Course Catalogue

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Philosophy is an activity. This course focuses on developing the skills of doing philosophy. In particular, we focus on three primary texts to introduce, model, and practice fifteen skills falling under the broad headings of reading, writing, and talking philosophy.

7x1hr lectures, 4x1hr seminars, 3x1hr workshops, and 3x2hr workshops over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into Philosophy, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

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10 x set exercises (20%)

1 x 500-word marking exercise (10%)

1 x 2000-word essay (60%)

1 x 5-minute oral presentation (10%)

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to:

■ Provide students with a sustained and focused opportunity to develop the skills of doing philosophy by actively engaging with three key texts.

■ Create opportunities for students to reflect upon the nature of distinctive philosophical skills and the processes of acquiring them.

■ Encourage students to become adept at surfacing acquired transferable skills.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Apply and demonstrate key skills in reading philosophy to three primary texts, including contextualising, interrogating, and summarising texts, argument reconstruction, and position comparison.

■ Employ key skills in writing philosophy to at least two primary texts, including identifying a thesis, developing an argument, anticipating and responding to objections, outlining, drafting, and editing.

■ Deploy key skills in talking philosophy using at least one primary text, including public speaking, developing presentational aids, and asking and answering questions.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.