Philosophy
Courses in Detail
PHL 01: A Short Look at Four Philosophers
Tutor: Dick Wilson
Day and time: Tuesday 3.30 - 4.30
Venue: Room 5, 27-28 Bridge Street
Terms: Autumn, spring.
Number of places: 20
The class will study in some depth sections from Aristotle, Metaphysics, Augustine, On Free Will etc. David Hume, Treatise on Human Understanding, and W. van O. Quine, From a Logical Point of View. There will be an opportunity for class members to make presentations if they wish. For details of editions, chapters to be studied and e-books, contact the tutor as soon as you apply.
Note: Autumn term 12th October – 7th December. Spring term 18th January – 15th March.
top of the page
PHL 02: Basic Philosophical Issues
Leader: Bill Humphrey
Day and time: Tuesday 10.00 - 11.00
Terms: Autumn, spring.
Number of places: 10
We will read and discuss Justice: What is the right thing to do? by Michael Sandel. The author provides a lively and accessible account of the basic ideas underlying justice.
top of the page
PHL 03: The Gospel of John
Tutor: Christina Johnson
Day and time: Thursday 2.00 - 3.30
Venue: Room 3, 27-28 Bridge Street
Terms: Autumn.
Number of places: 10
A class for those who wish to deepen their textual understanding of the Gospel and explore questions about how and why it might have been written, the author's particular interests and the role it played in the early church.
Please bring a bible, preferably a Revised Standard Version.
top of the page
PHL 04: Humanism and Religion
Co-ordinator: Brian Wallis
Day and time: Saturday 10.30 - 12.30
Venue: Room 5, 27-28 Bridge Street
Terms: Autumn, spring.
Number of places: 16
If the 'Good Life' is created by human ethics and values, can we best find it through the Christian religion or Humanist values?
This course will follow the previous pattern of discussion sparked by selected literature. This year we will begin with Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
Guest speakers will be invited on an occasional basis to provide expertise and stimulus.
top of the page
PHL 05: Jesus's Love as shown in the Gospels, and the Holocaust
Lecturer: Dr Ron Gray
Day and time: Thursday 11.00 - 12.00
Venue: Lecture Theatre, Queen's Building, Emmanuel College.
Terms: Spring.
Number of places: 140
There is no need to have been to the Shakespeare lectures in the Autumn Term, though they are also about love. My theme this time is whether the way Jesus is spoken of, as George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury said, as though he was extraordinarily generous, 'prepared to forgive harm and not strike back' or as a recent Oxford theologian argued, he was 'not given to censure, but compassionate and lenient…joyous and celebratory!'
It seems to me that these remarks are only partly true and that some things Jesus said led on through the centuries to dreadful consequences.
Note: 8 weeks only, starts 20th January.
* See LIT 34 for Dr Gray's autumn term course
top of the page
PHL 06: Logic for Beginners (spring term)
Tutor: Jennifer Stuart
Day and time: Tuesday 11.30 - 12.30
Venue: Room 2, 27-28 Bridge Street
Terms: Spring.
Number of places: 12
Knowing that your own reasoning is technically sound, and being able to assess the correctness of others' reasoning (be it politicians, advertising, the law or just everyday life) is of great practical value in a world of information overload.
The course will study what makes good and bad reasoning, and go on to the basics of formal logic, with exercises, examples and discussion.
top of the page
PHL 07: Philosophy Reading Group
Co-ordinator: Dick Wilson
Day and time: 2nd Tuesday in month 1.30 - 2.45
Terms: Autumn, spring, summer.
Number of places: 10
The class will discuss individual philosophical works or long sections from them, introduced by the member proposing them.
Dates: Autumn – 12th October, 9th November, 14th December. Spring – 11th January, 8th February, 8th March, 12th April, 10th May. Venue is on Citi Number 7 bus route.
top of the page
Philosophy Seminars PHL 08
Tutor: Dr Kazia Gaseltine
Day and time: Wednesday 10.00 - 11.00
Terms: Autumn.
Number of places: 10
A course of 8 seminars on the Seven Deadly Sins: superbia, acedia, invidia, avaritia, luxuria, ira and gula.
The etymology of "sin" is not theological and we shall not be concerned with religion.
Instead, we shall examine the puzzling idea that, in those sins, one wrongs oneself. Can we make sense of this if they are voluntary and even enthusiastically voluntary? If I thump you in annoyance and you do not like it, we might both agree that I do wrong because I do you a wrong but would we think likewise if I thump myself? Would we not classify the latter as irrational? But do I have a moral obligation to be rational? What is it to be rational?
Note: 8 weeks only, starts 13th October.
top of the page
PHL 09: The Pursuit of Happiness
(summer term)
Co-ordinator: Stuart Weir
Day and time: Tuesday 10.00 - 11.00
Venue: Room 2, 27-28 Bridge Street
Terms: Summer.
Number of places: 15
It is now widely accepted that people in the advanced capitalist nations like Britain have become richer but no happier. So what has gone wrong since Thomas Paine made "the pursuit of happiness" one of the objects of democratic rule? It could be said that making people happy has long been an implicit aim of government in this country. In 2007 Gordon Brown actually appointed a "happiness tsar" to make this aim more explicit and across the Channel President Sarkozy has charged eminent thinkers with the task of encoding well-being in public policy. A new Movement for Happiness is now being launched in Britain.
This discussion group will consult with the work of thinkers and writers, and possibly meet with guest speakers, to discuss the implications for government and society generally of making happiness, or well-being, one of the main objects of public policy here. Was Jeremy Bentham right to argue that "The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation"? What can government realistically do to make people happier? Does it demand a wider change in society away from the competitive jobs market and the politics of aspiration? Should we pay more attention to mental health or other areas of life? What can people contribute as individuals?
top of the page
|
