Tutor information
Julia Weckend
Julia has taught philosophy at the Universities of Reading and Southampton before joining Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education. She regularly teaches weekly classes as well as courses for Oxford University Summer School for Adults and Oxford Experience. Her academic research focuses on issues in metaphysics and epistemology. She has published papers and edited two volumes in the history of philosophy, and she is a co-author of the Historical Dictionary of Leibniz’s Philosophy (2023).
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.
Artificial intelligence is everywhere we look. But what do we mean by "intelligent"? Do machines "think"? Does AI have the potential of becoming self-aware or conscious? Do we need to fear the singularity? Can we align AI with our human values and ethics?
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a polymath and one of the first modern philosophers without whom mathematics, physics and science in general would not be at their present state today. His path-breaking ideas influenced many, including Immanuel Kant.
'What is truth?' is a perplexing and elusive question. A good first response is that truth and falsity are properties of what people say or think. But how is what we think related to actual facts? And what caused the recent corrosion of truth?
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.
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.
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.
A philosophical investigation into the first-person perspective, drawing from phenomenology, analytical philosophy and the sciences. How fragile is our sense of self? What do psychedelics, trauma, or religious rituals tell us about ourselves?
Artificial Intelligence is part of every aspect of our lives today. In less than a generation, theoretical ambitions have turned practise and societies have been transformed in ways that are as much cause for celebration as they give reasons for concern.
How are pleasant experiences and personal growth and fulfilment related? What is human happiness? Come and explore what philosophy has to contribute to the debate and discuss with us how plausible and inspiring some of its theories and answers are.