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| PHIL10020 - Introduction to the Problems of Philosophy Spring, Level 1, Credits 5 This module introduces students to contemporary philosophical thinking by focusing on four classic problems of philosophy: (1) free will and determinism; (2) personal identity; (3) Artificial Intelligence; (4) consciousness. It is a hands-on philosophy course, where the task is ... |
| PHIL10030 - Introduction to Modern Philosophy Spring, Level 1, Credits 5 Can I be certain that there is a world outside me, or am I confined to my own mind alone? What can I know reliably about the world, if there is one? And if it exists knowably, how can I live with other people within it? Are we naturally selfish and dangerous? Or do we have a comp... |
| PHIL10040 - Introduction to Ethics Autumn and Spring (separate), Level 1, Credits 5 This module is taught in both the autumn and the spring trimesters, and students are welcome in either. The teaching staff and the content will differ slightly, but the assessment will be the same. Ethics is all about doing the right thing and about becoming the right sort of ... |
| PHIL10070 - The First Philosophers Spring, Level 1, Credits 5 Philosophy began in Greece, and it remains true to say that the greatest philosophers were the Greeks. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle shaped the course of Western Civilization. The best possible introduction to philosophy as a subject is through engagement with Ancient Greek Phil... |
| PHIL10100 - Existentialism and Humanism: An Introduction to Continental Philosophy Spring, Level 1, Credits 5 What makes us 'human'? Is our humanity something we 'do' or something we 'are'? Can we be more or less human? How do we give meaning to our human existence or is that existence ultimately meaningless? How do we treat others and how should we treat them? Are we ever really free? ... |
| PHIL10160 - Critical Thinking Autumn, Level 1, Credits 5 "One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes their share. But we tend to take the situation for granted.” (Harry Frankfurt, 'On Bullshit'). Thinking is easy, but *reasoning* -- and in particular... |
| PHIL10190 - Introducing PPE Autumn, Level 1, Credits 5 This module is core for all students enrolled in the Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) programme. Although students will be taking separate modules in all three subjects, this module is designed explicitly to compare and contrast the approaches of the three subjects, to lo... |
| PHIL20010 - Rationalism and Empiricism Autumn, Level 2, Credits 5 How do modern treatments of substance and causality differ from what came before? Do we require certain knowledge, or is probable knowledge enough? Do we really need to go outside nature to explain nature? Are there such things as innate ideas, or is the mind at its beginning a '... |
| PHIL20020 - Logic Spring, Level 2, Credits 5 Logic is the study of arguments and formal logic is the study of formal features of arguments. We will look at the formal elements that distinguish good arguments from bad arguments. Consider the argument: If statues are constituted of lumps of clay, then two objects can be ... |
| PHIL20240 - Applied Ethics Spring, Level 2, Credits 5 Syllabus: Applied Ethics 20240 This course will examine a range of perennial ethical problems using the crisis of accelerating climate change as our focal point. One of the most fundamental ethical questions we can ask is what do we owe each other? What do we owe those suffer... |
| PHIL20320 - Philosophy of Science Autumn, Level 2, Credits 5 Which kinds of activity count as science? Can we tell the difference between science and pseudo-science? What is scientific objectivity? Does the influence of political and moral values on science obstruct scientific progress? These are some of the questions we will explore in th... |
| PHIL20440 - Feminism & Gender Justice Autumn, Level 2, Credits 5 This module introduces students to contemporary feminist ideas and key feminist debates, specifically feminist gender theory (including discussions of Queer Theory and Hegemonic Masculinity), and feminist political ethics (including systems of power and intersectionality) and th... |
| PHIL20490 - Knowledge & Scepticism Autumn, Level 2, Credits 5 "A common refrain heard around New Scientist‘s offices in recent weeks has been “episte… what?!” Even among educated and well-informed people, epistemology – the study of knowledge – is neither a familiar word nor a well-known field of enquiry. But it has never been more importan... |
| PHIL20500 - Phenomenology & Existentialism Autumn, Level 2, Credits 5 This course offers an introduction to and critical assessment of some of the key figures of the phenomenological tradition, the most prominent European philosophical movement of the twentieth century, and the movement that inspired the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone d... |
