Undergraduate Course: Philosophy of Time Travel ( S1) (PHIL10127)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Philosophy |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Time travel (surprising as it may sound) is a topic of wide and growing interest to philosophers as well as physicists. There are now (literally) scores of philosophical articles relating time travel to a host of interesting metaphysical and epistemic problems centred around (e.g.) laws of nature, personal identity and free will. Students will be encouraged to engage critically with the works of such important figures as David Lewis, Kurt Gödel, D. H. Mellor and Robin Le Poidevin, amongst others.
This course is research-led and is largely designed around an ongoing project (funded by the AHRC 2008/09) to produce a book-length treatment and a series of related articles on all philosophical aspects of time travel. No previous knowledge of physics or the philosophy of time will be required and the course will have only minimal overlap with the existing Honours option in $ùPhilosophy of Time&© (U04614).
This course will ordinarily be taught by myself as part of my normal teaching load. The course will make use of the resources of the University library, and on-line academic journals. There should be no extra resource implications in running this course and no costs peculiar to this course should be incurred. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Passes in second level courses in Philosophy |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| To develop further students&© philosophical skills, and to extend and deepen their philosophical knowledge, acquired in previous philosophy courses. Students who successfully complete this course will have received a thorough grounding in all philosophical aspects of the current time travel debate and should be equipped to discuss critically a range of relevant, contemporary philosophical issues in metaphysics. |
Assessment Information
This course will be assessed by a mixture of written and presented instruments of assessment, which should encourage not merely written responses but active participation in the seminar from all students.
These instruments, and their associated weighted contribution to overall course assessment, will be as follows:
i) 1 short presentation (10%).
ii) 1 short (approx. 1500 word) essay (35%).
iii) 1long (approx. 3000 word) essay (55%). |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
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| Transferable skills |
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| Reading list |
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| Study Abroad |
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| Study Pattern |
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Alasdair Richmond
Tel: (0131 6)50 3656
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Susan Richards
Tel: (0131 6)51 3733
Email: |
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