PHILOSSP01 Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of fundamental ideas about the world we live in. It questions the nature of our world, asks what would constitute a good life in such a world, and asks what could be done to make it better. In this specialisation you will be introduced to areas central to philosophy including:

• Political philosophy - the principles that underlie the structure of a just and stable society. For instance, how should society's limited resources be fairly distributed?
• Metaphysics - the study of what sorts of things exist in the world, and how they are related. For instance, whether there is a mind or soul, and whether value and beauty are objective properties of things?
• Epistemology - the study of what constitutes knowledge of the world, and of what methods can be used to obtain it. For instance, what is special about scientific methods for acquiring knowledge?
• Ethics - what is the nature of the good and the right? For instance, how may value judgements be justified?
• Philosophy of language - the notions of meaning, truth and linguistic understanding. For instance, how is the meaning of what we say connected to our intentions?
• Philosophy of mind - the relationship between consciousness and physical reality. For instance, how can self and subjective experience arise in the firings of neurons in the brain?
• Logic - the theory of reasoning. For instance, what makes for a good argument or inference?