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
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
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
Summer Jan 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.
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

Not Offered Courses in 2024

200-level

PHIL210
Logic, Automata, and Computability
Description
An introduction to various formal logics, the theory of automata, and the theoretical limitations of the computer.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2012 , 2013 , 2014 , 2015 , 2016
For further information see PHIL210 course details
Points
15 points
EURA211
Classic Works in Political Philosophy - Machiavelli to Marx
Description
This course is an introduction to the history of political philosophy. It will focus on a number of topics including Machiavelli's The Prince, early modern constitutionalism, the invention of the modern state, the theory of sovereignty, political reason, the origins of social science, liberty and utilitarianism. The individual theorists who will be discussed include Bodin, Filmer, Locke, Hume, Burke, Bentham, and, Tocqueville, Marx & Mill.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024
For further information see EURA211 course details
Points
15 points
PHIL212
Reason, Desire and Happiness: Hellenistic Philosophy
Description
In ancient Greece and Rome, philosophy was thought to be more than simply a discipline of academic interest. Many philosophers saw themselves as being like physicians. If physicians treat and heal the body, the role of the philosopher is to provide comparable therapy for the soul so that we can live well and flourish. This view was common to Aristotle, the Epicureans, the Sceptics and the Stoics. This course introduces you to this philosophical tradition and to the work of its proponents. Topics covered include the relationship between emotion and reason, the value of true beliefs, the nature of erotic love, the fear of death, the basis of anger and aggression, the value of self-control, and the legitimate tasks and methods of philosophy.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2015 , 2017 , 2018
For further information see PHIL212 course details
Points
15 points
PHIL224
Greek Philosophy
Description
Historical and analytical introduction to the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2011 , 2013
For further information see PHIL224 course details
Points
15 points
PHIL227
The Art Instinct
Description
What is the nature of art and aesthetic experience? Is photography an art? What is creativity? What is artistic genius? Can cooking be an art? Is there a biological basis for the pleasures of art? This is a broad course to the Philosophy of Art, examining a range of philosophical problems aesthetics and value theory. Beyond philosophy students, the course is of interest to students with professional, historical, and a sociological interests in the arts, including music, painting and sculpture, literature, film and drama.
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2011
For further information see PHIL227 course details
Points
15 points
PHIL235
Cyberspace, Cyborgs, and the Meaning of Life
Description
This course investigates a raft of questions - concerning mind, metaphysics, knowledge and human nature - thrown up by the ongoing revolution in information technology. These include: Might I attain immortality by porting myself into cyberspace? Am I already in cyberspace? Is the universe nothing but a computer? Should we fear a forthcoming Age of Robots? Is my iPhone part of my mind? Could a computer ever be programmed to be creative and intelligent, and to equal or exceed the problem solving capacities of the human brain?
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2018 , 2019 , 2020 , 2022 , 2023
For further information see PHIL235 course details
Points
15 points
PHIL241
Special Topic
Occurrences
Not offered 2024, offered in 2011 , 2012 , 2023
For further information see PHIL241 course details
Points
15 points
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)