Philosophy

Extra Teaching Services

M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O. Courses (Faculty of Medicine)
Master of Medicine
B. A. in Nursing Science
Masters in Information Technology
Certificate in General Studies
Third Commerce
BSc in Physics & Astronomy

A. Course contributions to M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O. Courses
(Faculty of Medicine)

Course: Medical Ethics
Semester: 2
Contact hours/weekly: 1
Lecturer: Dr. R.. Hull

Course description: This course is concerned with contemporary moral issues facing medics. It will introduce a variety of normative ethical theories to provide a foundation for the critical analysis of a range of issues arising from the biological and medical sciences. These are likely to include abortion, euthanasia/physician assisted suicide, disability, genetic modification and resource allocation.

It is intended that students will gain knowledge of moral theory that equips them to evaluate some of the most pressing dilemmas facing biomedical practice. Teaching and learning methods: This course is lecture-based with some supplementary workshops.

Mode of assessment: The course will be assessed by examination.

Core Text:

Beachamp, T.l, & Childress, J., Principles of Biomedical Ethics, OUP, 1994.

Singer, P. (Ed), A Companion to Ethics, Blackwell, 1993.

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B. Course contributions to Master of Medicine
(Faculty of Medicine)

Course: Medical Ethics
Semester: 1 & 2
Contact hours: 2 lectures only.
Lecturer: Dr. R. Hull

Lecture description: The lectures discusses a contemporary moral issue in the context of the decisions and responsibilities facing physicians. Teaching and learning methods: The is a lecture followed by discussion.

Methods of assessment and examination: 15 minute written examination.

Core text:

A selection of readings from areas of social demography / bioethics / health promotion.

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C. Course contributions to B. A. in Nursing Science

Course: Philosophical Approaches to Health Care (NU 121)
Semester: 1
Contact hours /weekly: 1
Lecturers: Ms. Heike Schmidt-Felzmann

Course description: This course is designed to introduce students to ethical issues in nursing practice and to help them understand basic moral notions in their application to nursing and healthcare. To that end, the course examines core ethical notions in the context of nursing practice and develops a framework for moral reflection that draws on professional and philosophical ethics. The course explores the implications of different moral theories, notions like care and advocacy, and discusses a number of important ethical issues in health care ethics, including death and dying, chronic illness and suffering, and conflicts of values. The main aim of the course is to teach students how to discuss the ethical topics from different angles and use this knowledge to analyse ethical issues in practice. By studying different ethical theories and approaches, students will enhance their analytical and critical skills, have the ability to discuss and evaluate ethical arguments, thus gaining a good foundation of ethical values for their nursing careers.

Reading:

• Thompson, Melia, Boyd (2000) Nursing Ethics (4th edn.)
• Johnstone (1999) Bioethics - A Nursing Perspective (3rd ed.)
• further selected articles

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Course: Fundamental Issues in Health Care (NU 219)
Semester: 2
Contact hours /weekly: 1
Lecturers: Ms. Heike Schmidt-Felzmann

Course description: This course builds up on the material covered in the previous course "Philosophical Approaches to Health Care". Drawing on the students' knowledge of ethical concepts and theories and their familiarity with a framework for ethical decision-making, this course will discuss a number of specific philosophical and ethical issues in health care more in depth. Part of the course is dedicated to exploring the significance of the concepts of health, illness and enhancement for health care practice. In addition, the question of power in health care will be discussed, including the question of institutional and professional power, paternalism and informed consent. Finally, ethical issues related to the concept of a person are covered, including questions relating to dignity, identity and physical and mental impairment.

Reading:

• Thompson, Melia, Boyd (2000) Nursing Ethics (4th edn.)
• Johnstone (1999) Bioethics - A Nursing Perspective (3rd ed.)
• further selected articles

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D. Courses contributions to Masters in Information Technology

Course: Business Ethics
Semester: 1
Contact hours /weekly: 2
Lecturers: Dr. R. Hull

Course description: The aim of the course is to provide an introduction to a systematic discussion of moral problems arising in business practice in terms of contemporary theories of ethics and 'the good life.' It also provides, through the discussion of case studies, a training in the use and critical assessment of different rules and principles used in moral decision-making.

Content: Ethical theory and its application to business. Utilitarianism and deontology. Subjects likely to be included corporate social responsibility. Employee rights and unions. Conflict of loyalties and roles. 'Whistle blowing'. Advertising and information disclosure. The environment. Preferential hiring and reverse discrimination. Theories of economic justice. Property and profit. Teaching and learning methods: The course is a combination of lectures and seminars. Each student will be expected to present a paper in class on one of the chief topics discussed, and answer objections and argue for the position presented.

Method of Assessment and examination: Assessment will be on the basis of class work, and on an essay covering general principles and particular problems that arise.

Core Texts:

Ethical theory and Business, by Tom M. Beecham, and Norman E. Bowie, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 1983.

Business Ethics, by Edward Stevens, Paulist Press, New York 1979.

