Philosophy and the Contemporary World
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| PHIL1011 | Philosophy | 1 | 20 | Autumn UK |
- Code
- PHIL1011
- School
- Philosophy
- Level
- 1
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Autumn UK
Summary
This module will provide students with the resources necessary to critically understand and constructively engage with a variety of topical practical, social, and political issues and phenomena. These include a range of psychological phenomena of relevance to both university environments and social life, and large-scale political and cultural developments that invite moral and intellectual concern. An overt aim of the module is to provide students with the intellectual skills necessary to undertake their duties as responsible citizens in a democratic society within a multicultural and multiracial world. Possible content: Education: Purpose of education; Is there a right to higher education? Who should pay for higher education? Free speech: Why value free speech? Censorship and Pornography; ‘Speech Codes’ and ‘Hate Speech’; Safe spaces. Identity and prejudice: Race and racial politics; Homophobia; Transphobia; Intersex; Class, Disability; Representation of Religion in Politics; Psychology of Bias.
Civic responsibility: People, Animals and the Environment; ‘Bullshit’, truth, and post-truth politics; Suffrage; Media Culture. Global justice: War; Terrorism; World hunger; Migration and Refugees. Ethics and technology: Human enhancement; Drugs and sport; Ethics and Artificial Intelligence; inductive risk.
Target Students
First year single honours and joint honours Philosophy students, including Liberal Arts students. Also available to subsidiary students from other Schools and exchange students.
Classes
- One 1-hour seminar each week for 10 weeks
- One 1-hour lecture each week for 10 weeks
- One 2-hour lecture each week for 10 weeks
Assessment
- 50% Coursework 1: 2,000 word essay
- 50% Exam (2-hour)
Assessed by end of autumn semester
Educational Aims
The module aims to provide students with the resources necessary to critically understand and constructively engage with a variety of topical practical, social, and political issues and phenomena.Learning Outcomes
- Articulate the value of philosophical thinking in relation to the contemporary world.
- Critically evaluate key ideas relating to the contemporary world.
- Understand and deploy key philosophical arguments/concepts/methods in different everyday contexts.
- Develop the capacity to present problems and proposed solutions to them in a clear, precise and economical way.