Descartes’ Meditations is one of the most significant texts in Western thought. It marks the beginning of a focus on the natural sciences as the paradigm for knowledge and certainty. It incorporates conceptualizations of God, human nature, knowledge and reality that continue to influence contemporary thought. This unit begins with a selective reading of the Meditations. It then examines excerpts from major texts by other significant philosophers of the period, who may include Hobbes, Spinoza, Cudworth, More, Locke, Newton, Clarke, Hume, and Kant. The unit focuses on themes such as the relation of body and soul, the question of certain knowledge and the relationship between scientific, theological and common-sense world views. In addition, attention is given to the dispute between those philosophers engaged in sceptical or atheistic attacks on religion, and those philosophers engaged with producing religion-conducive systems or defending religion. (This unit may be offered in intensive mode.)
Unit code: AP9140C
Unit status: Approved (Major revision)
Points: 24.0
Unit level: Postgraduate Elective
Unit discipline: Philosophy
Delivery Mode: Face to Face
Proposing College: Catholic Theological College
Show when this unit is running| 1. | Explain the progression of the argument in Descartes’ Meditations. |
| 2. | Explain the primary/secondary qualities distinction as it appears through the thinkers studied in the unit and criticisms of it. |
| 3. | Narrate a critical account of the relationship between the defences of a theistic worldview made by the Cambridge Platonists, Locke and Clarke, and the critiques of those defences made by ‘atheistic’ thinkers presented in the unit: Hobbes, Spinoza, Hume, and situate that account amid rival narratives. |
| 4. | Critically expound Kant’s transcendental idealism, and critically articulate Kant’s motivations for offering it. |
| 5. | Demonstrate the capacity to develop a topic of research in a critically rigorous, sustained and self-directed manner. |
One unit of philosophy
Lectures and Tutorials and seminars
| Type | Description | Word count | Weight (%) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Variant 1 | ||||||||
| Skeleton Argument | Variant 1: 1000-word skeleton argument essay One choice from two assessment variants will be nominated at the time of scheduling by the lecturer/unit coordinator prior to the start of the unit, published in the unit outline. Students may have topical choices within a given assessment variant, but are not able to make choices outside that set of assessments. |
1000 | 10.0 | |||||
| Essay | Variant 1: 6000-word essay |
6000 | 90.0 | |||||
Variant 2 | ||||||||
| Essay | Variant 2: 2000-word essay One choice from two assessment variants will be nominated at the time of scheduling by the lecturer/unit coordinator prior to the start of the unit, published in the unit outline. Students may have topical choices within a given assessment variant, but are not able to make choices outside that set of assessments. |
2000 | 40.0 | |||||
| Skeleton Argument | Variant 2: 1000-word skeleton argument essay |
1000 | 10.0 | |||||
| Essay | Variant 2: 4000-word essay |
4000 | 50.0 | |||||
Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Maggie Kappelhoff on 19 Jul, 2021
Unit record last updated: 2021-07-19 12:19:17 +1000