Admission requirements
Admission to this course is restricted to:
BA students in Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives, who have successfully completed at least 70 ECTS credits of the mandatory components of the first and second year of their bachelor’s programme, including Philosophical Skills and one of the following combinations: Logic and Epistemology OR Philosophy of Culture and Concepts of Selfhood.
BA students in Filosofie, who have successfully completed at least 70 ECTS credits of the mandatory components of the first and second year of their bachelor’s programme, including Filosofische vaardigheden and one of the following combinations: Logica and Epistemologie OR Cultuurfilosofie and Continentale filosofie.
Pre-master’s students in Philosophy who are in possession of an admission statement and who have to complete an advanced seminar.
Description
Our perceptual experience of the world will serve as the starting point for thinking about fundamental questions in epistemology, metaphysics and the philosophy of mind.
Should we think of perception as a kind of direct relation with the external world, or as an indirect representation of the world? Can perception be the basis for justified beliefs about a mind-independent world outside of our minds? What sort of beliefs are justified by our perception? Are bits of the mind-independent world given in our perceptual experience, or do we only ever experience the world as it is pre-structured or shaped by our own experience? Are the colors that we perceive, for instance, only ways things appear to us or also ways things are in themselves?
How you answer these questions has a far-ranging impact on your overall philosophical worldview. They are amongst the most fundamental questions of philosophy, with a rich history. However, this course’s focus is exclusively on treatments of these questions in (contemporary) analytic philosophy.
The topics discussed will most likely include: skepticism, the veil of perception, the myth of the given, (transcendental) idealism, (direct) realism, dogmatism, self-awareness, hallucination, the contents of experience, consciousness, direct perceptual acquaintance, intentionality and disjunctivism.
Course objectives
This course aims to familiarize students with a range of fundamental issues in metaphysics, epistemology and the philosophy of mind.
Students who successfully complete this course will have a good understanding of:
fundamental debates in metaphysics, such as between idealism and realism, on the contents of the external world, and on the nature of secondary properties;
fundamental debates in epistemology, such as the debate around scepticism and the justificatory role of perception, dogmatism, acquaintaince, the myth of the given and the veil of perception;
fundamental debates in the philosophy of mind, about the contents of perception, direct awareness, disjunctivism, intentionalism and phenomenal consciousness.
Students who successfully complete this course will have practiced and developed their skills in:
explaining verbally concepts, theories and arguments on a range of questions in metaphysics, epistemology and the philosophy of mind;
independently researching academic work in analytic philosophy;
writing a short argumentative philosophy paper;
having fruitful philosophical discussions with fellow students in class, effectively offering and receiving ciriticism and explanations.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
Short paper (50%)
Oral examination (50%)
The oral exam will consist of questions about the topics discussed in class and about the contents of the short paper that was written for the course. Sufficient attendance and having submitted the short paper are required for admission to the oral examination.
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
Resits for the individual partial exams are not offered. The resit consists of an oral exam. The result of the resit replaces all previously obtained partial grades (100% of the final result). Having submitted the short paper is required for admission to the resit.
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.
Feedback on the short paper and the oral examination will be provided orally, right after the oral examination.
Reading list
The reading list will be published via Brightspace. Readings will be made accessible via Brightspace, and need to be studied at home before the relevant seminar.
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.