Philosophy 102 (Second Semester)

Philosophy 102 (PHI102) is a first-year, second semester course aimed at introducing students to philosophical ideas, issues and methods not dealt with in PHI 101, with the focus typically but not always being on issues in Ethics.

The course bears 15 credits at NQF Level 5. There are no entrance requirements.
DP requirements: at least 35% for course work.
Assessment: Coursework 40%; June exam 60%.
Supplementary exam: June result 45 – 49%
No aggregation.

 

Term 3

Consciousness in a physical world (Tess Dewhurst)

What is consciousness? Is there a distinction between the mind and the brain? If they are two different things, how do we make sense of how they relate? Is consciousness something that separates us humans from other animals? Is it something that makes us different to computers? By reading historical and contemporary contributions to the philosophy of mind, we will look at these questions, and at the kinds of answers available. The aim is not to settle on a particular response, but to come to understand what is at stake, and how to navigate within the debate.

  

Term 4

Philosophy, Wisdom, and Identity (Ward Jones)

 

The Ancient Greek word philosophia meant, literally, ‘love of wisdom’, but the word has come to be used for a theoretical discipline studied and carried out mostly within a university setting. The question ‘What is philosophy?’ is, indeed, a philosophical question, and the various answers to it are both contested and challenged. We will begin by looking at a challenge, by the African-American philosopher Kirstie Dotson, to current English-language philosophy, namely that it is alienating and unwelcome to those who are not White and male. In the remainder of the class we will be engaging with this challenge, by looking at various conceptions of what philosophy is or might be, and by looking at what various philosophers [e.g., Aristotle, Odera Oruka] have said about its relationship with wisdom. One form of wisdom which I will be especially interested in is the [perhaps Aristotelian] transformation of the self which occurs in what we might call ‘consciousness-raising’ – roughly, who we become as we respond to an understanding of how social injustice morally damages (each of) our lives.

Last Modified: Thu, 17 Jan 2019 14:19:29 SAST