Information for current students

A. The Place of Philosophy in the Arts and Social Science Degrees

Philosophy may be studied either as a Single Honours subject in the Arts College, or as a Joint Honours subject in either Arts or Social Sciences. In Arts, Philosophy may be combined in a Joint Honours degree with any other subject in which Honours degrees in Arts are offered, provided that there is no timetable clash.

In Social Sciences, Philosophy may be combined with those subjects listed on this page: http://www.gla.ac.uk/undergraduate/degrees/philosophy/#/degreesanducascodes

Other combinations may also be possible: consult your Adviser of Studies or the Honours Convenor in Philosophy.

B. Information & Communication

All official information from Philosophy is communicated via Moodle or e-mail. It is your responsibility to make sure that you get this information. To that end, please note that:

 - Each of Junior and Senior Honours has a main Moodle page, with discussion and news fora. Make sure you are signed up for it - this should happen automatically - and make sure that you receive e-mails notifying you of messages in the Notice board. This is where staff will communicate information relevant to Philosophy Honours as a whole.

 - Each individual Honours course has a page, with teaching materials, information about essays and exams, room for discussion, and the mechanism for online submission of essays. Once again, make sure that you receive e-mails notifying you of messages posted in the News forums there. This is where staff will communicate information specific to each course.

 - Important information is also communicated via students' university email addresses. It is therefore essential that you read your email regularly. If the email address you normally use is not your university email address, it is possible to set up your university email account to forward all incoming email to the address you normally use.

C. Enrolment and Course Choice  

 

All students must attend the induction meeting unless they have made prior arrangements with the Honours Class Convenor.

Course enrolment is through MyCampus. Students are advised to choose courses as soon as enrolment opens to avoid disappointment.  If you are unable to enrol due to an outstanding MV on your record, you can contact the convenor or administrator to ask that a place be reserved for you. The courses available in a given session, and the regulations governing course choices for the various degrees in Philosophy are listed in the next two Sections. 

Students must choose their courses with regard to the timetable, and will not normally be permitted to enrol for courses which they are unable to attend, for example, because they clash with lectures in their other Joint Honours subject.  If you are keen to do a combination involving a clash, you should consult the relevant convenor.

Note: If you wish to change your choice of courses after the enrolment meeting, please notify the appropriate Honours convenor.  It is very important that we have an up-to-date record of which courses people are taking.  Students will not normally be allowed to change courses more than three weeks into the semester.   Changing courses late or without informing us may lead to exam clashes which we will not be able to remedy.

D. What you need to do to get your degree

 
The system of course requirements is very simple.  The main features are:
 

• All courses are 20 credits
• There are separate courses for junior honours and senior honours (except for JH5/SH1 Logic, which is available at either year.
• The final examination for each course takes place at the end of same academic session—junior honours courses at the end of the junior honours year, senior honours courses at the end of the senior honours year (“split finals”).
• In all cases course choice is subject to approval by the Head of Philosophy.
• You are responsible for ensuring that the Honours convenor has at all times a correct record of your course choices.

Single Honours in Philosophy:

You need to do 120 credits per year.  This means that each year, you have to do six courses in Philosophy, three in each semester.

The (compulsory) dissertation in Senior Honours is also worth 20 credits and counts as one of your six courses. See the Dissertation Policies and Procedures on the Philosophy website for further information.

Joint Honours in Philosophy and another subject:

You need to earn 60 credits per year in Philosophy, hence three courses per year in philosophy.  You are free to distribute your philosophy courses over the year as convenient, depending for example on anticipated workloads in your other subject.

In some cases it may be impossible to split credits evenly between subjects in one year. In such cases, the students must bring the balance as close as possible to an even balance of 60 credits in philosophy and 60 credits in the other subject. The ratio should then be reversed in the senior year, so that the total number of credits in each subject exceeds 120. However this is managed, the student must earn at least 120 credits in each of the two honours years, and at least 120 credits in philosophy by the end of the senior honours year.  If you do find you are unable to ensure a 60-60 split over the year, or have any other difficulty in meeting these requirements, you must see the honours convenor or head of subject.  (Special regulations govern Joint Honours in Philosophy and Law.)