| PHIL20570 - Philosophy & Literature Spring, Level 2, Credits 5 This module will be co-taught by Dr Clare Hayes-Brady (English) and Professor Katherine O'Donnell (Philosophy) ... |
| PHIL20580 - Plato's Republic Spring, Level 2, Credits 5 The Republic is Plato's most famous, and most influential, work. It is justly regarded as one of the greatest works of philosophy ever written, and as such it is a work with which every student of philosophy ought to be familiar. Its central concern is with the nature of justice,... |
| PHIL20620 - Philosophy of Social Science Autumn, Level 2, Credits 5 This module links the three elements of PPE by considering the nature of social science generally, looking in particular at the question of whether Economics and Political Science should be thought of as sciences at all. We will investigate the concept of utility based on prefer... |
| PHIL20630 - Art and Society Autumn, Level 2, Credits 5 Is art important? What does the place of art tell us about society? Would it matter if all art and all places of art – galleries, cinemas, concert halls, libraries, theatres, live music venues, etc. – disappeared? Why? Is there something about making art or about enjoying art tha... |
| PHIL20640 - Philosophy of Mind Spring, Level 2, Credits 5 What is the nature of the mind? How are thought and consciousness related to one's brain and body, and to the objects that one perceives, thinks about, or imagines? These are central questions in the philosophy of mind, and this course will provide an introduction to some of the ... |
| PHIL20700 - Introduction to the Philosophy of History Spring, Level 2, Credits 5 This module explores the various ways in which the conventional idea of history is wrong. It will work with students on these ideas (among others): • there is no such thing as ‘objectivity’ in history; • the ‘past’ is ‘our’ account of it, and therefore history is tied to the pr... |
| PHIL20710 - Body, Mind, World Autumn, Level 2, Credits 5 In this module we explore the interrelation between mind and body through a series of reflections on social and epistemological issues. We examine these issues in terms of the way they affect human action and shape our bodily habits, lived experience, and social identity. Man... |
| PHIL20730 - Revelation and Reason Spring, Level 2, Credits 5 Our Module will critically assess and interpret the age-old question, in philosophy, of the complex relation between revelation and reason. From Kant to Levinas, we shall propose an explication of the following questions: What constitutes rationality? What informs revelation? Is ... |
| PHIL20740 - Conflicting Truths, a History Autumn, Level 2, Credits 5 Recently, the problem of trust in an authority become relevant for a certain number of reasons. During the Covid-19 period, we acknowledged the importance of the following questions: Who do we trust? Scientists, decision-making actors, media, and influential personalities from v... |
| PHIL30070 - Philosophy of Language Spring, Level 3, Credits 5 This module is an examination of philosophical questions concerning thought, communication, and human language. What is the nature of meaning? How do words refer to things? What is the relationship between thought and language? Theories of meaning and communication will also be a... |
| PHIL30110 - German Idealist Philosophy Autumn, Level 3, Credits 5 The most creative period in the modern philosophical era occurred during what is now called the German idealist period. Over just a few decades an immense series of powerful and wholly original works appeared, works that have massively shaped not only philosophy but, to some exte... |
| PHIL30250 - Philosophy of Autobiography Spring, Level 3, Credits 5 This module is not only about published autobiographies, but about our broader autobiographical efforts in many different contexts with strangers, colleagues, friends and family members. All of us occasionally feel the need to explain ourselves, to respond to criticisms, to deny ... |
| PHIL30260 - Philosophy of Law Autumn, Level 3, Credits 5 This module looks at some philosophical issues surrounding what is known as "private law". Private law involves complaints raised by one citizen against another, and irreconcilable disputes have to be formally adjudicated. (In contrast, 'public law' involves complaints raised by ... |
| PHIL30280 - Philosophy of Interpretation Autumn, Level 3, Credits 5 What philosophical issues are raised in expressing, translating and understanding? Can we even perceive things without interpreting them? What are the best ways to understand the works of other cultures and epochs, and why? Is the interpreter passive and neutral before the text,... |
| PHIL30590 - Aristotle: Ethics & Politics Autumn, Level 3, Credits 5 Aristotle's 'Nicomachean Ethics' and 'Politics' are masterpieces of moral and political philosophy, and remain of great interest and influence today. As Aristotle sees it, ethics and politics are both concerned with the same thing: the pursuit of happiness. In the 'Nicomachean Et... |
