Philosophy Modules

The Philosophy modules listed below will be offered in academic year 2012-2013. Please note that the modules listed may be subject to change and that final module selection will depend on academic approval of your module choice at both the point of application and the academic advising session before Matriculation.

Level 4

PI42012 - Thinking Film

30 credits, Semester 2
This module explores the many ways in which philosophy and film can form a productive relationship. We begin by looking at how philosophical topics such as time, reality and appearance, or personal identity can be investigated through recent 'high-concept' films such as The Matrix, Memento, or Gattaca. We go on to examine philosophical theories of film, and conclude by asking how film-art can make us think: in other words, can film philosophise?

PI42003 - Understanding, Dialogue and Interpretation

30 credits, Semester 2
What is involved in the act of interpreting a text or an art work? How does interpretation differ from analysis and explanation? This course will approach these and related questions via a sustained enquiry into such modern hermeneutic thinkers as Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger, Gadamer, Habermas and Iser.

PI41015 - Projects on the Philosophy of Time

30 credits, Semester 2
Students will be taught a series of paradoxes in the philosophy of time (as shown by Zeno, McTaggart, Lewis, Deleuze and Derrida) and a series of theories about the nature and importance of time (McTaggart, Le Poidevin, Heidegger, Deleuze, Derrida). On the basis of this critical knowledge, students will write a project that takes a case from outside philosophy (for instance, in film, literature, psychology or physics) and uses it to develop a critical explanation of a philosophical paradox and theory.

PI41021 - Marx's Capital

30 credits, Semester 2
This module will introduce students to Marx's political philosophy. It aims to allow them to develop their own critical and constructive applications of his ideas to contemporary problems and situations of their choice. Students will reflect critically on the contemporary relevance of ideas such as alienation, capitalist modes of production and commodity fetishism. The introduction will be through a close reading of the first volume of Capital, supplemented by reference to further relevant texts by Marx as well as by other political philosophers, to deepen and contextualise students' understanding of Marx's thought.