Joint honours students must also strive to ensure that the credits earned in each year are balanced over the two semesters. For uneven splits of up to 50/70, you need not seek permission; for greater imbalances, you must consult the honours convenor or head of Philosophy.

Joint Honours students must do a dissertation in one or other of their Honours subjects during their Senior Honours year.

Coursework and Examination Requirements

Each Junior Honours course (except Formal Logic, for which there is no essay) is assessed by formal essay (written during the semester the course is lectured) and final examination (taken at the end of the year).  In Senior Honours, the methods of assessment vary across courses. Details can be found on Moodle. You must also prepare for and attend tutorials and seminars for each course. See sections H-K below for further details.

‘Outside’ course(s)

A Single Honours student may, under degree Regulations, take Honours courses totalling up to 60 credits (comprising one-quarter of the total number of credits earned during the two honours years) from one other Subject (and correspondingly fewer courses from Philosophy). Note that you must obtain the approval of both Subjects involved.  In cases where there is significant overlap between the outside course and a Philosophy course you are also taking, your choice may not be approved.  Courses with significant philosophical content may be of special interest. Subjects offering such courses include TRS, Economics, Politics and History.

Whatever the curriculum, a student must earn 120 credits, or as near as possible to 120, in each of the two Honours years, and no fewer than 240 credits in total.

 

E. Philosophy Honours Courses

 
Descriptions of these courses are provided on the Philosophy website.
 

Junior Honours Courses

All these courses will normally be available every year. Logic may run in Semester 2 in certain sessions: please check on MyCampus or the Honours timetable to confirm.
 
Semester 1:

• JH1: History of Modern Philosophy
• JH2: Philosophy of Language
• JH3: Epistemology
• JH4: Political Philosophy
• JH5: Logic

Semester 2:

• JH6: History of Moral Philosophy
• JH7: Philosophy of Mind
• JH8: Metaphysics
• JH9: Moral Philosophy

Senior Honours courses

 The availability of Senior Honours courses will vary from year to year depending on staff availability.  The courses currently running are listed on the Philosophy website.

F. Teaching Arrangements

 

 Aims of separate course components:

• Lectures.  To give systematic expositions and examinations of the most important philosophical theories and of the doctrines of many of the major philosophers, past and present.
• Seminars.  To enable students to discuss philosophical questions in a small group and to present papers on them to the group.
• Written Assessments and Formal Essays.  To enable students to present a longer, more finished piece of work for criticism, assessment and, as required, individual discussion with a tutor.
• Dissertations.   To give students the opportunity to develop a philosophical topic of their own choice at some length.

 
Teaching Format:

• Junior Honours. Tuition for each Junior Honours course consists of a minimum of 16 hours of lectures supplemented by seminars. Each student is allocated to a seminar group for each of the courses; these generally meet fortnightly. 
• Senior Honours. Senior Honours philosophy courses involve 20-24 contact hours per student, including at least 10 hours lectures and at least 4 hours seminars.  Seminars are spread throughout the semester roughly evenly, and at least one will be held at least a week before the essay deadline.

 
Seminars
Students must prepare for seminars according to instructions given by the tutor. This is a requirement for obtaining your degree. Participation in seminars is compulsory and the tutor should be notified in advance of any unavoidable absence.  If that is not possible, you should contact your tutor as soon as possible thereafter, to explain the absence and to bring yourself up to date with seminar assignments. A guide to successful participation in Seminars is available via the main Honours Moodle sites.
 
Reading Parties
Students are encouraged to attend a reading party arranged by Philosophy for two days at a rural venue.  These take place in first semester for Junior Honours, and in second semester for Senior Honours.

Lecture Recording Policy
The University policy on the recording of lectures can be found here: http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_359179_en.pdf
Students who wish to record lectures are should ask the lecturer's permission before the start of the lecture.

Please note that lecture recordings and ALL course materials provided are for your own personal use and can only be used in relation to your studies.  Any unauthorised distribution of course materials, including uploading them onto unauthorised web sites and social media sites, such as YouTube or Course Hero, will be considered in breach of the code of conduct and will be subject to disciplinary action.

