Module PHL3116 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
PHL3116: Reality, Existence and Change
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 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 in-depth 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 metaphysical questions 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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22 | 128 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 11 | 11 one hour lectures |
Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 11 | 11 one hour tutorials |
Guided independent study | 33 | Assigned reading associated with lecture and tutorials |
Guided independent study | 10 | Preparation for in-class discussion |
Guided independent study | 35 | Preparation for assigned essay |
Guided independent study | 50 | Exam Revision and private study |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
Web based and electronic resources:
Selections from…
Aristotle’s Metaphysics (Ross translation available at http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/metaphysics.html)
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Lloyd, G.E.R. (1970) Early Greek Science: Thales to Aristotle. Norton (New York, London)
Collingwood, R.G. (1945) The Idea of Nature OUP (Oxford)
Woolhouse, R.S. (1993), Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz: The Concept of Substance in Seventeenth Century Metaphysics. Routledge (London, New York)
Rescher, N. (2000), Process Philosophy: A survey of Basic Issues. University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh)
Selections from…
Spinoza’ Ethics (1996) Penguin Classics translated by Edwin Curley
Leibniz (1992) Discourse on Metaphysics and Other Essays: Translated and Edited by Garber, D. and Ariew, R. Hackett (Indianapolis)
Whitehead, A.N. (1946) Science and the Modern World, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge)