Music and Philosophy BA

Music optional modules:

History of Western Music

This module considers key moments in the history of Western music from the 1500s to the present day. Taking individual composers and works, it aims to introduce students to different approaches to the study of music history, the development of particular musical genres, and the impact of cultural, historical and geographical context on composers. In addition, the module will consider ways of writing about music, and the use of primary and secondary sources for informing critical discussions of the subject.

20 credits

Music of the World

As a foundation for more specialised studies in particular forms of music, this module introduces you to the study of music as a phenomenon common to all humanity, and cultivates your awareness of the many different things that music can be to people in different times and places.

You’ll develop a broad familiarity with a variety of musical styles and genres from around the world, acquiring both knowledge of music (the sounds and styles of the music itself) and knowledge about music (the social and cultural contexts in which the music functions). You’ll also develop skills in recognising features of musical sound organisation, representing them visually and describing them in words.

20 credits

Tonal Music Analysis and Criticism  

In this module you'll address the core skills of listening to, analysing, and writing critically about Western Classical music. With a focus on eighteenth-century “common practice” tonality, you will study harmony, counterpoint, melody, texture and form in preparation for analysing short pieces, and will learn to write about the music you hear as well as the notes you see on the page. Your work will also prepare you for future music modules.

10 credits

Exploring Tonal Styles

This module builds core skills of hearing, describing and using tonal procedures in a range of Western musical styles. It extends MUS133 Tonal Music Analysis and Criticism by moving on from classical “common practice” to explore styles that use tonality in different ways.

We’ll explore styles like Medieval and Renaissance music, jazz and rock. You’ll produce analyses from written scores and recordings, and write examples and exercises in the appropriate styles. You’ll develop musicianship skills that prepare you for composition, analysis and performance work in subsequent years.

10 credits

Technologies for Music

Whatever your musical interests, you cannot avoid music technologies - they are central to how we listen to, enjoy and study music. This module introduces you to several important and useful music technologies that will help you throughout your future studies. You will start by learning the essential principles of those technologies, before learning how they work in practice. By the end of the module, you will be versed in the basics of digital audio, sound recording, wave-editing, audio and MIDI, sound effects and plugins, file types and formats.

10 credits

Composition

In this module you will develop your composition skills, practice writing music in staff notation, and learn to write effectively for different instrumental and vocal forces. Drawing on the models of a diverse range of classical composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, we will focus on techniques for writing inventive melodies and rhythms, and employing wide-ranging approaches to harmony. The module aims to give you a foundation in composition and increase your confidence in preparation for further study.

20 credits

Performance

In this module you will develop the musical and intellectual abilities appropriate to solo performance. The theoretical background is considered, focusing on the aural and analytical skills essential to performance at an advanced level. An awareness of style and interpretation, as well as effective preparation and communication are built into teaching. You will receive one to one tuition in addition to attending whole class performance lectures.

20 credits

Folk Music Participation

This module is based upon participation in and preparation for folk sessions hosted by the Department of Music. Through intensive preparation of challenging repertoire, as well as the skills to enable improvised participation, you will develop your understanding of the demands and pleasures of session practice, and your knowledge of the repertoires concerned (British folk traditions), and be encouraged to reflect upon the roles and responsibilities of individual participants within the group. You will also be required to attend a professional ensemble concert or concerts within the university concert series, or an equivalent online event.

10 credits

Composing Electronic Music

The lectures on this module introduce you to various forms of electronic music composition. Through creative practice, key principles of composition with technology are introduced and a number of broad genres are set in a historical and analytical context. A diverse range of software tools are used, further enhancing your digital skills. You will learn how to process and develop a range of recorded and synthetic sound material, before considering some of the various ways in which those materials may be used to compose electronic pieces. After making a number of short etudes throughout the first half of the module, you select one area in which to complete your own original work.

10 credits

Popular Music Studies

This module provides an introduction to the academic study of popular music. You will explore the various definitions of 'popular music' in relation to their socio-cultural context, and investigate some of the major issues and debates of popular music studies.

Lecture materials and in-class tasks will engage with approaches to the analysis of popular music and media, issues of representation, and the relationship between popular musicians and their audiences. Assessments involve critical engagement with the themes of the module in relation to a popular music artist or piece of your choosing.

10 credits

Music Psychology

In this module you will engage with some of the most provocative questions about musical thought and behaviour: What are the characteristics of the musical mind? Why do we feel emotions when listening to or performing music? How does music and music therapy influence our health and wellbeing? Can music make you smarter? The module is designed such that no prior formal musical or psychological training is necessary.