G. Subject Requirements

 Absence

If you have to be absent from the University, for illness or any other reason, please keep the Class Convenor fully informed, furnishing a medical certificate where appropriate (see Section L). In addition to contacting the convenor, it is important that you create an absence report on MyCampus; evidence should also be uploaded here. Note that normally submission of coursework may only be postponed because of absence, not cancelled. 

Academic Requirements

Attention is drawn to the following statement in the Regulations for the MA degree in the University Calendar:

Students shall be required to comply with such instructions as are prescribed by the Head(s) of Subject(s) in charge of the module or course concerned.

Subject instructions are defined as requirements: 

• To attend specified lectures, tutorials, laboratory or practical sessions, field courses, examinations, and other events;
• To provide themselves with such books, equipment, and other materials as are necessary for the course;
• To submit items of work, including essays, dissertations, by such dates as may be instructed.

 
In Philosophy these instructions are set out in this document. Specific deadlines for coursework not set out herein will be advised on the main Philosophy Honours webpage at the appropriate time.  All written work must be submitted by the due dates unless prior permission has been obtained from the Honours Convenor (not your own tutor), or there are sound medical or comparable reasons, properly documented.

• In Junior Honours, satisfactory performance is a condition of entry into Senior Honours.
• In Senior Honours, satisfactory performance is a condition of being permitted to enrol for the final Degree Examinations.

 
The onus is on the student to comply with all Subject requirements to an acceptable standard.  Persistent failure to do so may result in the student not being permitted to continue his or her course.
   

Progression

In order to progress from Junior to Senior Honours in Philosophy, the student’s performance in Junior Honours  Philosophy must meet or exceed the standard for a third class degree. Thus, the mean mark for philosophy courses in the junior year must not be lower than 9.0 (see section I below). The student must have a satisfactory record of tutorial attendance and participation.
 

Eligibility for Examinations

Eligibility to sit examinations may be denied to Junior Honours students whose coursework and record of tutorial participation is not of an acceptable standard. Eligibility to sit examinations may be denied to Senior Honour students whose overall record prior to exams is below that minimum of a third-class degree, or whose record of coursework, tutorial and seminar participation is not of an acceptable standard. All such decisions will be taken by the head of subject.
 

Appeals

If you disagree with a decision of the Subject, for example not to permit progress to Senior Honours, you have the right to appeal to the College Appeals Committee.  You should write within 14 days to the Clerk of the College stating your grounds of appeal.

H. Submission and Marking of assessments

Assessments, including essays, are submitted online via the relevant course Moodle page. Full instructions are given there for how to upload your assessment and check that it has been submitted successfully. You should keep a copy (paper or electronic) of submitted essays.

Deadlines for essays will be announced well in advance and posted on the Philosophy webpages, including the main Honours webpage.

The essay and assessment topics for each course will be announced early in the course. In some courses there may be a choice of topics, but in some courses there will not be. Details of titles and reading will appear on the course webpages/moodle site.

Grades for assessments will be returned within the University target for the return of marked work, which is 3 working weeks.

Length

The target length for Junior Honours essays is 2000 words (this will vary in Senior Honours), including footnotes and endnotes, but excluding bibliographies and title. All references and quotations must be properly annotated and the essay must end with a bibliography of works consulted (see under ‘Style’).

Style

Philosophy at Glasgow has a few rules about the presentation of essays.  Most are common-sense measures to facilitate the smooth and secure distribution and marking of essays.  The others are self-explanatory.

1. Essays should be word-processed in a legible font with a left-hand margin of at least 4 cm.
2. The first page of the essay proper should bear the title.
3. Pages should be numbered.
4. All quotations must be put in inverted commas or set off from the main text and indented (not both), and their source must be acknowledged.  Failure to do this is plagiarism.  Students who submit plagiarised essays will receive no marks for them and will be subject to disciplinary action. If you are unclear about what constitutes plagiarism, check the main University of Glasgow policy.
5. At the end of each essay there should be a bibliography.  This should list all books and articles consulted during the preparation of the essay.  For books, the details given should include the author’s name, the title of the book, the place of publication, and the date of publication.  For journal articles they should include the author’s name, the title of the article, the name of the journal, the volume of the journal, the date and the page number of the article.

