Admission requirements
Admission to this course is restricted to students enrolled in the BA program Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives.
Description
Philosophy comes in a wide variety of styles and uses many different methodologies. But all types require mastery of the craft of careful textual analysis and clear articulation of an argument.
This course will introduce students to the core tools of philosophical analysis, argumentation, and writing, as well as provide an opportunity for students to hone these skills through intensive work with philosophical texts.
In the first half of this course, we will focus on philosophical argumentation and the reading of philosophical texts. Students will learn the following skills of textual analysis and argument construction, by focusing on the analysis of some philosophical texts:
Learn what an argument is and basic properties of arguments (validity and soundness);
Identify basic inference types and distinguish them from their fallacious cousins;
Master the structure of different types of arguments (such as inferences to the best explanation, infinite regresses, reductio ad absurdum arguments);
Reconstruct arguments;
Learn the principles of philosophical charity.
In the second half of the course we will focus on philosophical writing. Students will apply the skills learned in the first part of the course to their own philosophical writing and will learn the essentials of philosophical essay writing:
Devise an initial question and construct a thesis statement;
Structure an essay;
Build your own argument: critiquing texts, developing counterexamples, and offering evidence;
Learn to formulate your ideas clearly and precisely;
Seek information effectively and efficiently: using library services, evaluating sources, compiling and referencing bibliographical materials.
In this second part of the course students will learn these skills by working with several texts including texts from a global and comparative perspective. This will culminate in the writing of an original philosophical essay, complete with bibliography.
The accompanying tutorial sessions aim to acquaint students with ongoing philosophical research. Philosophy is not a stock of wisdom, but an ongoing practice of asking questions. Which are the right questions to ask? How are they interconnected? Can we hope to answer them, and if so, how?
In this series of biweekly lectures philosophers of the Leiden Institute for Philosophy present samples of their ongoing research. The lecture series aims to give first-year students an idea of the handwork of philosophy.
Course objectives
This course aims to train students essential philosophical skills concerning reading, understanding, researching and writing philosophical texts. The tutorials aim to acquaint students with ongoing philosophical research.
Students who successfully complete the tutorial sessions will have a good understanding of:
- examples of ongoing philosophical research projects at Leiden University.
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
understand the aim and structure of a philosophical text;
identify and analyse the arguments in a philosophical text;
provide helpful feedback on the work of other students;
find and work with relevant literature on a topic in philosophy;
write a text synopsis, a commentary, and an argumentative essay.
Timetable
The timetables are available through MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminars, 2 hours per week;
Tutorials, a series of 6 short lectures, 1 hour each.
Class attendance is required for both seminars and tutorials.
Assessment method
Assessment
Throughout the semester there will be mandatory exercises for training specific skills (reading, summarizing, argument analysis, argument construction, components of essay writing).
These assignments will include students' feedback on each other’s work (peer review). The exercises must be passed for the student to pass the course. If an exercises is failed, a second attempt will be granted.
Several exercises (Pass/Fail)
Attendance and participation
Midterm: précis (30%);
Final essay (70%).
Written report (tutorial) (Pass/Fail)
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determination of the weighted average of several subtests (see above), combined with additional requirements, that is a passing grade for the written report (tutorial).
To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
There will be an opportunity to retake the failed exercises. The précis, final essay and the written report can all be individually retaken, provided the requirements of attendance and participation are met.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
A full course syllabus will be distributed via Brightspace. We will use extracts from A. P. Martinich, Philosophical Writing: An Introduction. and J. F. Rosenberg, The Practice of Philosophy: A Handbook for Beginners.
Students are recommended to buy the Martinich book.
All texts used will be made available either on Brightspace or through the university library.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga.
Remarks
Not applicable.