Module PHL2108 for 2016/7
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
PHL2108: Fundamental Ontology
This module descriptor refers to the 2016/7 academic year.
Module Aims
What is the world made of? Philosophical attempts to address this question form the core of this module. We aim to explore a range of attempts to explain the nature of the world around us, in terms of its most basic constituents. Notions such as “substance”, “process”, “atoms”, “ideas” have all been central in questions of fundamental ontology and we will aim to develop a critical understanding of their place in our attempts to understand the world. We also aim to explore related questions concerning the number of types of “stuff” (i.e. the debates between pluralists and monists) - and the problem of change and stability. Is change an illusion? What features of the world (if any) are constant? Is the world simply material? We aim to critically engage with philosophical attempts to answer these questions as well as question the place of philosophy in addressing them.
What do lecturers hope to cover in this module in terms of knowledge and learning opportunities for the students? Include details of research-enriched learning/ teaching and links to employment.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. Develop an understanding of the problems of fundamental ontology and a range of philosophical attempts to address these problems 2. Analyse and critically engage with a range of ontological theories, developing an understanding of issues at stake in some key metaphysical disputes over the fundamental nature of the world |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 3. Reveal the ontological assumptions underlying of a range of areas of philosophy (e.g. mind, science) 4. Understand how fundamental question of ontology relate to wider philosophical understanding of the world (e.g. substance as a fundamental philosophical category) |
Personal and Key Skills | 5. Grasp, and be able to articulate, the problematic nature of many of our basic assumptions about the world 6. Explain a range of problems and theories of varying degrees of abstractness, and present coherent clear arguments in response to these problems and theories. 7. Demonstrate the ability to work independently, within a limited time frame, and without access to external sources, to complete a specified task. |