Late submission

Late essays (and dissertations) will be penalized according to the Senate policy on late coursework.  According to this policy, 2 marks will be lost PER WORKING DAY (or part day) for the first FIVE working days, after which the work will be awarded 0. Essays submitted after marks are released will be treated as non-submissions; this may prevent you getting credit for the course.

Penalties will not be applied if there is “good cause” as to why the work cannot be completed on time.  If you are unable for good reason to meet a deadline, you should in the first instance use the online form for five working day extensions; if you require longer, you should contact the appropriate Honours Convenor (not the lecturer or tutor) for an extension. Please do this as early as possible: extensions requested after the deadline has passed will only be awarded in exceptional circumstances.  The convenor will normally require documentation of the “good cause”. Please note that University regulations only permit extensions of up to five days in length, though the exam board has the power to set aside penalties accrued thereafter.

Philosophy at Glasgow does not regard your having to do several essays by the same date, or another piece of work for different subject, as an adequate excuse for late submission.  The onus is on you to look ahead and organise your work so that you meet all deadlines.

Appeals against marks awarded for essays

If you feel that your essay has been unjustly marked, you may appeal against the mark. Get in touch with the Honours Convenor concerned. The essay will then be remarked by another member of staff. The final mark will then be an average of the two marks awarded. Be aware that the second marker may award a lower mark than the first one. 

External examination of coursework

• External examiners may inspect sample scripts from each marker. Copies of some scripts will be taken and stored for this purpose.
• External Examiners may also wish to scrutinise coursework where, e.g., there is a marked discrepancy between examination and essay performance, or where it is claimed that ill health or other special circumstances affected performance in the Degree Examination. For this reason, you should retain all coursework that is returned to you, and keep it available for possible inspection. In the event that further scrutiny is required, we shall contact you and ask that the script(s) be resubmitted.

   

IMPORTANT NOTE: PLAGIARISM

Trying to pass off another's work as one's own is a serious offence in a university and may render you liable to disciplinary action. If you draw on a book or article in writing an essay, you must give a page-reference to it for each and every direct quotation, paraphrase, or appropriation of some idea or piece of information. The University Calendar says : The University's degrees and other academic awards are given in recognition of the candidate's personal achievement. Plagiarism is therefore considered as an act of academic fraudulence and as an offence against University discipline. Plagiarism is defined as the submission or presentation of work, in any form, which is not one's own, without acknowledgement of the sources. (With regard to essays, reports and dissertations, a simple rule dictates when it is necessary to acknowledge sources. If a student obtains information or ideas from an outside source, that source must be acknowledged. Another rule to follow is that any direct quotation must be placed in quotation marks, and the source immediately cited.  Each and every quotation, paraphrase or borrowing must be given a separate reference: it is not enough just to list the source in a general bibliography.)

The university's statement on Plagiarism, and information about disciplinary procedures, can be found here: http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/senateoffice/policies/calendar/calendar2017-18/feesandgeneral/studentsupportandconductmatters/reg32/

I. The mark for each course

For each Junior Honours course, 60% of the mark is based on the final examination, and 40% on the essay. The only exception to this is Formal Logic, which is assessed entirely by examination. Assessment weightings for Senior Honours courses can be found on Moodle.

 

J.     Honours Marking Scale

 

All Honours work including final examinations, essays and other elements or continuous assessment (see previous Section) is marked in accordance with the University’s code of assessment full details of which can be found at http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/senateoffice/policies/assessment/

  A 22-point scale is used, as follows.

