictions. We are capable all at once of selfless love and murderous depravity; of sublime rational insight and base stupidity; of soul-baring honesty and habitual duplicity; of principled rebellion and obsequious deference to authority; of generosity and jealousy. What, then, is our true nature? Are we rational creatures or are we enslaved by our passions? Are we moral creatures or are we fundamentally selfish? Can we improve the human situation either individually or collectively? Does it all depend on our evolutionary history? This course is an introduction to Western philosophy through the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, Darwin, and other influential thinkers as they puzzle over the riddles of human nature.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Points
15 points
PHIL139
Ethics, Politics and Justice
Description
How we should live our lives is the most important question of all. What makes our actions right or wrong? Is it our culture, our emotions, facts about the world, or God's commands? Are pleasure and happiness all that really matters? What should we do when justice and freedom conflict with happiness or with each other? Should we always obey the law? Is taxation legalised theft? This course introduces students to moral and political philosophy by examining ideas and arguments about how we should live our personal, social and political lives.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Semester Two 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points

200-level

MATH230
Logic, Automata, and Computability
Description
An introduction to various formal logics, the theory of automata, and the theoretical limitations of the computer.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
15 points from MATH102-199, and a further 15 points from 100 level COSC, EMTH, MATH, PHIL or STAT courses, excluding COSC110 and MATH101.
Restrictions
MATH208, MATH308, PHIL208 (prior to 2014), PHIL210, PHIL308 (prior to 2014).
PHIL233
Epistemology and Metaphysics
Description
This course is an introduction to selected topics in the theory of knowledge and of reality. For example: What is a physical object? Are you the same physical object now that you were 10 years ago? What makes the black squiggles you're now reading mean something? Are meanings ideas? Do deep metaphysical statements, such as ‘I am the only conscious being in the universe’ or 'Everything is fated', really say anything? Do males and females have different ways of knowing? What is time? Do humans have free will? Is cause-and-effect real, or just a way of looking at things? This course presupposes no prior knowledge of philosophy; it is aimed at students from a wide range of backgrounds, as well as philosophy majors.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Semester Two 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level in PHIL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA or the BSc.
PHIL236
Ethics
Description
In this course, we look at concepts and theories in normative ethics and metaethics. Normative ethics deals with the foundations of moral theory. What determines whether an action is right or wrong, good or bad? What principles should we live by? Utilitarianism, deontology and virtue ethics provide three influential answers. Part I of the course studies these theories in detail, considering the ideas of Mill, Kant and Aristotle along the way. Metaethics deals with second-order questions about ethical thought and talk. Are there moral facts and moral truths? Could moral judgements be objectively true? What is the relation between moral facts and scientific or natural facts? How, if at all, can we acquire moral knowledge? What role do the emotions play in moral judgement? Part II of the course focuses on these and similar questions.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level from PHIL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
PHIL321
PHIL240
Bioethics: Life, Death, and Medicine
Description
Bioethics is the study of ethical problems in healthcare, research, technology and the environment. Bioethical problems arise every day, affecting societies, people and non-human animals. This course covers a wide range of issues, including: research on human and non-human animals; reproductive technologies, such as surrogacy and genetic testing; the use of data to monitor and control human actions; conflicts between privacy and autonomy and the public good, and decisions about protecting, killing and letting die, including healthcare, abortion, and euthanasia. The course includes an introduction to ethical values and principles, ways of dealing with moral disagreements, and reflection on what it means for something to be worth moral consideration.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Semester Two 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level in PHIL, HSRV, HLTH, LAWS, or POLS, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA or the BSc.
Restrictions
PHIL324, POLS225
PHIL250
Turing: From the Computer Revolution to the Philosophy of AI
Description
This course tells you (nearly) everything you ever wanted to know about Alan Turing, the birth of the computer, and the Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. It is a problem-based course, equally suitable for Arts, Science, Engineering, and Law students.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Semester Two 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level in PHIL, COSC, LING, MATH, or PSYC, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA or the BSc.
Restrictions
COSC260
COSC260
Turing: From the Computer Revolution to the Philosophy of AI
Description
This course tells you (nearly) everything you ever wanted to know about Alan Turing, the birth of the computer, and the Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. It is a problem-based course, equally suitable for Arts, Science, Engineering, and Law students.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Semester Two 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level in PHIL, COSC, LING, MATH, or PSYC, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA or the BSc.
Restrictions
PHIL250

