Diploma First Year Requirements

Introduction to the History of Western Philosophy
Philosophy and Post-Modern Thought
History of Political Philosophy

Entry requirements:

Apart from the requirements laid down for entry into Faculty, no special requirements apply for entry.

Dates of Semesters (Teaching)

Syllabus - Year I:

Individual Course Units:

Introduction to the History of Western Philosophy

Course description: This course is primarily designed to introduce students to key developments in the history of Western thought from the ancient to the modern period. It highlights the influence of various schools of thought upon our political, social, educational, ethical and aesthetical perspectives. The course will trace the development from a mytho-poetical interpretation of the world to an epistemology more reliant on reason or logos. The course will start with an overview of the ancients (Heraclitus, Parmenides, etc.) and the classical period (Socrates, Plato, etc.) moving onto the rationalist philosophy of Descartes and the empiricism of Locke, Berkeley and Hume. The course will address the controversy of debate emerging from each school of thought (nomos/physis distinction, freedom of the individual, etc.)

Prerequisites: None

Methods of assessment and examination: One essay (1200 words); a two-hour written exam.

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Philosophy and Post-Modern Thought

Course Aim: It is hoped that this course will provide the student with an alternative view of a world structured on Modern epistemologies and scientific method. By examining the postmodern views of the philosophers discussed on the course, the student will be able to question any foundational claims to truth, thus further enhancing his/her analytical and critical skills in an area that has very important implications for our own multicultural society today.

Course Description: The primary aim of this course is to examine the anti-modernist views of contemporary philosophers, such as, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigary, and Hans-Georg Gadamer. A study of these philosophers will provide the student with a critique of the foundational nature of Modern philosophies. In doing so, the student will be able to compare the changing attitudes to truth found in Postmodern theories: hermeneutics and its critique of fixed and universal rules of scientific method; an analysis and discussion of the development of feminist aspects of philosophy; and the impact of postmodern thought on own inter-cultural society.

Prerequisites: None

Methods of assessment and examination: One essay (1200 words); a two-hour written exam.

Core texts:

Primary:

Sim, Stuart, The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism

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

Secondary: to be announced
Note: The course will be supplemented with handouts.

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History of Political Philosophy

Course description:
Part 1. Classical Greece to the Renaissance

The history of political philosophy engages with two related issues. It looks at different attempts to justify the exercise of political power and the enjoyment of rights. It also addresses the problem of how we can understand the political philosophy of a different historical era.
This course explores the political philosophy of important thinkers in western civilization, from Plato and Aristotle, to Aquinas and Machiavelli. Throughout this course we will explore the nature of democracy and the role of the political philosopher in a democratic polity.

Part 2. Modern Political Philosophy

Part two of this course looks at political philosophy from the eras of the Reformation and the democratic and industrial revolutions. New issues arise in this period concerning the separation of church and state, the social dislocation caused by industrialism, the extension of the franchise, and the growing role claimed by the nation State.
We look at the work of Hobbes, Locke, and Mill and Marx. We will ask whether and in what way modernity alters the nature of democracy and the role of the political philosopher.

Prerequisites: None

Teaching and learning methods: Essay and Exam

Core texts:

The student will be directed to selected primary sources in the course of the lectures. J. S. McClelland's The History of Western Political Thought, is a useful secondary source.

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