 

A1	22	FIRST	EXCELLENT
A2	21	FIRST	EXCELLENT
A3	20	FIRST	EXCELLENT
A4	19	FIRST	EXCELLENT
A5	18	FIRST	EXCELLENT
B1	17	UPPER SECOND	VERY GOOD
B2	16	UPPER SECOND	VERY GOOD
B3	15	UPPER SECOND	VERY GOOD
C1	14	LOWER SECOND	GOOD
C2	13	LOWER SECOND	GOOD
C3	12	LOWER SECOND	GOOD
D1	11	THIRD	SATISFACTORY
D2	10	THIRD	SATISFACTORY
D3	9	THIRD	SATISFACTORY
E1	8	WEAK	WEAK
E2	7	WEAK	WEAK
E3	6	WEAK	WEAK
F1	5	POOR	POOR
F2	4	POOR	POOR
F3	3	POOR	POOR
G1	2	VERY POOR	VERY POOR
G2	1	VERY POOR	VERY POOR
H	0		NOT DESCRIBED

 

Transcripts

The University now records a student's entire academic history on a single document known as a transcript for the information of prospective employers, graduate schools, etc. This document will show the band of mark obtained for each separate Honours course in the system of continuous assessment described in the previous Section.

 

K. Degree Examination and Determination of Class of Degree

Students are required by Senate to sit their final examinations at the end of the year unless they have prior permission from the Head of Subject. This will not normally be granted except for sound medical or comparable reasons.
 
Note that, in contrast to Levels 1 and 2, there are no resits/retakes in Honours.

Examinations

Junior Honours examinations are two hours long.  Senior Honours examinations will vary by course. Details of rubrics will be available in due course.

Examination questions will not normally be set on the same topic (narrowly understood) as the essay question for that course. 

Visiting students who are registered at the University of Glasgow for Semester 1 only, and who are taking a course that has an examination in April/May as part of its normal assessment, will be given an alternative examination assessment in December. Students in this position should note that they must make themselves available until the end of Semester 1 (including the Winter Examination Period) for this examination assessment.

Degree Classification 

The overall degree classification is arrived at as follows.  (Full details can be found at http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/senateoffice/policies/assessment/.) A score on the 22-point scale is determined for each course.  The mean is calculated, and rounded to 1 decimal place.  A mean of 18.0 – 22.0 results in an overall first class degree; a mean of 15.0-17.0 in an upper second class degree.  Between 17.1 and 17.9 the Honours Examiners’ Meeting has discretion to award either first or upper second class honours, taking the student’s overall performance into consideration.  Similarly at the upper second/lower second boundary etc.

Philosophy’s practice is to use the following three criteria:

• Course Grade Profile: promote if 50% or more credits are in the higher degree classification.
• Review of Mean Scores: promote if unrounded mean takes candidate up out of the zone of discretion
• Exit Velocity: promote if Senior Honours performance is at the level of the higher degree classification.

Examination Marking and the External Examiner

Every examination is moderated by a member of staff, who will check for consistency in grading. All answers below D, and 10% of all scripts, are read by the moderator. In cases of significant disagreement, the script is sent to a third examiner, who may be the External Examiner. The External is a senior academic of another University, who scrutinises the examination papers when they are set, monitors the marking process, and comments directly to the Principal on the standard and presentation of the Course as a whole. All examination scripts are made available to the External, and he or she may also be asked to adjudicate on difficult cases, and those involving medical or other special circumstances. The External Examiner has the right to inspect coursework, and may do so if you claim that medical or other special circumstances affected your Degree Examination performance. The External Examiners for Philosophy are are listed on the Honours Moodle. Under University regulations students are not permitted to contact external examiners directly.

Generic feedback for each examination will be provided after the examination period has ended.

L. Disability; Medical and other Special Circumstances

 

Students with disabilities

Any student with a disability which may make it difficult to attend lectures or otherwise to fulfil the requirements of the Class should make this known to the Honours Convenor at the earliest opportunity. Wherever possible the Subject will make arrangements to facilitate the student's full participation.

Special arrangements can also be made for examinations.

Circumstances affecting coursework

If you are unable to submit an element of coursework at the proper time, or believe that your performance in any element of coursework has been adversely affected by illness or comparable circumstances, you should notify the Honours Convenor (not your tutor) as soon as possible and supply appropriate documentation in due course. A Good Cause report, with supporting evidence where available, should be created on MyCampus. If you are not able to do so, there may be a penalty for late submission, which will affect your final result. 