You will develop knowledge of the scientific methods used to study music from a psychological perspective, and how findings can inform applications in education, healthcare, and the creative industries.

10 credits

Philosophy group A modules:

Elementary Logic

The course will provide students with knowledge of the fundamental parts of formal logic. It will also teach them a range of associated formal techniques with which they can then analyse and assess arguments. In particular, they will learn the languages of propositional and first-order logic, and they will learn how to use those languages in providing formal representations of everyday claims. They will also learn how to use truth-tables and truth-trees.

10 credits

History of Philosophical Ideas

The history of philosophy is made up of a series of debates between competing philosophical traditions and schools: for example, idealists argue with realists, rationalists with empiricists. And at different times, distinctive philosophical movements have dominated the discussion, such as pragmatism, existentialism, phenomenology, analytic philosophy, and critical theory. This module will introduce you to some of these central movements and traditions in the history of philosophy from Plato onwards, and the key philosophical concepts and issues that they have brought in to western thought.

10 credits

Knowledge, Justification and Doubt

In our age of post-truth politics and fake news, this course aims to introduce students to philosophy by investigating some basic problems in epistemology (i.e. the philosophical study of knowledge). We will address questions such as: what knowledge is and why it is important; what truth is; what kinds of things can be known and how; if and how perceptual experience gives us knowledge of an external world; whether all knowledge has to be grounded in experience; whether knowledge is socially constructed (and if so whether that is necessarily problematic); what role justice plays in our epistemic practices.

10 credits

Mind, Brain and Personal Identity

What is it to have a mind? Is your mind a physical thing, such as your brain? Or is it a non-physical soul? Do human beings have free will¿the ability to freely choose their own actions¿and, if so, how? What makes you the same person you were when you were a young child? Do non-human animals have minds? Could computers or robots have artificially created minds? If animals or computers had minds would they have souls? Could they have free will? This course examines these issues and some historical and contemporary attempts to understand them.

20 credits

Philosophy of Science

Science plays an important role in modern society. We trust science on a day to day basis as we navigate our worlds. What is about science that makes it so trustworthy? Why is science a good guide for understanding the world? The aim of this half-module is to introduce some of the philosophical issues that arise in science and through reflecting on science. Most of the questions considered concern the epistemology of scientific knowledge and methodology: what are scientific theories, what counts as evidence for these theories, what is the relationship between observation and theory, is there a scientific method, what distinguishes science from other ways of understanding the world, and how does the social structure of science help or hinder science in studying the world. This module aims to introduce these questions as philosophical issues in their own right and within in the context of the history of the philosophy of science.

10 credits

Reason and Argument

Arguments are everywhere - in our newspapers, on our television screens and radios, in books and academic papers, on blogs and other websites. We argue with our friends, families, teachers and taxi drivers. These arguments are often important; they help us to decide what to do, what to believe, whom to vote for, what car to buy, what career path to follow, or where we should attend university (and what we should study). The ability to recognise, evaluate and produce arguments is therefore immeasurably valuable in every aspect of life.

This course will teach you how to recognise an argument, how to understand it, how to evaluate and criticise it, and how to produce your own. Students in this module will learn how to extract an argument from a complex text, how to uncover hidden assumptions, and how to recognise and critique bad reasoning

10 credits

Writing Philosophy

Philosophical writing is a skill that you, the student, must hone early on in order to succeed in your degree. It is also a transferable skill that will serve you in your post-academic career. Philosophical writing combines the general virtues of clarity, organisation, focus and style found in other academic writing with particular philosophical virtues, namely, the ability to expose the implicit assumptions of analysed texts and to make explicit the logical structure of one's own and other people's arguments. A precondition of philosophical writing is a unique form of textual analysis that pays particular attention to its argumentative structure. In this module you will learn and practice philosophical writing. You will learn how to read in preparation for philosophical writing, learn how to plan an essay, learn how to rework your drafts and learn how to use feedback constructively. You will write five drafts and five essays and will have one on on tutorial on each essay you write. The lectures in the course will be split between lectures of the art of writing and lectures on philosophical topics in the domain of fact and value. Essay topics will be based on the topical lectures and their associated readings

20 credits

Philosophy group B modules:

Death

This module is mainly about death itself [whereas PHI125 is mainly about killing}. What is death? What happens to us when we die? Could there be an afterlife? Would it be a good thing if there were? What is it about death that we dislike so much, or that makes it bad? Is it rational, or even possible to fear death? What is the right attitude towards our own death? Do we have moral duties towards the dead? The course will clarify these questions and attempt to answer them. Readings will be taken from both historical and contemporary sources.

