Philosophy

Ethics is about doing the right thing and about becoming the right sort of person; it is also about how we act collectively, as a family, as a nation, as the human race, to improve welfare and reduce harm; it is about how we blame and praise people, including ourselves; it is about how we teach children, both at home and in schools. Students look at how some philosophers have understood "the right thing" and "the right sort of person" from ancient Greece through to the 18th Century through to the present day. Students discuss these views through specific case studies, to understand how these frameworks may be applied in practical contexts, and explore possible strategies to address some ethical challenges that they face in the current society. The course is designed for students with no background in philosophy.

This course examines core themes and debates in contemporary metaphysics. Topics may vary slightly year to year but include objects and properties; possibility and necessity; causation; space and time; and the nature of truth. 

This course explores the fundamental philosophical problems and puzzles about the nature of the world and human beings. Examples include philosophical questions about the existence of God, the relationship between physical reality and mental life, and the nature of identity and the self. The theory of knowledge studies philosophical problems concerning the sources, limits, and justification of human knowledge and understanding.

Full course description

In this course, we explore the field of philosophical ethics. We study the grand narratives in ethics, such as the three leading normative ethical approaches (virtue ethics, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics). We read original texts written by thinkers from the great traditions of philosophy: ancient philosophy, Christian philosophy, modern philosophy, and postmodern philosophy. We discuss Aristotelian virtue ethics, Stoic wisdom, the Christianised life as taught by Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, utilitarianism (Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill), Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy, the ‘grand style’ of Friedrich Nietzsche, Carol Gilligan her ethics of care, Hans Jonas his ethics for the technological age, and the ‘banality of evil’ by Hannah Arendt. The challenge is to interpret these texts, especially the non-contemporary ones, from the perspective of the authors and their audience. A pitfall that has to be prevented is to read and interpret these texts merely from our own perspective. You are also very much encouraged to read texts in their original language (e.g. Kant; Nietzsche). Also, we encourage you to look for similarities and differences between the texts, concepts, and authors.

Course objectives

• To explore the most important ethical approaches and to gain increased understanding of essential philosophical concepts, theories, and authors. 

• To study primary texts of ethics written by the most eminent philosophers of the past millennia.

• To evaluate and discuss cases through the lens of different ethical perspectives. 

• To compare and contrast different philosophical concepts, theories, and authors.