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Online courses include philosophy of the mind, social and political philosophy, history of ethics, and contemporary analytic philosophy. Distance learners can choose from multiple start dates throughout the year, which can make it easier to fit this program into their busy schedules.
Introduction to Philosophy
Philosophy is often classed as a humanities degree, although there are strands that are in fact closer to mathematics and science. It can be taken as a single honours subject or in addition to another subject.
A philosophy major is a humanities degree path that will challenge students to examine questions with no right answers. As they become familiar with notable thinkers and diverse worldviews, majors will learn to think critically, identify and evaluate arguments and engage in moral and ethical reasoning.
In fact, philosophy is called the "queen of the sciences," because it has all other disciplines as its subject matter. For this reason, there can be a philosophy of art, of education, of history, of science, and so forth.
The four main branches of philosophy are metaphysics, epistemology, axiology, and logic. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that considers the physical universe and the nature of ultimate reality.
Philosophy is the study of thought concerning nature, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, being, knowledge, logic, and all manner of theory. “Philosophy” comes from Greek words meaning “love of wisdom.” Philosophy uses the tools of logic and reason to analyze the ways in which humans experience the world.
Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; Latin: Baccalaureus Philosophiae or Philosophiae Baccalaureus) is the title of an academic degree that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects.
This discipline overlaps with metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology, for example, when it explores the relationship between science and truth. Philosophy of science focuses on metaphysical, epistemic and semantic aspects of science.
Most colleges consider philosophy a humanities subject rather than a social science. Philosophy emphasizes foundational questions about reality, human nature, and the relationship between mind and matter.
Instead, philosophy itself is art just as much as art is philosophy. Philosophy is the art of critical and analytical thinking, the art of reasoning, and the art of the illogical and logical. It is always an art.
Philosophy of education is the branch of applied or practical philosophy concerned with the nature and aims of education and the philosophical problems arising from educational theory and practice.
The main branches of Philosophy are: Axiology: Study of the nature of value and valuation. Metaphysics: Study of the fundamental nature of reality. Epistemology: Study of the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge.
There are five main branches in philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics, and aesthetics.
Philosophy means "love of wisdom" in Greek, and this discipline indeed dates back to the classical philosophers of ancient Greece like Plato and Ar...
Even if you don't know any professional philosophers, you might be surprised to learn how relevant an education in philosophy is. Despite the seemi...
Absolutely! Coursera's online learning platform gives you the experience of learning at a top-ranked university from anywhere in the world, on a fl...
Anyone who excels at critical reasoning and logical thinking and has a passion for understanding humans' relationship to the world and each other c...
A background in philosophy helps you strengthen your ability to solve problems using rational thinking, a talent that is highly valued by business...
If you want to strengthen your existing critical thinking skills or explore new ways to think about the world around you, then studying philosophy...
Potential study topics related to philosophy include logic and critical thinking, Greek and Roman mythology, understanding arguments, meditation, a...
So, to help you curious cats out, we present 10 online philosophy classes you can take right now, at no cost. Intro to Philosophy. Where do you start if you want to learn about philosophy but don ...
Learn Philosophy with free online courses and certifications. Find free Philosophy certifications and courses and start learning Philosophy. Philosophy courses for all levels from beginners to advanced available for free.
Our Free Philosophy Courses collection features college and university level courses available for free online on audio & video.
Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) programs are designed to allow students flexibility in crafting their graduate studies. Liberal arts courses can come from a range of disciplines, such as art, philosophy, history, social sciences, or literature, among others.
The philosophy of mind has been one of the liveliest and most active areas of philosophical inquiry over the last century, and it has taken a place at the center#N#of the field. Part of the explanation for this is the rise of compelling scientific accounts of who and what we are. The question of whether the mind can be fully understood within a physicalist, materialist framework has taken on an exciting urgency. In this course we will investigate the mind/body problem, mental representation, the conceptual and nonconceptual content of mental states, and the nature of consciousness. Throughout we will attend to the relevant empirical literature.#N#[ more ]
Logic is the study of reasoning and argument. More particularly, it concerns itself with the difference between good and bad reasoning, between strong and weak arguments. We all examine the#N#virtues and vices of good arguments in both informal and formal systems. The goals of this course are to improve the critical thinking of the students, to introduce them to sentential and predicate logic, to familiarize them with enough formal logic to enable them to read some of the great works of philosophy, which use formal logic (such as Wittgenstein's Tractatus ), and to examine some of the connections between logic and philosophy.#N#[ more ]
While Plato and Aristotle differ on many points, they share the belief that the cosmos and the human place within it can be understood by rational means.