300-level

PHIL311
Meaning, Mind, and the Nature of Philosophy
Description
Do we think in words? If I say 'I'm in pain', do you really know what I mean? How can we talk about what doesn't exist - tomorrow, Harry Potter, or the possible world where you win $1 million on Lotto? Can machines have concepts? Why does every attempt to solve a philosophical problem simply raise more problems, sometimes even worse ones? We look at central philosophical problems through the eyes of some of the greatest and most challenging philosophers of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Semester Two 2024 (Distance)
Points
30 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from PHIL, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA or the BSc.
Restrictions
PHIL464, PHIL497
PHIL321
Ethics
Description
This course looks at concepts and theories in normative ethics and meta-ethics. Normative ethics deals with the foundations of moral theory. What determines whether an action is right or wrong, good or bad? What principles should we live by? Utilitarianism, deontology and virtue ethics provide three influential answers. Part I of the course studies these theories in detail, considering the ideas of Mill, Kant and Aristotle along the way. Meta-ethics deals with second-order questions about ethical thought and talk. Are there moral facts and moral truths? Could moral judgements be objectively true? What is the relation between moral facts and scientific or natural facts? How, if at all, can we acquire moral knowledge? What role do the emotions play in moral judgement? Part II of the course focuses on these and similar questions.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level from PHIL, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
PHIL236
PHIL324
Bioethics: Life, Death, and Medicine
Description
Bioethics is the study of ethical problems in healthcare, research, technology and the environment. Bioethical problems arise every day, affecting societies, people and non-human animals. This course covers a wide range of issues, including: research on human and non-human animals; reproductive technologies, such as surrogacy and genetic testing; the use of data to monitor and control human actions; conflicts between privacy and autonomy and the public good, and decisions about protecting, killing and letting die, including healthcare, abortion, and euthanasia. The course includes an introduction to ethical values and principles, ways of dealing with moral disagreements, and reflection on what it means for something to be worth moral consideration.
Occurrences
Semester Two 2024
Semester Two 2024 (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 30 points at 200 level in PHIL, LAWS, HLTH, or any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA.
Restrictions
PHIL240, POLS225

Special non-calendar-based Four

100-level

PHIL139
Ethics, Politics and Justice
Description
How we should live our lives is the most important question of all. What makes our actions right or wrong? Is it our culture, our emotions, facts about the world, or God's commands? Are pleasure and happiness all that really matters? What should we do when justice and freedom conflict with happiness or with each other? Should we always obey the law? Is taxation legalised theft? This course introduces students to moral and political philosophy by examining ideas and arguments about how we should live our personal, social and political lives.
Occurrences
Special non-calendar-based Four 2024 (UC Online)
Points
15 points

Special non-calendar-based Two

100-level

PHIL139
Ethics, Politics and Justice
Description
How we should live our lives is the most important question of all. What makes our actions right or wrong? Is it our culture, our emotions, facts about the world, or God's commands? Are pleasure and happiness all that really matters? What should we do when justice and freedom conflict with happiness or with each other? Should we always obey the law? Is taxation legalised theft? This course introduces students to moral and political philosophy by examining ideas and arguments about how we should live our personal, social and political lives.
Occurrences
Special non-calendar-based Two 2024 (UC Online)
Points
15 points

Summer Jan

100-level

PHIL138
Logic and Critical Thinking
Description
Thinking rationally involves many skills. This course will help students acquire and develop those skills.
Occurrences
Summer Jan 2024 start
Summer Jan 2024 start (Distance)
Points
15 points
Restrictions
PHIL132 (prior to 2006), MATH130, PHIL134/MATH134

200-level

PHIL249
Environmental Ethics
Description
Humanity faces threatening environmental problems, not least climate change. Can science, technology and free markets provide the solutions - or must we reconsider our values and priorities? Is nature inherently valuable? What should be protected for future generations? Do we have moral duties to non-human animals, including endangered species? PHIL249 examines recent philosophical responses to these and other questions in environmental ethics. This course is for students in Arts, Science, Engineering, Business and Law; no background in philosophy is required.
Occurrences
Summer Jan 2024 start
Summer Jan 2024 start (Distance)
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level in PHIL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA or the BSc.