Please note that any Good Cause appeals that go beyond requests for the removal of late submission penalties, if accepted, will result in the original grade being wiped and, where appropriate, another opportunity for assessment. The replacement grade will stand, whether it is higher or lower than the first attempt, so you are advised to think carefully about submitting Good Cause appeals.

Medical evidence, etc., affecting degree examinations

Any student who believes his or her performance in the degree exam to have been adversely affected by illness or comparable circumstances must notify the Honours Convenor at the earliest opportunity and supply a medical letter* or other appropriate documentation. If you cannot do this yourself, ask someone else to do it for you. It is crucial that a Good Cause report, with supporting evidence where available, be created on MyCampus.

 *NB: You should consult your doctor while you are ill. A letter saying that you told your doctor weeks after your exam that you had been ill at that time, is of no evidential value. You should also ask your doctor to say what effect, in his or her opinion, your illness had on your performance in the examination.

Similar rules apply to comparable circumstances such as bereavement; you should provide documentary evidence of the event, and of how it affected your performance.

If you are ill at the time of the exam, you should arrange for the Honours Convenor to be notified immediately. Do not wait until your result is announced. Again,a report should be posted on MyCampus as soon as possible.

You should ensure that any medical or similar evidence which you wish to be considered when your degree result is determined is submitted well in advance of the Honours Examiners’ meeting.  Attempts to use the appeal process to submit new evidence after the results are published are unlikely to be successful, if the evidence could have been provided earlier.

Please note that Good Cause appeals, if accepted, will result in the original grade being wiped and, where appropriate, another opportunity for assessment. The replacement grade will stand, whether it is higher or lower than the first attempt, so you are advised to think carefully about submitting Good Cause appeals.

 

M. Consulting Staff

All members of staff have Office Hours ('At Home' hours) when they are available to see students without appointment. If you have any query or problem affecting your work, come and talk to someone.  We are human (albeit eccentric in some cases) and will not bite.  

Personal tutors

The College of Arts has devolved most advising responsibilities pertaining to Honours students to subject level.  We have therefore introduced a 'personal tutor' system as an extra level of pastoral care.

 Each student will be assigned a lecturer as personal tutor. Your personal tutor is responsible for your general academic welfare; you should meet with them every so often to discuss how things are going, can ask them for advice, and should inform them if you are having any difficulties.

Honours Convenors

The Honours Convenors are in charge of the general administration of the Honours classes, and may be consulted about any academic or administrative difficulties. See the General Honours moodle for contact details.

Course Convenors

Students should feel free to approach lecturers or the convenors of their chosen papers about the content of the course. 

Examinations Officer

On matters pertaining to Honours examinations, you should consult the Examinations Officer. (Again, see the General Honours moodle for contact details.)

 Students are also at liberty to consult the Head of Subject on any matter.

N. Consultation with Students

In Philosophy we value student involvement in developing and improving teaching across the subject. To that end, we have a number of different ways in which we encourage students to feed back information about how we're doing, and to participate in making decisions about how Philosophy is taught at Glasgow.

We have two different subject-based fora at which students and staff discuss matters relevant to study in Philosophy.

At least once a year, and usually twice a year, we hold a staff-student meeting specifically for students taking Honours courses in Philosophy. This is a chance to discuss honours provision in depth, to give feedback on specific courses, to make suggestions about how we might improve Honours study in the subject, and to raise any other points (of praise, criticism, or inquiry) that students want to discuss with staff. All students taking a course in Honours, and all members of staff teaching it, are encouraged to attend this meeting. Minutes of the meetings, with indications of action resulting from student comments, are posted on the main Moodle sites.

There is also a general Philosophy Learning and Teaching Committee also meets twice a year, to discuss more general matters concerning study in Philosophy. This may include points discussed at Honours staff-student meetings which have broader implications, or for which a more formal subject decision is needed. The LTC is chaired by the Director of Learning and Teaching, and contains representatives from each class, as well as a number of representatives from graduate students and staff. Each honours year has two representatives, for single and for joint honours students. The names and contact details of your representatives will be posted on the main Moodle site for each year.

There is also a Staff-Student Liaison Committee for the School of Humanities, information about which can be found on the School website.