10 credits

Film and Philosophy

This module introduces central themes in philosophy through the medium of films. Many films have clear philosophical themes and resonance, and we would choose a selection to cover a range of philosophical topics. For example: free will (The Matrix), death (The Seventh Seal), mind (Her), time travel (Back to the Future), technology (I, Robot), hope (The Road), evil (The Dark Knight). (The exact films shown will change from year to year.)

10 credits

History of Ethics

How should we live? What is the right thing to do? This module offers a critical introduction to the history of western ethical thought, examining some of the key ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Wollstonecraft, Douglass, Bentham, Mill, Taylor Mill, Nietzsche, Rawls and Gilligan. It provides a textual introduction to some of the main types of ethical theory: the ethics of flourishing and virtue; rights-based approaches; utilitarianism; contractualism. We explore the close interconnections between ethics and other branches of philosophy (e.g. metaphysics, epistemology, aesthetics), as well as the connections between ethics and other disciplines (e.g. psychology; anthropology).

10 credits

Matters of Life and Death

This course will look at the value of life and the wrongness of killing. We will look at various issues of important practical concern, such as abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, war, as well as the case of allowing people to die from need whom we could have saved. We will look at how best to understand the principles that guide, and ought to guide, our judgements about what to do when confronted with these issues. Students will gain a better understanding of how to think about these issues, and in particular will be introduced to the benefit of thinking about them philosophically.

20 credits

Philosophy of Religion

This course will pose and try to answer philosophical questions about religion. These include questions about the nature of religion. For instance does being religious necessarily involve believing in the existence of a God or Gods? And is religious faith compatible with adherence to the scientific method? Other questions that the course will cover include questions about the theistic notion of God. Does the idea of an all-powerful being make sense? Is an all-knowing God compatible with human freedom? And is an all-powerful, all-knowing and perfectly good creator of the universe compatible with the existence of evil? Further questions concern God and morality. Is it true that if there is no God, then there is no right and wrong? The course will examine philosophical arguments for the existence of God, and question whether these arguments are sound.

10 credits

Philosophy of Sex

Sex is one of the most basic human motivators, of fundamental importance in many people's lives, and a topic of enormous moral, religious, and political contention. No surprise, then, that it turns out to be of great philosophical interest. We will discuss moral issues related to sex' asking when we might be right to judge a particular sex act to be morally problematic; and what political significance (if any) sex has. We will also discuss metaphysical issues, such as the surprisingly difficult questions of what exactly sex is and what a sexual orientation is. Throughout our study, we will draw both on philosophical sources and on up-to-date contemporary information.

10 credits

Self and Society

This course introduces students to central questions in political philosophy: Do we need a state, and if so, must we obey its laws? When, why and how may states punish citizen for failing to obey the law? What is freedom, and when are we free? Is equality a moral value, and if so, what are its implications for how governments ought to act? What is justice, and how does it relate to freedom, equality, and punishment? Should states be organised democratically, and what does it mean to live in a democracy? The course encourages students to think carefully and clearly about the relationship they have, as citizens, to each other and the state, and to develop their analytical and critical skills in the process. Readings will include influential, historical and contemporary discussions of the state, equality, freedom, justice, and democracy.

20 credits

Music annual modules (optional):

Intermediate Performance

This module will introduce you to performance practice and techniques related to performance at an intermediate level. It will act as preparation for advanced performance in Year 3 Recitals, and builds on the foundation work completed as part of Performance in Year 1.

You will take individual instrumental/vocal lessons, which will run alongside workshop-based lectures throughout the academic year.

20 credits

Intermediate Composition

This module follows on from Composition in Year 1 to support the development of your compositional practice. You will study more advanced techniques of 20th and 21st Century classical music and develop strategies for making longer pieces. You’ll write for small ensembles and soloists, including collaboration with advanced performers taking the MA Performance Studies, and you will have opportunities to get your work played in concerts. This work will prepare you for other composition-related modules, including Portfolio of Compositions and Special Project in Year 3.

20 credits

Creative Applications of Music Technology

This module will introduce you to a range of technologies that might be used for creative purposes and provides an opportunity for further electronic music composition. The module necessarily focuses upon the science of music (sound and the digital medium, filters, reverbs, synth design, computer music programming) before engaging with the construction of two works: one that is very synth driven (a dance music style) and one that further develops your electroacoustic music study. The technological aspects of the module are quite broad and strengthen essential transferable skills and computer literacy. The creative aspects of the module develop your original composition profile whilst augmenting skills in sound design and commercial composition.

