Philosophy and Mortality
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| PHIL3026 | Philosophy | 3 | 20 | Autumn UK |
- Code
- PHIL3026
- School
- Philosophy
- Level
- 3
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Autumn UK
Summary
The module explores philosophical issues related to human mortality – illness, ageing, death and dying, and other dimensions of our embodied vulnerability. Typical topics might include: the phenomenology of chronic somatic illness; psychiatry and mental health; the oppression of ill persons; the nature and practice of pathography (narrative accounts of the lived experience of illness); the social experiences of ill persons; the moral and spiritual significance of illness and ageing; anti-natalism; the experience of dying; empathy, grief, and mourning; death and the meaning of life; the significance of human mortality to wider philosophical issues and concerns. By the end of the module, you should be able to identify and articulate the ethical and existential significance of various experiences of human mortality; to employ a range of different methods and approaches to understanding those experiences; and to think sensitively and humanely about human experiences of ageing, illness, and dying.
Target Students
Third year single honours and joint honours Philosophy students. Also available to Liberal Arts students in their final year who have completed either PHIL1012 or PHIL1013. Also available to exchange students.
Classes
- One 1-hour seminar each week for 10 weeks
- One 2-hour lecture each week for 10 weeks
Assessment
- 50% Coursework 1: Mid semester - 2000 word essay
- 50% Coursework 2: End of semester - 2000 word essay
Assessed by end of autumn semester
Educational Aims
This module aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of some key philosophical themes concerning human mortality—illness, ageing, death and dying, and other dimensions of our embodied vulnerability.Learning Outcomes
A. Knowledge and Understanding.
By the end of this module you should be able to understand, and demonstrate a clear grasp of, the main positions in the philosophical debates covered by the module.
B. Intellectual skills.
By the end of this module you should be able to:
- B1. Identify the underlying issues in the debates discussed.
- B2. Analyse the structure of complex and controversial problems, with an understanding of major strategies of reasoning designed to solve such problems.
- B3. Read carefully and interpret texts drawn from a variety of sources, with sensitivity to context.
- B4. Abstract, analyse and construct logical arguments, employing techniques of formal and informal methods of reasoning as appropriate, together with an ability to recognise any relevant fallacies.
- B5. Recognise and judge for yourself the strengths and weaknesses of arguments on both sides of each philosophical issue.
C. Practical Skills.
By the end of this module you should be able to
- C1. Identify textually-based arguments and subject their structure and implications to rigorous assessment.
- C2. Understand any relevant specialist philosophical terminology and be able to use it properly.
- C3. Review unfamiliar ideas with an open mind and a willingness to change one’s mind when appropriate.
D. Transferable skills.
By the end of this module you should be able to
- D1. Express views on (abstract) issues clearly and concisely in writing.
- D2. Participate effectively and appropriately in constructive debate on relevant issues.
- D3. Work autonomously and manage one’s own work to time limits.
- D4. Marshal a complex body of information, construct cogent arguments in the evaluation of this material, and present a clear and well-structured assessment of relevant considerations, both in writing and in conversation.
- D5. Think creatively, self-critically and independently about new and unfamiliar problems