Tutor information
Julia Weckend
Julia joined the OUDCE in 2014. Her teaching and research interests include the history of philosophy, with emphasis on metaphysics and the philosophy of mind, perception and emotion.
Courses
Reasoning enables us to acquire knowledge, to persuade others and to evaluate their arguments. But only if we reason well. We shall be learning how to recognise, evaluate, construct and analyse arguments, and how to recognise common fallacies.
An introduction to metaphysics, the most general investigation of reality. It has been at the centre of philosophy since the beginning of the Western tradition in ancient Greece, and many of its concerns are the same as those of Plato and Aristotle.
Metaphysics asks some of the most general questions about the nature of reality. Its target is to find out about the fundamental nature of what surrounds us and the principles that underpin the world we experience.
Art can elicit strong emotions, both positive and negative. But what essentially is it that makes something a work of art, and how did it gets its value? Is it something about its creator, or the "thing" itself, or something we simply agree upon?
Is there such a thing as human nature? This virtual class takes a look at some of the most influential views on human nature as articulated in the history of philosophy, and it links these with recent research in the cognitive sciences.
Reasoning enables us to acquire knowledge, to persuade others and to evaluate their arguments. But only if we reason well. We shall be learning how to recognise, evaluate, construct and analyse arguments, and how to recognise common fallacies.
What constitutes human happiness and well-being and what are the conditions that make people flourish?
The problem of free will is one of the great philosophical conundrums. We certainly feel free to choose and would be alarmed to lose that sense. But we also experience ourselves constrained by causal laws. So, if it exists, wherein lies our freedom?