20 credits

Music rotational modules (optional)

Analysis of Classical and Early Romantic Music

This module will introduce you to musical analysis in the western classical tradition. The emphasis is on the internal and external workings of musical forms in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, focussing on Haydn’s and Mozart’s mastery of standard classical forms, on Beethoven’s formal manipulations, and on the interaction of form and expression in the early nineteenth century (e.g. Schubert and Chopin).

Topics will include: motivic, thematic, melodic and rhythmic manipulation; interrelationships between counterpoint, harmony and melody; standard formal patterns; formal expansions and contractions; wit and humour in the late eighteenth century; expression and form.

20 credits

Baroque Music

Public knowledge of baroque music today is shaped by the dominance of a ‘canon’ of music considered authoritative or ‘great’, which for ideological and historical reasons is dominated by white European male composers. This module sets out to help change that.

You’ll work as a team, with clearly defined roles, to produce a critical edition-with-commentary of music created using staff notation between c.1600-1750 by a musician who was NOT a white European man, which is obscure or completely unknown in the present day. Optionally, the group may also choose to record historically-informed performances of some or all of the music included in their edition. The materials produced will ultimately be made publicly available online.

20 credits

Community, Music and Education

This module will engage you in the current debates and practices of music in education and community settings, from the formal classroom setting and instrumental studio, through the work done by community support groups, to more recreational musical practice in the community. Questions of music's place in the curriculum, the relationship between school and home music, and the challenges of providing a vibrant musical education for all people, will be addressed in lectures and discussions.

You will work in mentored groups to investigate and support community music-making or school-based music education in Sheffield, building your skills as a researcher, and learning about career options including teaching, delivering and managing music provision for young people and vulnerable adults. You will finish the module knowing more about music and its contribution to education and society, through your critical reflection on published research evidence, and through school and community fieldwork visits.

20 credits

Ensemble Performance

This module will enable students with appropriate instrumental or vocal skills to develop ensemble playing, and will present students with the opportunity to interact with other musicians in a supervised situation. Ensembles will be formed according to available student resources, and an appropriate wide-ranging repertoire chosen for study. Particular attention will be paid to ensemble considerations, though technical matters and the development of stylistic awareness will also form an important part of the course.

20 credits

Ethnomusicology

This module introduces ethnomusicology as a way of researching musical culture, with selected musical traditions explored as case studies in applying and assessing ethnomusicological methods. These methods typically emphasise ‘ethnography’, in which the primary sources are live human beings and knowledge is produced by interacting with them through musical participation, observation and interviewing.

You’ll have the opportunity to conduct an ethnographic fieldwork project, either face-to-face or ‘virtual’, and write up the results in your assessed work. Alternatively, you can submit an essay examining published ethnomusicological research on a specific topic. Either way, you should reflect critically on how musical knowledge is produced by ethnomusicological methods.

20 credits

Jazz Studies

This module introduces some of the key figures and developments in the history of jazz, from its origins as an early twentieth-century American music, to its various contemporary manifestations across the world. You will engage with the contexts and debates that have shaped (and continue to shape) the performance, reception, representation, and study of jazz music, and will conduct independent research into a jazz-related topic of your choosing.

20 credits

Musical Culture in East Asia

This module introduces the musical life of East Asia, including China, Korea, Japan and neighbouring areas, in historical and cultural context. While emphasising traditional East Asian music and musical theatre, you’ll also examine East Asia’s participation in the culture of Western-style classical and popular musics.

You’ll learn to recognise many forms of East Asian music and explain how they use sound in pursuit of particular cultural goals. You’ll also carry out a guided research project on a cultural, historical and/or analytical topic in East Asian music.

20 credits

Mozart in Vienna, 1781-1791

In this module, you will examine Mozart's career as performer and composer in Vienna (1781-91), looking at the environments and circumstances in which he worked and the aesthetic contexts in which he thrived. Topics will include: the circumstances that led Mozart to move from Salzburg to Vienna in 1781; his career as a performer; aesthetic, historical and contextual issues in 1780s Vienna; Mozart's instrumental, operatic and sacred works composed in Vienna; and Mozart's status as a musical-cultural icon in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

20 credits

Music in Renaissance Europe

This module will introduce you to European musical cultures in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the research methods through which they are discovered and studied. You’ll investigate the roles played by music in the everyday life of street and home, as well as in religion and politics.

The module links music to some of the big critical themes in the European history of the period, including Europe’s expanding international horizons through trade and colonialism, the dramatic increase in the circulation of books thanks to new printing technology, and conflict both within and between religious faiths.

