Existence, knowledge and reasoning.

What is the nature of reality? How can we acquire certain knowledge? These are some of the questions that have challenged humans for millennia and underpin ongoing endeavours in areas as diverse as science, justice and the arts. This unit engages students with fundamental philosophical questions through active, guided investigation and critical discussion of the two keys areas of philosophy; epistemology and metaphysics. The emphasis is on philosophical inquiry – ‘doing philosophy’ – and hence the study and practice of techniques of logic are central to this unit. 

OUTCOMES

1. Discuss concepts relating to reality and knowledge, and analyse viewpoints and arguments concerning these, found within and across contemporary media. 

2. Analyse, compare and evaluate theories of knowledge and discuss related contemporary debates.

ASSESSMENT TASKS

• Essay

• Oral/Multimedia Presentation 

• Short Answer Response

• Written Analysis and Reflection

• Examination

Questions of value.

What are the foundations about our judgments about value? What is the relationship between different types of value? How, if all, can particular value judgments be defined or criticized? 

his unit invites students to explore these questions in relation to different categories of value judgments within the realms of morality, political and social philosophy and aesthetics. Students also explore ways in which viewpoints and arguments in value theory can inform and be informed by contemporary debates. 

OUTCOMES

1. Analyse, compare and evaluate the philosophical viewpoints and arguments in relation to ethics

2. Discuss contemporary debates related to ethics

ASSESSMENT TASKS

• Essay

• Oral/Multimedia Presentation 

• Short Answer Response

• Written Analysis and Reflection

• Examination

Minds, bodies and persons.

This unit considers basic questions regarding the mind and the self through two key questions: Are human beings more than their bodies? Is there a basis for the belief that an individual remains the same person over time? Students critically compare the viewpoints and arguments put forward in set texts from the history of philosophy to their own views on these questions and to contemporary debates.

ASSESSMENT TASKS

• Essay

• Oral/Multimedia Presentation

• Short Answer Response 

• Written Analysis and Reflection

The good life.

This unit considers the crucial question of what it is for a human to live well. What does an understanding of human nature tell us about what it is to live well? What is the role of happiness in a well lived life? Is morality central to a good life? How does our social context impact on our conception of a good life? In this unit, students explore texts by both ancient and modern philosophers that have had a significant impact on contemporary western ideas about the good life. 

Students critically compare the viewpoints and arguments in set texts from both ancient and modern periods to their own views on how we should live, and use their understandings to inform their analysis of contemporary debates.

ASSESSMENT TASKS

• Essay

• Oral/Multimedia Presentation

• Short Answer Response 

• Written Analysis and Reflection

For more information about Philosophy, see Kalinda Ashton or Kate Habgood