Course Details in 2023/24 Session

Module Title	LC Philosopher's Toolkit A
School	Phil, Theology and Religion
Department	Philosophy
Module Code	09 33081
Module Lead	Darragh Byrne
Level	Certificate Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-20 hours Seminar-10 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	An introduction to some of the most important methodological devices encountered in philosophy. We begin with the canonical notion of a cogent argument, and then move to cover a range of other important abstract concepts that pervade philosophy, e.g. analysis, explanation, probability, necessity, reflective equilibrium, etc. Working through a series of illustrative applications, we excavate abstract notions that are foundational to moral, political and applied philosophy as well as to ‘theoretical’ philosophy. In the second half of the module we return to arguments, and learn to use formal apparatuses – logics – to study them in detail. Students learn to translate English sentences into formulas of logical symbolism, and to assess the validity of arguments couched in those formal terms.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate understanding of the important methodological notions discussed in the module; Employ those notions to analyse and assess a range of philosophical theories and positions; Translate relevant English sentences into formal logical notation and vice versa; Apply techniques of formal logic to distinguish between deductively valid and invalid arguments.
Assessment	33081-01 : Canvas Quiz 1 : Coursework (50%) 33081-02 : Canvas Quiz 2 : Coursework (50%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: On-line Canvas quiz (50%) On-line Canvas quiz (50%) Reassessment: Same as assessment.
Other
Reading List