To consolidate the academic skills and knowledge necessary for the critical reading and writing of philosophy.

To acquaint students with some well-known philosophical quotations, and to introduce key insights, ideas and debates in the history of philosophy via these philosophical quotations.

To enable students to understand and explain the meaning and context of these quotations.

To equip students with the skills to evaluate these quotations.

To consolidate students’ research skills.

To enhance students’ team-working skills.

To consolidate students' appreciation of, and ability to use, forward-facing feedback and review.

(LO1) Students will be able to understand and explain some well-known philosophical quotations.

(LO2) Students will understand how these quotations relate to key insights, ideas and debates in the history of philosophy.

(LO3) Students will be able to critically engage with these philosophical quotations.

(LO4) Students will be able to write a blogpost, and compile a list of wiki entries on a series of related topics.

(LO5) Students will be able to conduct independent research in support of their work, using appropriate print and online resources.

(S1) Students will enhance their abilities in reading and understanding texts and in comprehending abstract material.

(S2) Students will develop their skills in thinking critically, analysing problems and analysing and assessing arguments.

(S3) Students will enhance their ability to identify the issues that underlie debates.

(S4) Students will develop confidence in considering previously unfamiliar ideas and approaches, and their ability to identify presuppositions and to reflect critically upon them.

(S5) Students will enhance their ability to marshal arguments and present them orally and in writing.

(S6) Students will develop the ability to perform bibliographical searches, and (to include to professional standard) citations and bibliographies in their work.

(S7) Students will enhance their oral and written communications skills and develop skill in explaining complex material in a precise manner.

(S8) Students will develop their ability to work independently.

(S9) Students will develop their ability to sift through information, assessing the relevance and importance of the information to what is at issue.

(S10) Students will develop their skills in making appropriate use of information technology, information on the World Wide Web and reference works and databases relevant to the discipline.

(S11) Students will develop the ability to write to a professional standard.

(S12) Students will enhance their capacity to participate, in a dispassionate and respectful manner, in debates about controversial and profound matters.

(S13) Students will develop their willingness critically to evaluate and reflect upon arguments, beliefs, proposals and values, both their own and those of others.

(S14) Through developing their analytical and critical skills and observing good standards of academic practice, students will develop their intellectual honesty.

The syllabus will shift from year to year, according to the interests of the teaching staff. But the focus will remain on quotations from key thinkers from the history of philosophy. Quotations might include the following:
‘The unexamined life is not worth living’
‘Mankind is poised midway between the gods and the beasts’
‘Everything is what it is and not another thing’
‘It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied’
‘One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman’
‘Man is born free but is everywhere in chains’
‘The life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short'
‘Religion is the opium of the people’
‘Man is a creature who makes pictures of himself and comes to resemble those pictures’
‘Whereof one cannot speak thereof one must be silent’
‘I think therefore I am’
‘If a lion could talk we would not understand him’
‘God is dead’

In each iteration of the module, 5 quotations will be covered.

‘Standard’ delivery is campus-based. Hybrid/online variants are given below.

Teaching Method 1 - Lecture (in hybrid/online teaching these will be online and asynchronous)
Description: 6 x 1 hour lecture, in weeks 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 12.

Lectures are tutor-led activities, offering an introduction to the broader context of the philosophical quotations to be studied, and to their meaning. Suggestions for further independent research will be made during the lecture, and relevant material provided via VITAL. The lectures thus provide a framework for independent enquiry-led research. The quotation introduced in each lecture will serve as the basis for the seminar in the following week. So the quotation introduced in week 1 will be the basis for the seminar in week 2, and so on. (The lecture in week 11 will be a revision lecture and will include time for students to ask questions about their assessment).

Students are encouraged to engage actively with lectu res through, for example: (i) taking opportunities to ask questions during or after the session; (ii) responding to questions posed to them; (iii) reflecting on topics and issues presented in the lectures; (iv) producing questions and notes on issues for subsequent discussion in seminars.

Attendance Recorded: No

Teaching Method 2 - 5 x 1 hour workshop, in weeks 1, 3, 6, 8, 10 (either online synchronous or on campus if circumstances permit)
Description: Workshops are formative spaces of applied and enquiry-led learning based on pre-set readings and tasks. In the workshops for this module, after a short introduction by the workshop leader, students will work either individually or in small groups on composing a brief summary (300 words) of the quotation covered in the previous lecture. In putting together these Summaries they will make use of their lecture notes and the independent research they have conducted prior to the workshop. The workshop leader will answer questio ns, provide feedback, and provide background information and broader context as and when required.

Attendance Recorded: Yes

Teaching Method 3 - 5 x 2 hour seminar, in weeks 2, 4, 7, 9, 11 (online synchronous or r on campus if circumstances permit).
Description: Seminars are formative spaces of applied and enquiry-led learning based on pre-set readings and tasks. They are facilitated by the tutor. Seminars thus offer opportunities for students to respond to tutor- and peer-set questions, deepen understanding, apply ideas, develop arguments and build confidence through group discussion. In this module, students will be split into the small groups they worked in during the preceding workshop. They are then given 30 minutes to update their summaries based on further research they have carried out prior to the seminar, and prepare a brief presentation of their summaries to the rest of the seminar. This will then lead to a general discussion. In the second part of the sessio n the small groups discuss whether they agree or disagree with the philosophical thesis contained in the quotation under discussion and develop a defence or refutation of it. The groups then present these and debate as a class.

Attendance Recorded: Yes

Teaching Method 4 - Workshop (online synchronous or on campus if circumstances permit).
Description: Information skills workshop, provided by the Library.

Independent study consists of: study of the set reading on the philosophical quotations; further independent research spurred by this reading; preparation of the wikis explaining these quotations; preparation of the blogpost evaluating a chosen quotation; reflection on the peer and formative feedback provided by markers on summaries produced in class; use of online support materials.

Attendance Recorded: No

The majority of teaching will be delivered face to face on campus. Online delivery will be used to complement the on campus delivery and where tec hnology affords a better learning experience.