| PHIL30650 - History & Philosophy: Nazi Germany Spring, Level 3, Credits 5 This co-taught module (School of History and School of Philosophy) will focus on the history of the Holocaust/Shoah and the philosophical questions to which it gives rise. The material is ordered in such a way as to lead students to an interdisciplinary perspective on various asp... |
| PHIL30690 - Science, Perception & Reality Spring, Level 3, Credits 5 What is the relationship between the appearances that are perceptually manifest to us in ordinary life, and the often extraordinary reality that theoretical science assures us provides a more accurate picture of the ultimate nature of all things? Are our perceptions in some sens... |
| PHIL30820 - Hume and Kant Autumn, Level 3, Credits 5 In this course we will survey, through selected primary source readings, the overall views of two of the most important philosophers of the Eighteenth century Enlightenment period: David Hume and Immanuel Kant. (For background, you can check out the lecturer's book in the librar... |
| PHIL30870 - Philosophy of Fiction Spring, Level 3, Credits 5 This module will introduce students to philosophical questions to which fictional works, such as novels or movies, give rise.... |
| PHIL30880 - Applied Epistemology Autumn, Level 3, Credits 5 Knowledge is a fundamental aspect of survival: “we seek true beliefs in order to survive” (Fricker 2007, 161). Because we are embodied-minded beings situated within specific contexts, the knowledge we acquire or generate individually is expectedly limited. Some might even argue t... |
| PHIL30890 - Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations Spring, Level 3, Credits 5 Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) is one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century. The course will take you through his posthumously published masterpiece "Philosophical Investigations", addressing his attack on the Augustinian conception of language, his Private... |
| PHIL30900 - Personal Identity Autumn, Level 3, Credits 5 What makes you the same person as you were five years ago? Philosophers have lively debated this question concerning personal identity for centuries. In this module we want to discuss different accounts of personal identity that philosophers developed in the history of philosophy... |
| PHIL30910 - Irish Enlightenment Spring, Level 3, Credits 5 This module offers a survey of key philosophers and ideas generated in Enlightenment Ireland (from the 1690s to the 1790s). In the span of three generations Dublin changed from being a small, colonial garrison city into one of largest and most dynamic cities in Europe. It was dur... |
| PHIL30920 - Training as a Philosophy Researcher Part 1 Autumn, Level 3, Credits 5 Are you interested in developing a philosophical research project of your own? Would you like to develop the skills that will help you to pursue research projects in philosophy? Do you enjoy thinking and writing about philosophical problems and discussing your ideas with your pee... |
| PHIL30930 - Training as a Philosophy Researcher Part 2 Spring, Level 3, Credits 5 Are you interested in developing a philosophical research project of your own? Would you like to develop the skills that will help you to pursue research projects in philosophy? Do you enjoy thinking and writing about philosophical problems and discussing your ideas with your pee... |
| PHIL30960 - Love and Knowledge Spring, Level 3, Credits 5 Renown scholars recently argued that one of the most original and important contributions of Western authors to the tradition of philosophy broadly considered is the reflection on love. This module's aim is twofold: to consider critically this claim and to introduce students to a... |
| PHIL30970 - Phenomenology and History Autumn, Level 3, Credits 5 The fundamental question of this Module will be: in which manner and according to which Law are we to confront the question pertaining to the meaning of History. Our primary task will therefore lie in deploying the Hegelian systematic appropriation of historical becoming through ... |
| PHIL30990 - The Medieval Mind Spring, Level 3, Credits 5 Why study the philosophical (and often theological) thought of the Middle Ages? The answer is much more difficult than it seems, not only because it has to address pejorative preconceived views, but also because the historiographical notion of "Middle Ages" has no meaning in othe... |
| PHIL31000 - Philosophy and Ethics of AI Autumn, Level 3, Credits 5 This module offers an introduction to and critical assessment of the Philosophy and Ethics of AI. It asks questions such as: - Are machines capable of thought and action? - Are machine learning models genuinely intelligent or are they just clever mimics? - Is it morally... |
