Philosophy

Course summary

Course Outline There are four modules. The first two are studied in Year 12, the latter two in Year 13. Epistemology • What is knowledge? • Perception (how reliable is our sense experience?) • Reason as a source of knowledge (can we know things that we have not experienced?) • The limits of knowledge (is there anything we cannot know?) Moral Philosophy • Normative ethical theories (methods of calculating what is right or wrong) • Applied ethics (applying moral arguments to real problems such as theft, lying, eating animals, simulated killing – such as in video games) • Meta-ethics (how we understand moral claims) Metaphysics of God • The concepts and nature of God • Arguments relating to God (arguments for and against God’s existence) • Religious language (can we speak meaningfully about the transcendent?) Metaphysics of Mind • What do we mean by ‘mind’? • Dualist theories of mind (is the mind separate from the body?) • Physicalist theories of mind (is the mind a product of the brain?) • Functionalism.