BA First Year Requirements

Semester Two timetable is available in the philosophy department, 19 distillery road. 

Entry requirements: Apart from the requirements laid down for entry into the College of Arts, no special requirements apply for entry.

Important information: Essay deadlines and penalties

First Year Requirements

Introduction to the History of Philosophy

Introduction to Practical Ethics

Philosophical Questions and Issues

Dates of Semesters (Teaching)

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Timetable

Compulsory/Optional Courses:

All courses are compulsory for B.A. students

Schedule of Courses:

Individual Course Units:

Introduction to the History of Philosophy

Lecturer: Prof. P. Crowther / Dr. T. Doyle

Course description: The course will introduce students to key thinkers and ideas in the history of western philosophy. Since ancient philosophy is so central to this history, the first half of the course is devoted to some of its most important achievements in the work of the Pre-Socratics, Plato, and Aristotle. Attention is then turned to aspects of medieval philosophy, and the great rationalist and empiricist traditions (represented by Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz, and Locke and Hume, respectively). Lectures will also be offered on Kant, Nietzsche, and the analytic and phenomenological traditions

Prerequisites: None

Teaching and learning methods: The course is lecture-based, supplemented by tutorials.

Methods of assessment and examination:  Overall assessment is by written exam at the end of first semester.   Mid-term assignment may be required.

Core text:    

Copleston, History of Philosophy, Image Publishing

Guthrie, W. K. C., The Greek Philosophers from Thales to Aristotle, Methuen

Johnston, D., A Brief History of Philosophy, Continuum

Plato, Republic, Penguin

Russell, B., History of Western Philosophy, Routledge

Solomon, R. and Higgins, K., A Short History of Philosophy, Oxford

Stumpf, S. E., and Fieser, J., Socrates to Sartre and Beyond, McGraw Hill

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Introduction to Practical Ethics  

Lecturer: Mr. J. Mahon, M. A.

Course description: This course (Practical Ethics) provides a rigorous, but non-technical examination of a wide range of contemporary moral issues. Among the issues discussed are vivisection, abortion, cloning, euthanasia, capital punishment and war.

Prerequisites: None

Teaching and learning methods: The course is lecture-based, supplemented by tutorials.

Methods of assessment and examination: Overall assessment is by written examination at the end of the second semester. Written course work (essay) - if required is added to the evaluation

Core texts: J. Rachels, (ed.) Moral Problems. 3rd Ed. Harper & Row: New York 1979.
T. Regan, (ed.) Matters of Life and Death. Random House, New York 1980.
P. Singer (ed.), A Companion to Ethics. Blackwell, Oxford 1991.
W.H. Shaw (ed.), Social and Personal Ethics. Wadsworth, Belmont/Calif. 1993.
J. E. White (ed.), Contemporary Moral Problems. West Pub. Co: St. Paul,
1985, 1994.
H. Lafollette (ed.), Ethics in Practice, Blackwell: Oxford, 1977.

Philosophical Questions and Issues  

Lecturer:  Semester 1 Dr. O'Murchadha / Dr. Felzmann

               Semester 2 Dr. Hull / Dr. Tosh

Course description: This course aims to introduce students to a diversity of philosophical approaches to the problem of meaning and value.   Issues covered will include some of the following: justice, poverty, love, death, genetics and human life, human rights, free will, violence and the meaning of life.

Prerequisites: None

Teaching and learning methods: The course is lecture-based, supplemented by tutorials.

Methods of assessment and examination:  Overall assessment is by an essay at the end of each semester   Mid-term assignment may be required.

Core text:          

 (A detailed reading list will be distributed at the beginning of the course).

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