Module PHL3108 for 2018/9
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
PHL3108: Fundamental Ontology
This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 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.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. Develop an advanced 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 and critique 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) and make use of this insight in your wider philosophy) |
Personal and Key Skills | 5. Grasp, and be able to articulate clearly, the problematic nature of many of our basic assumptions about the world 6. Explain a wide 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. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
The philosophers listed are indicative. The texts chosen may deviate from those mentioned below.
The problem of change in ancient Greek philosophy – Zeno, Parmenides, Heraclitus, Democritus, Plato
Aristotle on substance – Aristotle
Cartesian dualism and responses – Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz
Idealism – Berkeley, Kant, Hegel
Materialism – Democritus, Hobbes, Marx
Neutral Monism – Spinoza, Mach
Process and the critique of substance – Whitehead
Physicalism and the place of philosophy – Sandra Mitchell, Quine, Carnapp
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
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28.5 | 121.5 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
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Lectures | 17.5 | 11 x 90 minute lectures |
Tutorials | 11 | 11 one hour lectures |
Guided independent study | 33 | Assigned reading associated with lecture and tutorials |
Guided independent study | 10 | Preparation for in-class discussion |
Guided independent study | 33 | Preparation for assigned essay |
Guided independent study | 47.5 | Exam Revision and private study |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Aristotle’s Metaphysics (Ross translation available at http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/metaphysics.html)