20 credits

Music and Wellbeing

To give students the opportunity to undertake the intensive study of a particular aspect of musical sound/material, behaviour or thinking, from the past or present; to demonstrate their ability to produce a substantial piece of scholarly written work; to enable them to consolidate and develop research techniques and critical skills; and to develop skills in writing and presentation. The dissertation need not involve original research but can be a conflation of existing knowledge. Dissertation topics should enable candidates to demonstrate the ability to place music in its historical and cultural context, and to support their arguments with informative comments based on detailed analysis. The length of the dissertation should be approximately 7,500 words.

20 credits

Music Placements

This module provides an opportunity for you to experience a working environment of interest to you and to undertake work-related learning in a professional music setting. You will choose and negotiate your own placement with the support of tutors and a directory of local and national organisations. Alongside the placement, tutors will support you through seminar sessions. Topics include: preparing for the placement, how to get the most out of the experience, and preparing for the assessment. Through this experience you will develop specialist knowledge of the music industries and critical, career-relevant reflective skills.

20 credits

Music Promotions

This practical module, running across two semesters, provides an introduction to key concepts and methods essential to effective music promotion. You will work in a group to plan and implement a promotion strategy for an event or music product release, applying theoretical principles of music promotion in practice.

Supported through regular lectures and seminars, you will develop a deeper understanding of the operational elements of a music promotions project; analyse strategic (including commercial) considerations involved in selecting music for promotion; iIdentify and apply financial and legal best practice in music promotion; develop and implement strategies and techniques for publicising and marketing of music through traditional and digital media; and learn how to work more effectively in groups in the context of music promotion.

20 credits

Music Psychology in Everyday Life

This module will introduce you to theories, empirical investigations and applications of music psychology relevant to everyday life. You will learn about the diverse uses of music in everyday situations, which may include personal, communal and commercial settings. The reasons for music use in these situations are explored and possible explanations of music's ability to support functions are critically reviewed, including social, emotional, personal, educational and commercial impacts. The module will be delivered through lectures, group discussions, and small research projects.

20 credits

Opera and Identity

This module gives you the opportunity to explore, understand and debate contemporary critical issues about the relationship between opera and identity. Focussing on opera from 1800 to the present day, the historical and social contexts surrounding the creation, premiere, and reception of opera forms the backdrop to the study of individual works in relation to topics including race, gender, sexuality, class, colonialism, religion, exoticism, political ideology, and national identity. From exoticised 19th-century Italian constructions of Egypt, through to the interplay of gender and sexuality in the depiction of pop culture icon Anna Nicole Smith, the operatic stage provides a forum for the consideration of some of society’s most pertinent and widely debated issues.

20 credits

Orchestral Technique

This module covers the essential knowledge and skills for scoring music for symphony orchestra, as well as for smaller groupings of orchestral instruments. The module equips you for arranging and writing music for ensembles you might find yourself working with in the future, as a player, composer, conductor or teacher. The Orchestral Technique module is appropriate for all music students, but is particularly important for those specialising in composition. It will give you relevant knowledge of instruments, repertoire and techniques, and also provide the background training you will need for composing for media and film, and for live performance.

20 credits

Practical Musicianship: Improvisation

This module will introduce students to skills and techniques related to practical musicianship. By learning skills such as ensemble direction, improvisation, sight reading, reading in different clefs, transposition at sight and realising a graphic score, students will learn how to become more flexible as performers.

20 credits

Psychology of Music: methods and applications

This module lays the foundation for you to be able to research a music-psychological topic using psychological research methods and consider its relevance for musical life and the music profession. You’ll work on developing skills in psychological research approaches, through teaching that is problem-based, meaning that you will work on research design and data collection methods to tackle an issue or problem that may be encountered in musical contexts. A combination of methods is considered including qualitative and quantitative data collection, reflection, observation and literature research. Included problems may relate to musical development, psychology of performance, and music engagement.

20 credits

Sound and Moving Image

This module gives you the opportunity to compose sound and music for film and other visual media, and position sound and music within the filmmaking process. Using a variety of software, you will be responsible for the entire project from the ideas stage through to the creation of all audio materials. A diverse range of existing movies, audiovisual works and relevant literature will be studied, and you will be expected to use these to inform your own work.

20 credits

Sound Recording Practice

This module examines the fundamental theories of recording. Focussing upon the recording of both sound and music, it provides you with an opportunity to realise an original track. The module engages briefly with technical aspects of recording (microphone types, sound file formats) before using practical work and listening to decide upon choice of microphone, placement and capture. By making field recordings, location recordings, and session-based recordings, you will acquire a broad understanding of relevant issues and methods. The mixing and mastering of session-based recordings results in your finished track and helps you develop the skills required in the professional sound studio.

