University of St Andrews

The course develops students' understanding of the classical linear econometric model (ordinary least squares). It covers a range of topics, including estimation and inference in multivariate regression models; the use of limited dependent variables; large sample properties of OLS estimators; multicollinearity and heteroskedasticity. The course develops students' applied skills through the use of appropriate econometric software.

This course introduces students to a range of 21st Century literature written in English with a focus on crisis in the contemporary moment. It equips students with critical ideas and theoretical concepts that will help them to understand the literature of their own time. Students consider examples of a range of genres: poetry, creative non-fiction, the essay, and fiction. Students are encouraged to read texts in a number of contexts and will consider writers’ responses to, for instance: displacement, environmental change, geopolitical conflict, austerity, Black Lives Matter, the contemporary archive, desire and the overarching issue of crisis. They also consider a range of aesthetic innovations, for example: the turn to creative non-fiction, the re-emergence of the political essay, the development of the prose poem. Overall, the course considers how writers are responding to crises of the present period and how, through their writing, they model modes of agency.

The Zhuangzi 莊子 is an ancient text from the Warring States period (476 – 221 BC) of what is now China. Traditionally ascribed to a single author, Zhuang Zhou, it is now generally regarded as a compilation of many texts, spanning many decades but united by key themes. These themes raise challenges to some fundamental philosophical orthodoxies: the possibility of genuine knowledge, the existence of consistent identifiable standards in morality and reasoning, the power of language to successfully communicate thoughts, the stability of personal identity, even the ontological distinctness of things. This course covers key chapters of this radical and mysterious text and introduces students to some of the philosophical scholarship on it. All texts are read in annotated English translations, but consideration is given to the unique properties of the original language and the difficulties of accurate translation.

This course focuses on the design and conduct of qualitative research. It explores the epistemological foundations on which different strands of qualitative research rest, introduces students to a range of techniques for collecting qualitative data, and helps students consider methodological questions related to the conduct of qualitative research. The unit encourages critical thinking about what constitutes the field and data, as well as about issues of ethics, positionality, voice, representation, and the hermeneutic location of records and data.

This course examines the relationship between words and music, discussing ways in which language and music can interact, and the different ways in which words and music may construct meaning. Examples are drawn primarily from Western art music. No prior knowledge of musical notation is necessary to take this course. Students should, however, expect to learn and use appropriate terms and concepts to describe and analyze set works. The syllabus draws on works composed in different cultural contexts to illustrate both short and longer sung musical genres, including some excerpts of longer, dramatic works. This course is intended to be of particular interest to students of English and other modern languages, but is open to all with an interest in music and lyrics.

This course explores some of the most common techniques, forms, and modes of poetry and develops students' practice as poets. The first half of the semester focuses on aspects of prosody such as metre and rhythm, rhyme and form, register, image, and metaphor, allowing students to reimagine these practices from the point of view of the writing, as well as the analysis, of poetry. The second half of the course concentrates on some of the main genres of poetry, with students encouraged to experiment with their own versions or anti-versions of these modes. The first hour each week is spent on an aspect of poetics, while the second hour is spent workshopping student poems. By the end of the course students have developed in their poetic practice and furthered their oral skills through the recitation of their poems, analysis of other students’ work in workshop, and through weekly discussion of set texts. 

Ordinarily, we blame people for doing wrong and praise them for doing the right thing. But what is it to blame someone or praise them? And under what conditions is someone worthy of blame or praise for their actions or attitudes? This course looks at the nature of blame and what it is to be blameworthy, as well as how one ought to act under conditions of ignorance or uncertainty. It seems that ignorance sometimes excuses wrong-doing. For instance, one might break a promise to pick up a friend from the airport and yet be blameless, due to ignorance (say because one's friend misinformed one which airport she's arriving at). Under what conditions does ignorance excuse and what type of ignorance excuses (factual vs. formative)? Further, how should one act when one is not sure what is the correct morality?

This course introduces basic facts and theoretical models regarding economic interconnections within an increasingly integrated world. The course provides students a global view and understanding of interdependence among all countries. Its content includes a current and an historical overview of trade and its impact on economic growth, the classic theory of free trade, recent developments in theoretical models and relevant empirical evidence and major policy issues arising in open economies that are becoming more relevant today. The course covers traditional (neoclassical) economics and also discuss various challenges presented to such a framework, especially based on experience of developing countries.