According to Aristotle the ultimate good is happiness ---everything we desire we desire for the sake of happiness. Yet what is it to be happy? Should we value other things#N#(say justice or passionate commitment and curiosity) over happiness ? Are happiness and pleasure the same thing? Is happiness an emotional or mental state or is it a social construct? What do the social and psychological sciences have to teach us about happiness ? Philosophy? Is the happy life a life of virtue? Does being virtuous guarantee happiness? How important are honor, money, love, work, friendship and our connections to others to our happiness ? In this tutorial we will read from Ancient, modern and contemporary philosophical sources as well several relevant studies in the social sciences and positive psychology movement in order to engage questions concerning happiness.#N#[ more ]
DuBois engaged in a great debate about the nature of education. Their dispute raised some of the. deepest questions in philosophy: consequentialism versus deontology, the goals of happiness versus dignity, long term versus short term goals, and more.
Thus, Plato described the philosopher as "the one who beholds all Time and all Being.".
According to Jean-Paul Sartre, the only philosopher to ever refer to himself as an "existentialist," existence precedes essence. What is essential to human being is not any fixed set of#N#characteristics, but rather what a human being becomes and how it defines and creates itself under conditions it does not choose. In this course we address key themes and figures from two of the most influential movements in twentieth century European philosophy, namely, existentialism and phenomenology, a philosophical approach to which existentialism is indebted. We will discuss major works (philosophical, literary, visual) by such figures as Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre , Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Richard Wright, Ingmar Bergman and Jean-Luc Godard. We will raise questions concerning the task of philosophy, the structure and meaning constituting function of consciousness, the relationship between self and other, the mind-body relationship, freedom, authenticity, and absurdity.#N#[ more ]
Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. An inquiry into the form and function of concepts, laws, and theories, and into the character of explanation and prediction, in the natural and the social sciences; and an examination of some philosophical problems concerning scientific method and scientific knowledge.
An introduction to some of the central questions of pure philosophy through their treatment by traditional and contemporary writers: questions concerning mind and matter; causation and free will; space and time; meaning, truth, and reality; knowledge, perception, belief, and thought. PHI 204.
PHI 205. Introduction to Ancient Philosophy (also CLA 205) Designed to introduce the student to the Greek contribution to the philosophical and scientific ideas of the Western world through study of works of Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Lucretius in English translation.
Topics covered will include: Socrates' method of dialectic, his conceptions of moral virtue and human knowledge; Plato's theory of knowledge, metaphysics, and moral and political philosophy. PHI 301. Aristotle and His Successors.
A study of reasoning and its role in science and everyday life, with special attention to the development of a system of symbolic logic, to probabilistic reasoning, and to problems in decision theory. PHI 202.
Topics may include identity and distinctness, the theory of ideas, substance, the mind/body problem, time, and causation. Philosophers may include Descartes, Spinoza, Hobbes, Hume, or others. PHI 333.
Learning Theory and Epistemology (also ELE 218) An accessible introduction for all students to recent results by logicians, computer scientists, psychologists, engineers, and statisticians concerning the nature and limits of learning.
Popularly, Philosophy is associated with stargazing and asking questions that are as vague as they are irrelevant, and to which there are no answers. To the contrary, Philosophy deals in a clear and precise manner with the real world, its complex social and material nature, and our place in it.
To study Philosophy is to see the connection between ideas, and to explicate that connection in a reasoned and logical way. An ethicist, for example, might draw upon behavioral psychology to argue that humans should lead a certain kind of life.
A metaphysician or philosopher of science might help provide conceptual clarity and reason through the implications of competing quantum mechanical theories. All fields of inquiry are open to the philosopher’s refinement. Back to Philosophy Homepage.
Any master's degree program includes courses in the history of philosophy, examining different movements, major figures and theories in the discipline. A history of ancient philosophy course may cover Greek moral and political philosophy, including the works of Aristotle, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Socrates and Plato. A course in the history of modern philosophy explores the works of Descartes, Kant, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Spinoza. A history of ethics course will look at the moral philosophies of figures, such as Plato and Nietzsche. Some master's programs may offer a history of science course where students look at the philosophical aspects of the work of such scientists as Watson, Crick, Einstein, Mendel, Lavoisier, Darwin, Newton and Galileo.