| PHIL40010 - Consciousness, Agency & the Self Spring, Level 4, Credits 7.5 This course covers some central topics in the philosophy of mind, beginning with classic discussions of consciousness and the mind–body problem, and more recent debates about the ‘extended mind’. In the second part of this course, we will consider issues concerning the relation b... |
| PHIL40030 - Dissertation Summer, Level 4, Credits 30 This is a research project on a topic selected from one of the modules you have taken for credit during the year. Some initial guidance will be offered by the module coordinator. However, the work is largely autonomous and is expected to be conducted by the student throughout t... |
| PHIL40250 - Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 This module comprises a close reading of Phenomenology of Perception, one of the most significant treatments of philosophy of perception in the European tradition. Merleau-Ponty offers a sustained critique of the portrait view of perception and argues that the embodied perceiver ... |
| PHIL40410 - Philosophy & Literature Autumn, Level 4, Credits 10 In this course we will approach the relationship between philosophy and literature through a phenomenological framework by asking: 'what is the experience of reading philosophy and what is the experience of reading literature?' The aim is to discover the manner in which each genr... |
| PHIL40840 - Autonomy as a Philosophical Problem Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 The exercise of autonomy is among the most valued of human capacities. Civilized societies aspire to the rational exercise of freedom. Scanlon defines autonomous persons as "sovereign in deciding what to believe and in weighing competing reasons for action." And the sovereign per... |
| PHIL40920 - Guided Reading Spring, Level 4, Credits 7.5 Critical assessment of key texts in student's area of research. ... |
| PHIL40960 - The Cultural Mind Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 This course will look at recent research on the interdependence between culture and mind. Two aspects of culture that the course will particularly focus on are language and moral norms. One of the broad themes that we will explore is relativity. So called ‘linguistic relativity... |
| PHIL40970 - Consciousness, Agency & the Self Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 This course covers some central topics in the philosophy of mind, beginning with classic discussions of consciousness and the mind–body problem, and more recent debates about the ‘extended mind’. In the second part of this course, we will consider issues concerning the relation b... |
| PHIL40980 - Guided Reading Spring, Level 4, Credits 5 Guided reading and analysis of recent publications on consciousness and the embodied mind... |
| PHIL40990 - Guided Reading Spring, Level 4, Credits 2.5 Selected readings in philosophy of mind and theories of consciousness... |
| PHIL41120 - Ethics (TCD) Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 This module explores contemporary problems in metaethics.... |
| PHIL41170 - Post Kantian Philosophy (TCD) Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 There are broadly three dominant ways of accounting for the self. The first group are the idealists who argue that the self is never part of the world. The second group are the no-self theorists who question the existence of the self because we cannot be introspectively aware of ... |
| PHIL41240 - John Henry Newman – a philosophical prespective Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 This course will provide an overview of the relationship between John Henry Newman and philosophy. After having considered the two main philosophical sources of his formation, namely Aristotle and Cicero, his contribution to the 19th century intellectual debates will be examined... |
| PHIL41280 - Feminist & Gender Theory Autumn, Level 4, Credits 10 This seminar will introduce students to key contemporary feminist philosophers and debates between feminist philosophers with a view to understanding how their work draws from and challenges dominant philosophical traditions in the creation of new philosophical understandings of ... |
| PHIL41320 - Topics in Continental Philos Autumn, Level 4, Credits 10 How do we understand encounters between self and other? What is the relation between subjectivity and intersubjective life? This module examines different philosophical perspectives for analyzing encounters between self and other, and investigates alternative theories of recognit... |
| PHIL41330 - Philosophy of Time Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 This course addresses some fundamental questions about time. We will think about questions such as: is the distinction between past, present and future moments absolute or merely relative? What sort of picture of time do we get from comtemporary physics, and should we be willin... |
