Postgraduate Course: Philosophy of Well-Being MSc (PHIL11155)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will examine well-being, a central issue in moral philosophy.
Shared with undergraduate course Philosophy of Well-Being PHIL10152.
For courses co-taught with undergraduate students and with no remaining undergraduate spaces left, a maximum of 8 MSc students can join the course. Priority will be given to MSc students who wish to take the course for credit on a first come first served basis after matriculation.
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| Course description |
The course has two (roughly equal) parts:
Part 1: In this part we examine the main theories of well-being. These include hedonism, desire-fulfillment theory, objective-list theory, perfectionism. We will also look at some more recently developed theories, including hybrid theories.
Part 2: In this part we examine some general theoretical issues connected to well-being. These include: attempts to understand how well-being differs from other kinds of evaluation (moral, aesthetic, etc) and scepticism about the concept of well-being. We will also look at whether well-being is holistic by examining whether lifetime well-being is some simple function from momentary well-being (the 'shape of a life' debate). We will also examine how time and death connect to well-being, by looking at issues such as the timing of prudential goods, whether (and why) death is bad for us, and whether posthumous events can impact well-being (and, if so, how).
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 8 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
80 %,
Practical Exam
20 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Essay and Participation [Essay 3,000 words, 80%; Participation 20%]
The participation assessment will take the form of two (short) in-class quizzes (each worth 5%) and one presentation project (either individual or small group, depending on numbers), worth 10%
Essay deadline: Monday 17th April 2017 by 12 noon
Return deadline: Tuesday 9th May 2017 |
| Feedback |
- MSc-only tutorials in weeks 4 and 10
- Students have the opportunity to submit a formative essay by week 6 deadline on Turnitin via Learn. The essay cannot be draft of summative essay but it can be on the same topic.
Formative essay deadline: Thursday 2nd March 2017 by 12 noon
Return deadline: Friday 24th March 2017
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- develop core philosophical skills in philosophy interpreting authors, reconstructing and evaluating arguments, articulating theories, etc.
- gain knowledge of the main theories of well-being, and their strengths and weakness.
- defend the student's preferred theory (if any).
- understand some of the main philosophical debates and practical issues which the theory of wellbeing has implications for.
- gain confidence to give a short class presentation with the help of clear visual aids and ability to write an essay on the theory of well-being which displays critical assessment along with knowledge of the literature.
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Reading List
Textbook: G. Fletcher (2016) The Philosophy of Well-Being: An
Introduction.
This book will have a chapter corresponding to each week of class,giving a general overview of the topic. This will be supplemented with chapters from my (edited) 'Handbook of the Philosophy of Well-Being' along with other papers and books.
Full reading list available on Learn. |
Additional Information
| Course URL |
Please see Learn |
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Reading skills
Writing skills
Presentation skills
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| Additional Class Delivery Information |
The course will be taught by Dr Guy Fletcher.
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| Keywords | Well-Being,Happiness,Utility |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Guy Fletcher
Tel: (0131 6)51 7112
Email: Jenni.Brown@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lynsey Buchanan
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: |
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