Course Catalogue

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This course introduces students to a number of major issues in metaphysics. It familiarises students with the main positions and arguments within each topic, and enables students to deploy these arguments for themselves.

16x1hr lectures, 4x1hr seminars over 10 weeks as scheduled in MyCampus. This is one of the Honours options in Philosophy and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into Philosophy, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes.

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The standard assessments for this course are: 

■ Written piece (2000 words) - 65%

■ Written piece (1000 words) - 35% 

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available: 

■ There are no alternatives to the assessments, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustment (Students should follow the usual process for extensions). 

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.  

This course aims to:

■ Allow students to gain a good understanding of the nature and methods of contemporary metaphysics; 

■ Allow students to familiarise themselves with a number of central metaphysical questions, debates and theories; 

■ Allow students to engage in these debates themselves. 

By the end of this course, students will be able to: 

■ Explain and contrast different theories on a range of metaphysical questions; 

■ State and evaluate influential arguments for and against such theories; 

■ Critically assess how defenders of such a theory might respond to such arguments; 

■ Independently find and engage with literature relevant to a given topic in metaphysics.