| PHIL41510 - Ethics in Public Life Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 Should we be permitted to say whatever we want, whenever we want on social media? Or should our freedom of expression be restricted? Are interferences with other people’s decisions regarding their well-being or careers ever justified? Which responsibilities do scientific experts ... |
| PHIL41530 - Reading and Research Autumn&Spring&Summer(separate), Level 4, Credits 10 Individual supervision... |
| PHIL41570 - Problems from Kant Autumn, Level 4, Credits 10 The 'Problems from Kant' seminar this Autumn 2023–24 will focus on a close reading of Kant's famous _Critique of Pure Reason_ (1781), i.e. the 'first Critique', a work that has been so central to later work in both the 'analytic' and 'continental' styles of philosophical inquiry... |
| PHIL41640 - Development of Analytical Philosophy (TCD) Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 First, we will look at some basic issues regarding propositions—including what they are, how they are individuated, and what the “analysis” of a proposition involves. We will identify certain differences between Frege’s views and Russell’s regarding propositions and will conside... |
| PHIL41700 - Metaphysics (TCD) Autumn, Level 4, Credits 10 In this module, students will explore contemporary issues in metaphysics, with a view to developing their own ideas about the nature and purpose of metaphysics. Metaphysics presents itself as the study of the fundamental nature of the world. It promises to provide a guide to real... |
| PHIL41710 - Modern European Philosophy (TCD) Autumn, Level 4, Credits 10 The aim of this course is to introduce you to the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. The focus will be on his key text Being and Time.... |
| PHIL41720 - Intro to Philosphical Research (TCD) Autumn, Level 4, Credits 10 In this module, we shall be introduced to and critically appraise a variety of approaches to and understandings of philosophical methodology. The course will revolve around the question ‘is philosophy a priori or a posteriori?’, and structured (roughly) in accord with development... |
| PHIL41730 - Neurophilosophy (TCD) Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 Perhaps since Plato, and certainly since Descartes, there has been a thesis in philosophy that there are two substances, the one mental (the mind) and the other physical (the body). This view arose in response to certain difficulties in philosophy, but has raised more problems s... |
| PHIL41740 - Theories of Rights (TCD) Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 The language of moral rights is pervasive both in everyday life and in legal, moral, and political philosophy. They are commonly invoked in support of claims of a certain weight. But there is no philosophical consensus on what rights are, what status or weight they have or indeed... |
| PHIL41770 - Metaphysics (TCD) Autumn, Level 4, Credits 10 The metaphysical concern with being, at its most general, naturally includes questions of what there is and how things are. But what of the modal questions? What things could there have been? How might things have been? Are there some matters that must be so? Modal realists hold ... |
| PHIL41780 - Ancient Philosophy (TCD) P&A Autumn, Level 4, Credits 10 LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP IN PLATO AND ARISTOTLE The aim of the seminar is to explore ideas of love, of friendship, and of the relation between them. We will take our starting point in Plato’s two dialogues on love, Phaedrus and Symposium, as well as his dialogue Lysis in which he co... |
| PHIL41810 - Critique, Destruction & Deconstruction Autumn, Level 4, Credits 10 Our Module will address the inception and the development, the confrontations as well as the similitudes, both the historical sources and the philosophical orientations, between three fundamental "gestures" in contemporary European philosophy: "critical theory" in Adorno and Ho... |
| PHIL41840 - Invention of the Modern Self Autumn, Level 4, Credits 10 The aim of this MA module is to explain why Descartes is considered the "father of modern philosophy". However, numerous scholars insisted in the past decades on the medieval heritage of Descartes and on his training in the Jesuit schools. Building upon this scholarship, the purp... |
| PHIL41850 - Self Refutation Arguments -TCD Autumn, Level 4, Credits 10 The purpose of this seminar is to examine such “self–refutation” arguments—in particular, to consider if they have a common structure and to examine what, if anything, they establish. To do so, we will look at a number of sources, including recent writings of such philosophers as... |
| PHIL41860 - Plato & Care of the Soul (TCD) Spring, Level 4, Credits 10 The aim of this M.Phil seminar is to work together on a research project that I am currently undertaking on Plato and the Care of the Soul. To set out the project, I have written the following research proposal and proposal for a monograph. This gives, I think, a good idea of the... |