20 credits

Topics in Popular Music

This module explores in depth, a range of models, case studies and themes for the study of Popular Music. Students are introduced to varying analytical and critical approaches to the study of popular musics in global perspective, with topics including (e.g.): how popular musicians learn; popular music and humour; popular music as world music; reading popular music `texts'; understanding business models; and conducting a popular music ethnography. As well as developing a factual knowledge of the genres covered in the module, students will develop a critical awareness of research methods and discursive themes in the field of popular music studies.

20 credits

The Broadway Musical

This module addresses the development of the Broadway musical, focusing on leading figures and critical issues. It looks at shows such as My Fair Lady and Oklahoma!, examines aspects of identity such as race and sexuality, and unpacks the collaborative nature of the genre. Alongside lectures on set works, you will pursue an individual project on a topic of your own choice, allowing freedom to identify with the work being studied.

20 credits

Traditional Music in the Modern World

This module will introduce you to the study of folk and traditional music, focussing on a range of contemporary folk music cultures. You’ll learn to use a range of approaches (ethnomusicology; critical and culture theory; political theory) to consider the traditional identities these music cultures construct, and how they relate to their modern, economic, political and technological contexts. Past and current definitions of the terms folk music and traditional music are explored, and music cultures are investigated in terms of specific debates and contexts, such as revivalism, nationalism, institutionalisation, competition and education.

20 credits

World Music Performance

In this module you’ll acquire a practice-based understanding of one world music tradition (selected in advance by the course tutor), improving your musical performance skills and experiencing first-hand the modes of transmission that are part of the tradition. Through performance-based seminars, you will learn to play and/or sing in the style offered, backing up that experience with theoretical knowledge derived from ethnomusicological literature. Your learning will also be supported by a writing-based project, supported by seminars/tutorials as appropriate, resulting in a Learning Journal documenting and reflecting on the learning experience.

20 credits

Optional philosophy modules:

Ethics

How should we live? How should we conduct ourselves? What duties do we owe t9 other people? Are there certain things we should never do in any circumstances? If so what things are they? Do questions like the foregoing have determinate, correct answers? If so can we know what they are? If so, how? These questions and questions like them are the subject matter of ethics. We will be studying and thinking about such questions by engaging with classical and/or contemporary texts.

20 credits

Feminism

Feminists have famously claimed that the personal is political. This module takes up various topics with that methodological idea in mind: the family, cultural critique, language. We examine feminist methodologies - how these topics might be addressed by a feminism that is inclusive of all women - and also turn attention to social structures within which personal choices are made - capitalism, and climate crisis .

20 credits

Formal Logic

The course will start by introducing some elementary concepts from set theory; along the way, we will consider some fundamental and philosophically interesting results and forms of argumentation. It will then examine the use of 'trees' as a method for proving the validity of arguments formalised in propositional and first-order logic. It will also show how we may prove a range of fundamental results about the use of trees within those logics, using certain ways of assigning meanings to the sentences of the languages which those logics employ.

20 credits

Metaphysics

This course is an introduction to metaphysics. It will focus on two general themes: whether we are material things, and the nature of time. Readings will be drawn mainly from recent and contemporary sources.

20 credits

Philosophy of Education

What is education? And what is it for? These are the questions at the heart of this course. To begin to try to answer them, students will engage in: (1) a theoretical exploration of the central philosophical problems related to education and schooling; and (2) a practical task focusing on learning how philosophy can be taught effectively to secondary school pupils. The theoretical exploration will be taught in a similar way to other philosophy modules (through a weekly lecture and seminar) and a mid-term coursework essay will assess this component (counting for 50% of the module grade).

The practical element will be taught through workshops, engagement with reflective practice, observations at a secondary school, and actual experience of running seminars with secondary school pupils at the University during a three-day conference at the end of the course. The practical part of the course will be assessed by a teaching portfolio (which counts for 50% of the module grade) composed of lesson plans and a reflection. Teaching is a special kind of challenge, but students on the course are not expected to have any previous experience in teaching or in planning lessons. Help and support will be provided throughout the module to make the delivery of lessons to secondary school pupils a realistic goal for all motivated students.

