This course introduces students to a number of major issues in metaphysics. It familiarises students with the main positions and arguments within each topic, and enables students to deploy these arguments for themselves.

16x1hr lectures, 4x1hr seminars over 10 weeks as scheduled in MyCampus. This is one of the Honours options in Philosophy and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

None

None

Exam ( 2 hour duration) - 60%

Essay (2000 words) - 40% 

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which 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:

■ Allow students to gain a good understanding of the nature and methods of contemporary metaphysics; 

■ Allow students to familiarise themselves with a number of central metaphysical questions, debates and theories; 

■ Allow students to engage in these debates themselves. 

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

■ Explain and contrast different theories on a range of metaphysical questions; 

■ State and evaluate influential arguments for and against such theories; 

■ Critically assess how defenders of such a theory might respond to such arguments; 

■ Independently find and engage with literature relevant to a given topic in metaphysics. 

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