Outwith the committees mentioned above, Philosophy also consults with students by asking them to fill in a questionnaire after completing each Honours course. The Honours convenors will sometimes e-mail all Honour students asking for comments on specific proposals (e.g. to introduce a new course at Senior Honours). Students are also encouraged to give feedback directly, if there is a matter they wish to raise: these can be taken up directly with the Honours convenors (by e-mail or during offic ehours), or can be relayed anonymously via the Student Representatives if preferred.

 

O. Philosophy Clubs and Societies

 There is a philosophical society run by students. Details of meetings will be posted on notice boards, and on the society’s website at http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/philosophy/thephilosophysociety/.

Honours students are encouraged to attend the Philosophy Senior Seminar, at which visiting speakers from other philosophy departments give talks. These are usually on Tuesdays at 4pm in the Reid Room. The topics of talks can be found on the Philosophy calendar of events.

P. Other Sources of Advice and Information

Students' Advisers of Studies are available to assist them with matters affecting their academic progress. In case of difficulty, the Chief Adviser can be contacted at 6 University Gardens (Arts), or the Adam Smith Building (Social Science).

General counselling is available from the Student Counselling Service (http://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/counselling/). Advice on welfare and other matters is also available from the Student Representative Council in the John McIntyre Building.

The University Careers Service (http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/careers/) is situated in the Fraser Building. Honours students are urged to consult the Service in their Junior Honours year to discuss their future careers and to look at the extensive information carried by the Service, including information about postgraduate courses and visits to the University by prospective employers.

Q. General Aims of the Honours Course in Philosophy

 General Aims

• To give students a grounding in some of the central doctrines of philosophy.
• To give students a grounding in some of the classic philosophical texts in which these doctrines were first expounded.
• To teach students to distinguish different types of questions and the differing methods appropriate to answering them.
• To encourage students to engage with the topics and debate them for themselves.

  Skills Aims

• To foster the development of:

 
analytical thinking:

• ability to identify and clarify conceptual relationships
• ability to identify and question assumptions;
• ability to argue a case;

 
engaging with controversy:

• ability to evaluate opposing arguments;
• readiness to question received wisdom;
• ability to listen to what others say;
• ability to develop a structured and reasoned response;

 
breadth of view:

• preparedness to cross traditional subject boundaries in search of a synoptic overview;
• ability to trace formal analogies;

 
communication skills:

• clarity;
• relevance;
• succinctness in writing and discussion;

 
comprehension:

• mastery of challenging texts;
• ability to appreciate different points of view;

 
reflexivity:

• ability to handle second-order questions;
• awareness of one’s own preconceptions.

For aims and learning outcomes of particular courses, see the course webpages.

R. University Complaints Procedure, Harrassment and Equality

If you have a complaint please raise it with a member of staff in the area concerned. We aim to provide a response to the complaint within five working days. This is Stage 1.

If you are not satisfied with the response provided at Stage 1 you may take the complaint to Stage 2 of the procedure. Similarly, if your complaint is complex, you may choose to go straight to Stage 2. At this stage the University will undertake a detailed investigation of the complaint, aiming to provide a final response within 20 working days.

You can raise a Stage 2 complaint in the following ways:

• by e-mail: complaints@glasgow.ac.uk;
• by phone: 0141 330 2506 by post: The Senate Office, The University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ
• in person: The Senate Office, Gilbert Scott Building, The University of Glasgow.

Complaints do not have to be made in writing but you are encouraged to submit the completed Complaint Form (available at http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/senateoffice/studentcodes/students/complaints/ ) whether it is at Stage 1 or Stage 2. This will help to clarify the nature of the complaint and the remedy that you are seeking.

Remember that the SRC Advice Centre is available to provide advice and assistance if you are considering making a complaint. (Tel: 0141 339 8541; e-mail: advice@src.gla.ac.uk)

Information about GU’s regulations about, definition of, and contacts in the event of, sexual harassment are available here: http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/humanresources/equalitydiversity/policy/dignityatwork/app-b/

General information about GU’s policy on equality and diversity is here: http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/humanresources/equalitydiversity/policy/equalitypolicy/