There will be a two and a half hour class each week. Each class will consist of one hour of lecture-style exposition and a one and a half hour seminar, in which we will discuss the assigned reading of the day. It is expected that students study the assigned texts carefully in advance, prepare a summary and discussion questions. Attendance is obligatory. The assigned texts will be available online.
Intended Learning Outcomes:
The aim of the course to familiarize participants with the main issues and positions in the contemporary metaethical debate, and to put them into a position where they can begin to defend a view of their own.
More specifically, this includes:
• understanding the main positions in the metaethical debate of the 20th and 21st century.
• understanding most of the key notions and arguments used in this debate.
• practicing the competent application of these notions in a philosophical debate.
• developing the ability to articulate one’s own position in this debate (at least provisionally), and to defend it in argument.
This contributes to the following competences promoted by the APhil master programme:
• The competent use of the terminology, concepts and methods used in contemporary analytic philosophy, and their employment in the argumentative defence of a position.
• The ability to identify the the current state of a particular philosophical debate, and form a reasoned view, even if provisional, about it.
• The ability to conduct a philosophical discussion (orally and in written form), by putting forward, for example, general arguments or specific examples, in support of one’s position.
• The ability to work independently as well as in a team, in an international context.
• The independent and creative application of one’s knowledge to new problems, i.e. the ability to employ knowledge and abilities aquired in one area in order to address new problems or problems in different areas.
• Develop the ability to conduct philosophical research in an independent and autonomous way (as is required, for example, in pursuing doctoral studies).