| Unit name | Realism and Normativity |
|---|---|
| Unit code | PHIL20046 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Everett |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
PHIL10005 Introduction to Philosophy A, PHIL10006 Introduction to Philosophy B. |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Philosophy |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit introduces students to the central debates concerning Realism and Normativity in a way which show how they apply across a wide range of philosophical issues. The lectures will (i) introduce students to the structural similarities between debates about ontology, semantics, and epistemology, in areas of philosphy from ethics and aesthetics to the philosophy of mathematics and truth, (ii) introduce students to issues concerning the nature of norms, reasons, and rationality, and (iii) explore the ways in which the two sets of issues are interconnected (for example, how the view of truth we adopt has consequiences for the way we understand norms, the consequences of a Naturalist Metaphysics for your understanding of norms, and the consequences of Wittgenstein's Rule-Following considerations for debates within semantics and ontology).
The aim of the unit is:
(i) To give students a good understanding of the central theories and debates in philosophical semantics, metaphysics, and epistemology, and an understanding of how these exhibit a common structure across a wide range of different subject matters. Students should thereby arrive at a better understanding, both of specific theories and the argumentative strategies advanced in particular contexts, and of how these might be applied in other contexts.
(ii) To give students a good understanding of problems and theories about norms, rationality, and reasoning, which are at the intersection of ethics, epistemology, semantics, psychology, and economics. Students should thereby arrive at a better understanding, both of the nature of actual human reasoning, and of idealised rationality.
(iii) To give students a good understanding how these two sets of issues are interconnected. Students should thereby arrive at a better understanding of how the position we take in certain metaphysical and semantic debates may have consequences for our understanding of normativity and rationality, and vice versa.
Students will be able to apply the theoretical approaches developed in this unit to novel problems and to the subject matter of their other units. They will be prepared for their final year options which will be able to draw upon greater and more uniform common background knowledge among joint and single honours philosophy students. Students will have a greater awareness of the unity beneath the diversity of philosophical debates, and of the partial nature of disciplinary boundaries (say that between ethics and epistemology).
Two Lectures and one Seminar each week.
Formative:
2 x 2000-2500 word essays
Summative:
Three hour unseen examination
S. Blackburn: Spreading the Word
D. Papineau: Philosophical Naturalism
M. Devitt: Realism and Truth
E. Millgram (ed.): Varieties of Practical Reasoning
