Introduction to Philosophy (Online)

1. Why do Philosophy?

• What is philosophy?
• The unexamined life
• Ideas and values

2.  Knowledge

• First Meditation
• Stages of doubt
• Second Meditation
• Descartes and Hume

3. Free Will

• Intuitions on freedom
• Schopenhauer
• Changed your mind?
• Agents or victims

4. The World

• Locke and Berkeley
• Property distinction
• Blackburn
• Fatal blow to realism

5. Morality

• Dilemmas
• Nicholas the Merchant and the Oxford Riots
• Moral dilemmas and inescapable moral wrongdoing

We strongly recommend that you try to find a little time each week to engage in the online conversations (at times that are convenient to you) as the forums are an integral, and very rewarding, part of the course and the online learning experience.

To participate in the course, you will need to have regular access to the Internet and you will need to buy the following books:

Blackburn, S., Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy (OUP, 2001)

Guttenplan, S., Hornsby, J., Janaway, C. & Schwenkler J., Reading Philosophy: Selected Texts with a Method for Beginners, 2nd Edition (Wiley-Blackwell, 2021)

Both textbooks are available as e-books but please be aware that the page numbering might differ from the referenced printed editions.

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee for each course you enrol on. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. If you do not register when you enrol, you have up until the course start date to register and pay the £10 fee.

See more information on CATS point

Coursework is an integral part of all online courses and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework, but only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

Assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail.

All students who successfully complete this course, whether registered for credit or not, are eligible for a Certificate of Completion. Completion consists of submitting the final course assignment. Certificates will be available, online, for those who qualify after the course finishes.

The aim of the course is to introduce students to central topics in philosophy. The objectives are to promote interest in philosophy, to develop an understanding of the nature of philosophical questions, and of ways in which these can be answered.

• Guided reading of texts
• Group discussions of particular issues
• Questions to be answered in personal folders
• Debating from positions given rather than from personal belief (to hone skills of debate)

By the end of the course students will be able to:

• Understand the nature of philosophical problems.
• Understand the different ways of responding to these problems, be able to differentiate between them, and to evaluate them.
• Grasp philosophical concepts and terms and reason philosophically.
• Interpret and analyse a philosophical text.
• Participate in philosophical debates.

You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first of 500 words is due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.

English Language Requirements

We do not insist that applicants hold an English language certification, but warn that they may be at a disadvantage if their language skills are not of a comparable level to those qualifications listed on our website. If you are confident in your proficiency, please feel free to enrol. For more information regarding English language requirements please follow this link: https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/english-language-requirements

FHEQ level 4, 10 weeks, approx 10 hours per week, therefore a total of about 100 study hours.