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Course: Philosophy of Technology
Semester: 1
Contact Hours/Weekly: 2
Lecturers: Dr. T. Duddy/Prof. P.F. O'Gorman

Course description: This course is divided into two sections. Section One will investigate a selection of the following: Models, Information and Knowledge, Complexity, Emergence and Computer Modelling, Technology and the Economy. The second part of the course deals with issues in computer ethics, computer culture, the political possibilities of computer networking, and computer models of the human mind. Topics discussed include the following: (i) computer crime and the problem of 'old morality, (ii) data protection and the right to privacy, (iii) the Eliza effect, (iv) 'computopia', and (v) the possibility of designing artificial minds.

Teaching and Learning Methods: Lectures and discussion.

Method of Assessment and Examination: End-of-term essay.

Core texts:

Arthur, W.B.: Increasing Returns and Path Dependency in the Economy, The Univ. of Michigan Press, 2000.

Heylighan F., Bollen J., Ringler A. (eds.): The Evolution of Complexity, Kluwer Academic Press, Dordrecht, 1999.

Kauffman, S.: Investigations, Oxford U.P., 2000.

Data Protection Act 1988: Guidelines for Data Controllers.

T. Forester & P. Morrison, Computer Ethics: Cautionary Tales and Ethical Dilemmas in Computing 2nd. Ed, MIT Press, 1990.

J. Weizenbaum, Computer Power and Human Reason, Penguin, Harmondsworth 1976.

J. Searle, Minds, Brains, and Science. Penguin, Harmondsworth 1984.

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E. Course contributions to Certificate in General Studies

Course: Modern/Contemporary Philosophy
Semester: 1
Contact hours/weekly: 2
Lecturer: Mr. E. Campbell

Course description: This course is primarily designed to introduce students to the most important issues that have developed within the History of modern Philosophy and their relevance for twenty-first century society - culturally, politically and socially. In order to approach these issues, the student will be introduced to the original concerns of philosophy in ancient Greece. After this introductory section, the course will concentrate on the development of Modern philosophical thought to the present day.

The main focus of the Modern/Postmodern period will be on the foundations of scientific knowledge and the psychological origins of philosophy in the thought of René Descartes; The British empirical philosophers, Locke Berkeley and Hume and the problem of the foundation of Knowledge; Kant on the problem of Morality and Aesthetic values; Nietzsche on the "Death of god", the "devaluation of values," and his influence on modern literature; Twentieth Century Existentialist thought in the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, outlining the problem of human existence; The Postmodern debate on the theories of Jean-Francois Lyotard, Jurgen Habermas and Hans-Georg Gadamer.

Method of Assessment and examination: One written mid-term paper and two hour written final exam.

Core Texts:

Cahn, Stephen, Classics of Western Philosophy;

Price, Joan. A, Philosophy through the Ages;

Kearney & Rainwater (eds.), The Continental Philosophy Reader:

Lyotard, Jean-Francois, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge;

Anthony Flew, A Dictionary of Philosophy.

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F. Course contributions to Third Commerce

Course: Economic Methodology
Semester: 1
Contact hours/weekly: 2
Lecturer: Prof. Pascal O'Gorman

Course description: The course is divided into two sections. The second section, which is offered jointly by the Department of Economics and Philosophy, is to provide a critical survey of recent developments in the field of economic methodology. The principal focus will be on developments in the twentieth century, with reference to earlier developments where it is necessary for purposes of historical contextualization and intellectual coherence. Drawing on the resources of both academic department our approach will be to provide a critical account of a number of the most recent philosophical frameworks that have emerged in economic methodology. More specifically we will examine the work of economists and economic methodologists who have adopted these philosophical positions and attempted to interpret in the light of these positions.

Method of Assessment and Examination: Exam

Core Texts:

T.A. Boylan, P.F. O'gorman, Beyond Rhetoric and Realism in Economics: Towards a Reformulation of Economic Methodology, Routledge 1995.

M. Blaug, The Methodology of Economics, Cambridge University Press, 1980 (2nd ed. 1992)

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G. Course contributions to BSc in Physics & Astronomy

Course: Astrophysical Concepts (1)
Semester: 1
Contact hours/weekly: 1
Lecturer: Prof. Markus Wörner

Course description: This course (Astrophysical Concepts (1)) is intended to familiarize students with the history of astronomical and philosophical theories of cosmic structure. It will use a paradigmatic approach in which Presocratic, Platonic, Aristotelian, Ptolemaic, Copernican and modern systems are discussed in terms of their relevance for our understanding of the cosmos. Included in this course will be a day field trip to visit " The Leviathan of Parsonstown" in Birr Castle.

For further information visit the Physics and Astronomy website

Prerequisities: None

Teaching and learning methods: The course is lecture-based and will be accompanied by observational astronomy suited for Arts students.

Methods of assessment and examination: Overall assessment is based on written examination. Written course work (essay) - if required - is added to the evaluation

Core text: Michael Zeilik, Astronomy, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
Thomas Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution, Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press
1985.
Stephen Toulmin, Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity, Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press 1992.

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