Philosophical Issues

Subject 161-108 (2008)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2008.Search for this in the current handbook

Credit Points: 12.500
Level: Undergraduate
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2008:

Semester 1, - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start not applicable
Teaching Period not applicable
Assessment Period End not applicable
Last date to Self-Enrol not applicable
Census Date not applicable
Last date to Withdraw without fail not applicable

*

Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: Thirty-five contact hours per semester: two 1-hour lectures per week for the whole semester and a 1-hour tutorial per week beginning the second week of semester
Total Time Commitment: *
Prerequisites: *
Corequisites: *
Recommended Background Knowledge: *
Non Allowed Subjects: *
Core Participation Requirements: *

Coordinator

Dr Karen Jones and Dr Francois Schroeter
Subject Overview:

This subject provides a general introduction to philosophy through an examination of four central questions: (1) Knowledge and scepticism. What is knowledge and do we actually know what we take ourselves to know? Can we rule out the hypothesis that we occupy some kind of Matrix world in which all our apparent perceptions are the result of brain manipulation? And if we cannot, can we know anything at all? (2) Personal identity. What kind of a thing is a person? What makes you the same person now as you were when you were a baby despite all the enormous physical and psychological changes that have happened to you? What sorts of changes can you undergo and still survive? (3) Morality. Does the rightness of an action depend solely on its consequences? Or are there some actions, like torture, which are morally wrong no matter how desirable the consequences? (4) Personal responsibility in a non-ideal world. What is the responsibility of members of developed countries for global poverty? Is it morally permissible to spend money on non-essentials while children die of preventable poverty-related causes?

Assessment: Best 5 (of 9) short tutorial assignments 25%, a written assignment of 1000 words 25% (due mid semester), and a 2-hour written examination (not open-book) 50% at the end of semester.
Prescribed Texts: Prescribed Texts:A subject reader will be available.
Breadth Options:

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

  • Bachelor of Biomedicine
  • Bachelor of Commerce
  • Bachelor of Environments
  • Bachelor of Music
  • Bachelor of Science
  • Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:

  • develop the ability to read texts analytically;

  • develop skills in critical and theoretical thinking;

  • be able to apply the analytic and critical skills developed in this subject to other philosophical and non-philosophical studies.
Related Course(s): Bachelor of Arts
Diploma in Arts (Philosophy)
Diploma in Arts (Philosophy)
Graduate Certificate in Arts (Philosophy)
Graduate Diploma in Arts (Philosophy)

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