20 credits

Philosophy of Mind

This module provides a survey of philosophical theories of the mind, looking at such questions as: How is consciousness possible? Why is it that vibrations in the air around us produce conscious experiences of particular auditory experiences in our minds? Why is it that electromagnetic waves hitting our retinas produce particular visual experiences in our minds? What makes our thoughts represent things in the world? What is it about your thought that cats have whiskers that makes it about cats and whiskers? What is it about your thought that there are stars in the universe too far away for any human to have perceived them that makes it about such stars? What is the relation between thoughts and conscious experiences and brain states? We'll look at a variety of answers to these and related questions and examine some of the most important and influential theories that contemporary philosophers have to offer.

20 credits

Philosophy of Science

It is virtually impossible to overstate the importance that science has in our everyday life. Here is a brief list of things that would not exist without modern science: computers, phones, internet, cars, airplanes, pharmaceutical drugs, electric guitars. Imagine your life without these things. It looks very different doesn't it? Science, however, is not important only in virtue of its practical applications. in fact, many would agree that the the primary value of science is that of being the best available source of knowledge about the world. Indeed, it seems fair to say that we made more discoveries after the 17th century scientific revolution [e.g. the laws of planetary motion, the principles underlying biological evolution, the laws governing quantum phenomena, the structure of DNA, the cellular architecture of the brain] than in all the previous millenia. This raises important philosophical questions.

First, what is science? What are the criteria that demarcate science from non-science? For example, what is the difference between science and religion? Second, how does science work? What are the methods and eplanatory strategies that make it so successful? Is there such a thing as the scientific method, and what counts as a scientific explanation? Third, is science objective? That is, is science a form of rational and unbiased inquiry, or does it reflect ethical, political, and social factors? Finally, is science the fundamental source of knowledge about the world? Does science tell us how things really are? These are some of the questions that we will tackle in this course.

20 credits

Philosophy of the Arts

This module introduces students to a broad range of issues in the philosophy of art. The first half asks 'What is art?'. It examines three approaches: expression theories, institutional accounts, and the cluster account. This is followed by two critiques focusing on the lack of women in the canon and problems surrounding 'primitive' art. The evolutionary approach to art is discussed , and two borderline cases: craft and pornography. The second half examines four issues: cultural appropriation of art, pictorial representation, aesthetic experience and the everyday, and the nature of artistic creativity.

20 credits

Plato

The philosopher and mathematician A. N. Whitehead once characterised western thought as a series of footnotes to Plato. The thought of Plato and his teacher Socrates, who both lived in Greece around 400 years before the start of the Christian era, set the agenda for much subsequent philosophy and did much to define our ideas of what philosophy is. This course will introduce students to the study of the philosophy of Plato through a close and critical study of a small number of his dialogues in English translation.

20 credits

Political Philosophy

We are citizens in a democratic capitalist society, we vote and choose our representatives and our government, our representatives make laws that we must then follow. We do not only obey the laws only for fear of being punished; we believe that our system of government is just, and that it is just for us to obey the laws. We believe that - by and large - we live in a just society. Do we? What justifies our system of government? Are there alternative possible relations, alternative forms of citizenship; alternative forms of government, alternative ways of organising a society? Is ours the only just one?
We will look at the history of political philosophy and explore various systems of citizenship, government and economic arrangements. Our main aim will be to understand how these different systems justify or legitimise the existence of government and its authority to make and enforce laws. We will also look at the more general notion of 'justice' that accompanies and grounds these systems of government.
Two side concerns will be:-
1. The relation between a philosopher's view of ethics and her political philosophy.
2. The relation between a philosopher's view of human nature and her political philosophy.

20 credits

Reference and Truth

This module is an introductory course in the Philosophy of Language. The overall focus of the course will be on the notion of meaning. The first part of the course will attempt to shed light on the notion of meaning by investigating different accounts of the meanings of some types of linguistic expressions, in particular names (for instance 'Nelson Mandela') and definite descriptions (for instance 'the inventor of the zip', 'the first minister of Scotland'). We will then look at an influential approach to understanding what it is for words to have meaning and for people to mean things by their words, one due to Paul Grice. And we will examine the role and understanding of conventions and how someone can say something and yet communicate something very different from its conventional meaning. We will also explore the phenomena of “implicature” where people can communicate more (or something different from) what they literally say.

20 credits

Religion and the Good Life

What, if anything, does religion have to do with a well-lived life? For example, does living well require obeying God's commands? Does it require atheism? Are the possibilities for a good life enhanced or only diminished if there is a God, or if Karma is true? Does living well take distinctive virtues like faith, mindfulness, or humility as these have been understood within religious traditions? In this module, we will examine recent philosophical work on questions like these while engaging with a variety of religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Daoism, Islam, and Judaism.

