Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL1007: Philosophical Reading 1

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Module Aims

In this module you will learn and practise the most important basic skill for philosophy students, namely to read a philosophical text. Close reading is crucial for philosophical analysis, understanding and interpretation.

Because of the nature of this module, its syllabus varies from year to year, depending on the text(s) selected.

This year (2015/16) it will be Plato’s Republic.


This will be a foundation module for the SH degree programme in Philosophy, and for the modular degree pathway in philosophy. It will also be available to students from other schools and departments as an optional course in philosophy. This course will familiarise the student with the fundamental techniques required to read, understand, criticize, a philosophical text. It will proceed by in-depth reading and analysis of one or more philosophical texts. Given the introductory nature of this module, we will focus on texts that require no specific background philosophical knowledge and combine high philosophical quality with historical relevance and clarity of presentation.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.

On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. engage in in-depth analysis of a text, and reasoning about abstract matters
Discipline-Specific Skills2. analyse arguments, understand the historical and social context of production of a philosophical text, criticise it, and write well-argued essays.
Personal and Key Skills3. construct and evaluate arguments, to formulate and express ideas at different levels of abstraction, to assess and criticise the views of others.