Philosophy

Major/Minor/Specialisation !D21-AA-SPC+1024 (2014)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2014.

Year and Campus: 2014

Coordinator

Associate Professor Howard Sankey

Email: chs@unimelb.edu.au

Contact

Office of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Arts

Email: arts-gradstudies@unimelb.edu.au

Overview:

Philosophy is the study of the most fundamental aspects of reality and value. Every area of inquiry and endeavour—from art and history through politics and economics to biology and mathematics—generates philosophical issues about our world and our place in it. Philosophers debate the meaning of life and the meaning of adverbs, the analysis of Divine foreknowledge and the analysis of colour, the nature of mathematics and the nature of terrorism.

Work in philosophy involves the creative, critical task of constructing, clarifying and comparing ideas. We dig into the fundamental assumptions beneath our everyday views, to see how they hang together, how they can be improved, or how we might have reason to prefer one over another. We learn to take conflicting views seriously, to clarify imprecise concepts, and to synthesize new positions.

You learn both traditional and contemporary approaches to individual topics in Philosophy. In tutorials and written work you practice the important skill of advancing cogent and informed arguments of your own.

Students go on to apply their philosophical skills in a wide range of different careers where creative and analytic thinking is useful, such as law, education, analysis, advocacy and policy development.

Learning Outcomes:

See program objectives

Structure & Available Subjects:

The Graduate Certificate in Arts in this area of specialisation requires:

  • four elective subjects (50 points)

Total 50 points

Please note: students cannot take more than 12.5 points at first-year level

Subject Options:

First Year Subjects

maximum 12.5 points

Subject
Study Period Commencement:
Credit Points:

Second and Third Year Subjects

minimum 37.5 points

Subject
Study Period Commencement:
Credit Points:
Semester 1
12.50
Semester 1
12.50
Not offered in 2014
12.50
Links to further information: http://shaps.unimelb.edu.au/
Related Course(s): Graduate Certificate in Arts

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