BASS Social Anthropology and Philosophy / Course details

The course unit will cover a variety of philosophical figures and texts from the ancient to the early modern period, from both Western and non-Western traditions, focusing on Plato and Aristotle from 4^th /5^th Century BC Greece; the Islamic philosophers Avicenna and Al-Kindi from the middle ages; and, from 17^th/18^th -Century Europe, Descartes, and Spinoza and Leibniz – drawing connections between them, and bringing other philosophers from history to bear on the issues, where appropriate. All texts are read in translation, and no knowledge of languages other than English is either assumed or required.

The unit aims both to introduce students to the history of philosophy, and to foster the skills of close scrutiny of philosophical texts, developing a critical understanding of translated texts not originally written in contemporary English, and interpretation.

One 2-hour lecture and one 1-hour tutorial per week.

• Students should acquire knowledge of some key philosophical figures and texts from Ancient Greece to the early modern period, and understanding of some of their philosophical positions and arguments. 
• They should also acquire understanding of how a philosophical text can be interpreted in different ways.
• Demonstrate knowledge of historical texts and philosophical traditions 

• skills in close reading of philosophical texts (many not written in contemporary English style) and adjudicating between rival interpretations.
• analyse arguments
• engage in textual interpretation and exegesis
• pursue sustained argument assessment and construction 

• skills in time-management, in independent working, and in developing motivation and personal initiative.
• read difficult and unfamiliar texts
• improve writing skills 

• develop writing skills
• engage in library based research
• The course unit should increase students’ skills in understanding difficult material, critical analysis, and assessing and formulating arguments.

• Weekly online exercise (25 words weekly) 10% 
• Essay 1 (750 words) 40%
• Essay 2 (1,000 words) 50% 

The School of Social Sciences (SoSS) is committed to providing timely and appropriate feedback to students on their academic progress and achievement, thereby enabling students to reflect on their progress and plan their academic and skills development effectively. Students are reminded that feedback is necessarily responsive: only when a student has done a certain amount of work and approaches us with it at the appropriate fora is it possible for us to feed back on the student's work. The main forms of feedback on this course are formative feedback on essay plans and summative written feedback responses to assessed essays. You are also welcome to discuss essays with your tutor and the course convenor, and exams with the course convenor.

We also draw your attention to the variety of generic forms of feedback available to you on this as on all SoSS courses. These include: meeting the lecturer/tutor during their office hours; e-mailing questions to the lecturer/tutor; asking questions from the lecturer (before and after lecture); and obtaining feedback from your peers during tutorials.

The following reading list is indicative, and students are not required to read all of the publications listed.

Selections from Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (ed.) A Source Book in Indian Philosophy (Princeton, 1989)

Julia Annas: Ancient Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2000)  

René Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy (any edition)

Zhuang Zhou: the Zhuangzi (any edition)

John Mbiti: African Religions and Philosophy (Heineman 1990), ch. 2 on nature of time