Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL2011A: Philosophy of Nature 1

This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.

Overview

NQF Level 5
Credits 15 ECTS Value 7.5
Term(s) and duration

This module ran during term 2 (11 weeks)

Academic staff

Professor Staffan Muller-Wille (Lecturer)

Pre-requisites
  • PHL1002A
Co-requisites

None

Available via distance learning

No

This module introduces you to the philosophy of nature as a fundamental concern of philosophy. It provides an overarching historical reconstruction of the different phases of Western understanding of the relation of humans to nature, and discusses normative implications for the contemporary understanding of ourselves in relation to nature. PHL1002 ‘Knowledge and Reality’ is a pre-requisite to this module, equipping you with a basic understanding of key ontological and metaphysical concepts such as “essence,” “causation,” and “teleology” that also play a prominent role in the philosophy of nature. Students with an interest in philosophy of science will enjoy this module in particular, but it also speaks to those who have interdisciplinary interests in the aesthetic, ethical, and ideological use of appeals to nature in Western culture.

Module created

2007

Last revised

February 2013