Summer Nov

100-level

PHIL136
Ethics Today
Occurrences
Summer Nov 2023 start
Summer Nov 2023 start (Distance)
Points
15 points

Not Offered Courses in 2024

Semester Two

100-level

DIGI102
Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Ethics
Description
Computing technology has already revolutionized our lives and shows no signs of stopping. Algorithms are everywhere. AI powered by our data are increasingly determining our lives. The implementation of this technology has leapt ahead of our understanding of its ethical, societal, legal, and political significance. From self-driving cars to autonomous weapons, data-brokers to the metaverse, no aspects of our lives will be the same again. In this class, we shall learn about, and bring together in conversation, cutting edge work from both within and outside academic philosophy concerning the challenges posed by the ever-increasing use of computing technology and A.I. Questions raised in the course include: do tech companies violate our right to privacy when they harvest our data? Can automated algorithmic decision-making deliver us a future free of human bias? How could you tell whether a computer has a mind? And is the human brain in fact a computer?
Occurrences
DIGI102-24S2 (C)
Semester Two 2024 - Not offered
For further information see DIGI102 course details
DIGI102-24S2 (D)
Semester Two 2024 (Distance) - Not offered
For further information see DIGI102 course details
Points
15 points
Restrictions
PHIL137, POLS137
PHIL137
Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Ethics
Description
Computing technology has already revolutionized our lives and shows no signs of stopping. Algorithms are everywhere. AI powered by our data are increasingly determining our lives. The implementation of this technology has leapt ahead of our understanding of its ethical, societal, legal, and political significance. From self-driving cars to autonomous weapons, data-brokers to the metaverse, no aspects of our lives will be the same again. In this class, we shall learn about, and bring together in conversation, cutting edge work from both within and outside academic philosophy concerning the challenges posed by the ever-increasing use of computing technology and A.I. Questions raised in the course include: do tech companies violate our right to privacy when they harvest our data? Can automated algorithmic decision-making deliver us a future free of human bias? How could you tell whether a computer has a mind? And is the human brain in fact a computer?
Occurrences
PHIL137-24S2 (C)
Semester Two 2024 - Not offered
For further information see PHIL137 course details
PHIL137-24S2 (D)
Semester Two 2024 (Distance) - Not offered
For further information see PHIL137 course details
Points
15 points
Restrictions
POLS137, DIGI102

200-level

PHIL252
Philosophical Issues in Cognitive Science and AI
Description
This course is an introduction to two vibrant and interrelated subfields of philosophy: the philosophy of cognitive science and the philosophy of artificial intelligence. Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of the mind. Its constituent disciplines include psychology, neuroscience, computer science, AI, and philosophy. The philosophy of cognitive science concerns philosophical issues that arise out of the scientific study of the mind. Artificial intelligence is the simulation of certain processes, typically associated with human minds, by machines - especially computer systems. It is an important branch of cognitive science. The philosophy of artificial intelligence concerns itself with those philosophical issues that arise out of reflection upon the possibility of artificial intelligence. Key questions raised in the course include: What is the nature of mind? Are mental processes computational processes? Could a machine have a mind? If a machine were intelligent and conscious, would it have moral significance?
Occurrences
PHIL252-24S2 (C)
Semester Two 2024 - Not offered
For further information see PHIL252 course details
PHIL252-24S2 (D)
Semester Two 2024 (Distance) - Not offered
For further information see PHIL252 course details
Points
15 points
Prerequisites
Any 15 points at 100 level in PHIL, or any 60 points at 100 level from the Schedule V of the BA or the BSc.
Restrictions
PHIL238 (before 2016)