Reality and Value

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2008:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

The course asks the questions 'What is the fundamental nature of reality?', 'What is the nature of value?', and 'What is the relationship between these two things?'. It will proceed by looking at texts in which philosophers from a number of different historical periods and traditions address these issues. The philosophers in question might include: Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, the Dalai Lama, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Sartre, Murdoch, Nussbaum, Routley.

This will vary from semester to semester depending on student and teacher interests.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• refine the critical skills necessary to undertake original research; including skills in assessing the strength of arguments, identifying theoretical assumptions, and assessing conflicting arguments;
• develop the ability to read texts carefully and critically and offer textual support for interpretations;
• develop the ability to adjudicate conflicting interpretations of texts.