Department of Philosophy Module descriptions 2018/19 Level I (i.e. normally 2 nd Yr.) Modules Please be aware that all modules are subject to availability. If you have any questions about the modules, please contact calincomingexchangemodules@contacts.bham.ac.uk. For many of these modules, some experience of studying Philosophy may be required, and you should remember this when choosing your modules. If there is another module that you need to have studied before taking this, it will be stated in the module description. Please note that at the time this document has been prepared (March 2018) the following information is provisional, and there may be minor changes between now and the beginning of 2018/19 academic year.
Elements of Metaphysics MODULE CODE 30074 Two 1500 word essays Submitted in Week 7 of term, and Week 1 of the subsequent term Weekly two-hour lecture: time TBA Eight one-hour seminars (times TBA) Metaphysical questions arise in all areas of philosophy, but they can be slippery and require careful handling. This module aims to equip students with a solid grasp of the core concepts of metaphysics, and an understanding of their logical basis. The goal is to provide a 'metaphysical toolkit' to use when students encounter metaphysical concepts and questions elsewhere in their studies. The exact topics covered will vary from year to year, but may include: the basic concepts of ontology (existence, properties, and identity), modal concepts (possibility, necessity, conditionals, essence, causation and grounding), the nature of logical consequence and necessity, negation and negative facts, and the radical dialetheist position that permits true contradictions. Suggested readings Alyssa Ney, Metaphysics: An introduction Kripke, S. Naming and Necessity
Political Disagreement MODULE CODE 30162 One in-class examand one 2000 word essay Submitted in Week 7 of term, and Week 11 Weekly two-hour lecture: time TBA Eight one-hour seminars (times TBC) This is an introduction to philosophical issues surrounding public disagreement about politics. Topics will thus be drawn from three areas of philosophy: political theory, the theory of public communication, and epistemology. The first area will involve discussion of topics such as egalitarianism, libertarianism, anarchism and the like. The second area will involve discussion of topics such as literal communication, propaganda, free speech, lying and the like. And the third area will involve discussion of peer-disagreement (i.e. the epistemology of disagreeing with someone you respect). The aim will be to enliven discussion of the traditional topics in political philosophy by appeal to examples drawn from contemporary political controversy. Suggested preparatory readings: Scott Aikin & Robert Talisse, Why We Argue (and How We Should): A Guide to Political Disagreement
Logic: Its Limits and Scope (Prerequisite: Available only to students who passed the LC module Formal Logic (or an equivalent module) MODULE CODE 26792 1 x 1hr in class exam and 1 x 2hr centrally timetabled exam (summer) Weekly two-hour lecture: time TBAWeekly onehour problem class: (times TBA) Is there any way to make a mathematics of reasoning? If so, what would it look like? What would be its scope, and what would be its limits? One set of questions concern the extent to which we can adequately represent the subtleties of natural language reasoning in a regimented, mathematical language. Another is whether we can make a system which gives all and only the right results. We will see that we can accomplish much of what we would hope to, but not all of it. The structure of the module is as follows. We will begin by reviewing logical argument in English, focusing on the propositional connectives - 'and', 'or', and 'if...then' (which should be familiar from the first-year logic modules). We will then develop, in a fairly careful way, the formal logic of just these connectives, known as propositional logic. We will prove that the system is both sound and complete, in roughly the sense that every result given by the logic is right, and every right result for the logic is given by it. We will see, however, that propositional logic can only represent a small fragment of the reasoning that is representable by quantificational or first-order logic, to which you were introduced in first year. We will see how quantificational logic captures the logic of the sub-propositional connectives, for all and there is, in addition to capturing the logic of the propositional ones. We will then devote a considerable amount of class time to showing that this system is sound and complete as well, despite its expressive richness, but that it nevertheless has important limitations. Recommended preparatory Reading: Shapiro, "Classical Logic", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Bergmann, Moor, and Nelson, The Logic Book, McGraw-Hill (any edition)
History of Analytic Philosophy MODULE CODE 26791 Two 1500 word essays Submitted in Week 8 of term, and Week 2 of the subsequent term Weekly two-hour lecture: time TBA Eight seminars (times TBC) The dominant philosophical tradition in the English-speaking world, including here in Birmingham, is the analytic tradition. This module looks at the historical origins of this tradition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We ll look at the changing views of two key thinkers, and the interaction between them: Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell. The first half of the module examines Frege s views about the nature of meaning, truth, and the relationship between our language and the external world. The second half looks at Russell s rather different views about those topics, which changed rapidly in the early 20th century as he developed a powerful new, anti-idealist philosophical picture. We ll close by looking at a mysterious and intriguing exchange between Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Science and Nature MODULE CODE 30886 Two 2000 word essays Submitted in Week 8 of term, and Week 2 of the subsequent term Weekly two-hour lecture: Time TBA Eight seminars (times TBC) What is science, and how and why does it work so well? What must nature be like if science is to be possible? Can science replace philosophy when it comes to answering the most fundamental questions about reality? This module explores metaphysical and epistemological questions that arise in general philosophy of science and in the philosophy of the special sciences. Topics will include some of the following: science and pseudoscience, realism and explanation, laws of nature, chance and determinism, natural kinds and causation, the relationship between science and philosophy. Suggested preparatory readings: Cartwright, N. (1983) How the Laws of Physics Lie. Oxford University Press. Chalmers, A. (2013) What Is This Thing Called Science? Open University Press. (This is the 4th edition, but earlier editions are fine as well.) van Fraassen, B. (1980) The Scientific Image. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Lange, M. (2009) Laws and Lawmakers: Science, Metaphysics and the Laws of Nature. Oxford University Press.
Philosophy of Mental Health MODULE CODE 30841 2 x 1500 word essay (each worth 40%) 1 x 10 minute individual Seminar Presentation (20%) Weekly two-hour lecture: Time TBA Weekly one-hour problem class: (times TBA) In this module, we will explore a number of philosophical questions raised by psychiatric phenomena, such as the following: How do we think about mental health? What makes a person mentally health or unhealthy? What is the difference between rational and irrational thinking and behaviour? What makes a conscious experience psychotic or pathological? Are delusions dysfunctional beliefs or some other type of mental state? What role do moral values have in our assessment of psychiatric conditions like personality disorders? In what way, if any, do individuals with autism manifest impaired social cognition? Our aim will be to better understand both the implications that psychiatric conditions have for theoretical accounts of the mind and the causes of specific psychiatric conditions. Recommended preparatory Reading: Baron-Cohen, S. et. al. (eds.) Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives from Developmental Social Neuroscience. Oxford University Press 2013. Broome, M. and L. Bortolotti (eds). Psychiatry as cognitive neuroscience: philosophical perspectives. Oxford University Press 2009. Fulford, K. W. M., et al., eds. The Oxford handbook of philosophy and psychiatry. Oxford University Press, 2013. Graham, G. The disordered mind: An introduction to philosophy of mind and mental illness. Routledge, 2013. Levy, N. (ed.) Addiction and Self-Control: Perspectives from Philosophy, Psychology and Neuroscience. Oxford University Press. Kendler, K. and J. Parnas (eds.) Philosophical Issues in Psychiatry, volumes 1-3.