Undergraduate Course: Metaphysics and Morality (THET10016)
Course Outline
| School | School of Divinity |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This advanced course aims to provide students with a sound grasp of how metaphysics and morals are related in contemporary thinking. It explores key issues in the ethical thinking of Hegel, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, together with theologically informed commentaries.
NB: The course includes a substantial body of reading at an advanced level. |
| Course description |
Academic Description:
This course investigates fundamental questions about the idea of 'ethics'. It investigates whether ethics is a useful category, whether ethical reasons can be given for religious actions and whether it makes a difference if reality is understood as fundamentally violent or fundamentally peaceful.
Syllabus/Outline Content:
The course is focused on three primary texts: Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling and Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality. Three weeks is spent on each text.
Student Learning Experience Information:
The course has a programme of a two-hour seminar each week, accompanied by an autonomous learning group. Seminars will be discussion-based with a schedule of reading to be carried out before each class. Each student will be required to give a short presentation at one class during the semester on the text for the day. Through participation in class discussions, as well as through the mid-semester essay and the final exam essay included in the assessment schedule, students will demonstrate their achievement of the intended learning outcomes.
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
God in Philosophy: Plato to Hume (THET08010) OR
Morality and Value (PHIL08015)
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | for Directors of Studies: the best courses to have taken prior to enrolling in this course are those which treat major philosophical figures, and introduce the challenges to reading such material. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students are particularly welcome on this course. They should have at least 3 Divinity/Religious Studies/Philosophy courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). (Only consider University/College level courses) |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Rehearse principal arguments from the primary texts and demonstrate an ability to summarise concisely a significant body of material
- Compare the arguments of the different thinkers and identify the strengths and weakness of those arguments
- Differentiate the arguments from the primary texts from those of secondary texts
- Identify key terms and their meanings
- Demonstrate good judgement about how to judge the relative importance of items the course bibliography
|
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | MetMor |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Nick Adams
Tel: (0131 6)50 8918
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Katrina Munro
Tel: (0131 6)50 8900
Email: |
|
|
University Homepage