A master's degree in philosophy generally takes two years to complete and can prepare students for entry into a Ph.D. program in philosophy. Many classes at this level are highly specialized, and may cover topics such as Nietzsche, love and friendship, and political authority. Though classes vary from program to program, there are some key courses offered through most master's programs. Such classes include advanced studies in epistemology, ethics, and metaphysics.
Epistemology is the study of knowledge and belief. More specifically, it looks at the creation and dissemination of knowledge in a particular discipline. Epistemology in philosophy explores the structure, sources and limits of knowledge and justification. Graduate courses in epistemology cover priori knowledge, perception, skepticism, induction, memory and inference.
Typically, 100 and 200 level courses are for beginners, people who have taken few or no philosophy courses.
Description: Introduction to Philosophy is always an introductory course. Most of the time it is a “survey” course, meaning that you read lots of smaller pieces from a variety of different philosophers. Sometimes they are presented chronologically, starting with the Classical Greeks and moving forward. Most of the time, however, they are presented thematically, dividing the philosophers into subject areas such as ethics, the study of reality (metaphysics), philosophy of religion, and the study of knowledge (epistemology). Typically, you will read selections outside of class, comment on them for homework by either submitting questions or writing reactions, and talk about the reading in class. The instructor will usually go through the text in class, sometimes with the book in front of all of you, and sometimes by writing lecture notes on the board. These classes almost always have at least one, but more often two, larger papers to write for a midterm or final assignment.
300 and 400 level courses are usually for people with more philosophy experience. They will presume that you have a basic understanding ...
The critical thinking class will probably focus more on everyday arguments in books, newspapers, and on the internet. In some schools, though, these names are interchangeable. If you take one philosophy class at all, this is probably the one to take, but keep in mind, this is not an introduction to the subject of philosophy.
Typically, universities have four levels of courses (100, 200, 300, 400), but not everyone puts the same course at the same level. Don’t worry too much about this. The most important thing to understand is that the number does not refer to how much work a course is. It refers to how much background knowledge is required.
It is excellent for majors such as psychology, business, sociology, political science, art, and anthropology—any class that deals with the human experience, because it shows how much background there is to any question. It illustrates the stuff those classes won’t tell you, but are implicit in all of their discussions.
It also illustrates the wide range of philosophical questions that can be asked, revealing that philosophy can apply to any situation or subject area. Introduction to Philosophy is almost always a general education requirement, so its skill set is usable in every class you will take in school.
Intro to Philosophy is essentially reductionist and rushes through the history of Western Philosophy and the answers they gave. The most important thing is to keep asking questions, -don't ever take an ides for granted. 1.3K views.
The humanities is a term that refers to all subjects, both scientific and non-scientific, that study humans in some way, shape or form. As the Wikipedia article points out, it is more often used specifically when discussing non-scientific studies of people. Philosophy is often considered a branch of the humanities.
The problem with a Philosophy major today is that it isn’t marketable. If you graduate with a Liberal Arts degree, the odds are about 50–50 you are going to find yourself working at Starbucks, regardless of how hard your course of study was.
While some branches of philosophy are relatively easy, like ethics, some are complicated. This is where a good professor will shine as he/she will be able to turn even the most complicated in to something understandable. I really think that this is the most factor in whether or not the course is hard.
Hence, philosophy should probably be considered a sub-group of humanities. Related Answer. Quora User.
For better and/or worse, philosophy courses tend to be lecture-heavy at the lower-division level and gradually more discus. Continue Reading.
What Is the Course Curriculum for a Philosophy Major? The course curriculum for a philosophy major covers all the important areas of philosophy. Students, who are philosophy majors, may study logic, ancient philosophy, modern philosophy, ethics, reasoning, metaphysics and epistemology as part of their course curriculum. View Schools.
Modern Philosophy. The curriculum of a course in modern philosophy covers thinkers during the Enlightenment age, along with those of the critical, empiricist and rationalist traditions. Students study the ideas of morality, human knowledge and freedom through the works of Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Hume and Bacon.
Logic courses also typically cover the basic laws of reasoning and common logical fallacies by using examples in reasoning.
Students study inductive and deductive logic. They also look at methods used to determine the reliability of both types of arguments. The course goes on to consider arguments composition, arguments informal evaluation and scientific thinking.
Students study all the major ancient philosophers, including Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics and the pre-Socratics, along with Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and other noted Hellenistic philosophers. Problems considered may include the self and reality.
Metaphysics. Metaphysics explores the relationships between different aspects of the natural world, causation between different things and the unchanging nature of others. The curriculum covers possibility and necessity, the nature of causation, the nature of events and the idea of existence. Students study such metaphysical ideas as freedom, ...