20 credits

Theory of Knowledge

The aim of the course is to provide an introduction to philosophical issues surrounding the knowledge. We will be concerned with the nature and extent of knowledge. How must a believer be related to the world in order to know that something is the case? Can knowledge be analysed in terms of more basic notions? Must our beliefs be structured in a certain way if they are to be knowledge? In considering these questions we will look at various sceptical arguments that suggest that the extent of knowledge is much less than we suppose. And we will look at the various faculties of knowledge: perception, memory, introspection, and testimony.

20 credits

Philosophy and Revolution

This course will look at the intense philosophical debate that followed the upheaval of the French Revolution. The main texts studied will be Edmund Burke's Reflection on the Revolution in France attacking the Revolution and Thomas Paine's reply defending it, The Rights of Man. Burke and Paine will be the main texts studied. We may also, if time allows, look at the writings of some such others - which might vary from year to year - as William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, Joseph de Maistre, Benjamin Constant and Germaine de Staël.

20 credits

Final Year Projects music modules:

Dissertation

This module gives you the opportunity to undertake intensive study of a particular aspect of musical sound/material, behaviour or thinking, from the past or present, presenting the findings of your investigation as a substantial piece of scholarly written work, and in the process consolidating and further developing your research and critical skills. Your dissertation topic should enable you to demonstrate the ability to place music in its historical and cultural context, and to support your arguments with informative comments based on detailed analysis.

Dissertation can be taken in 20 or 40 credit versions. The length of the dissertation should be approximately 6000 words for MUS301 Dissertation (20 credits); 9500 words for MUS332 Extended Dissertation (40 credits).

20 credits

Extended Portfolio of Compositions

This final year module supports your independent composition practice and builds upon skills acquired over previous years. Compositions may be for small or large forces of instruments or voices, may combine instruments with electronics, or may be electroacoustic. Where possible the module will culminate in a public performance of some of the work produced.

Portfolio of Compositions can be taken in 20 or 40 credit versions. The length of the portfolio should be approximately 10 minutes for MUS302 Portfolio of Compositions (20 credits); 20 minutes for MUS333 Extended Portfolio of Compositions (40 credits).

40 credits

Extended Prepared Instrumental or Vocal Recital

In this module you will develop your advanced practical skills to demonstrate the ability to communicate meaning in music through a public performance at a professional standard. You will prepare a programme, in any musical style and on any instrument, which exhibits your repertorial range containing works of a contrasting nature from different historical periods and contain a contemporary work. Your work will be supported by individual instrumental tuition.

Instrumental or Vocal Recital can be taken in 20 and 40 credit versions. The length of the recital should be approximately 25 minutes for MUS303 Instrumental or Vocal Recital (20 credits); 35-40 minutes for MUS334 Extended Instrumental or Vocal Recital (40 credits).

40 credits

Special Project

This module allows you to negotiate a special project that does not conform to Dissertation, Performance and Composition, on a topic agreed with tutors on a case-by-case basis. It affords an opportunity for you to work with others outside of your discipline and to communicate your work to non-specialist audiences where appropriate. The project must be public-facing and potentially have career-oriented goals; it may include a placement activity.

Special Project can be taken in 20 or 40 credit versions. MUS3040 Special Project (20 credits) comprises the project itself, presented through a public self-designed website and blog. MUS3041 Extended Special Project (40 credits) adds a critical reflective essay that serves to link the project to extant academic work and provide a context for aspects of the project itself.

20 credits

Extended Dissertation

This module gives you the opportunity to undertake intensive study of a particular aspect of musical sound/material, behaviour or thinking, from the past or present, presenting the findings of your investigation as a substantial piece of scholarly written work, and in the process consolidating and further developing your research and critical skills. Your dissertation topic should enable you to demonstrate the ability to place music in its historical and cultural context, and to support your arguments with informative comments based on detailed analysis.

Dissertation can be taken in 20 or 40 credit versions. The length of the dissertation should be approximately 6000 words for MUS301 Dissertation (20 credits); 9500 words for MUS332 Extended Dissertation (40 credits).

40 credits

Portfolio of Compositions

To give students the opportunity to explore their own creativity through original composition. The portfolio of original compositions should contain about ten minutes of music. The portfolio may include compositions for vocal or instrumental forces, or may consist of electro-acoustic music. Where possible the module will culminate in a public performance of some of the work produced.

20 credits

Prepared Instrumental or Vocal Recital

To enable students with advanced practical skills to demonstrate the ability to communicate meaning in music by public performance of a professional standard. The performance should contain works of a contrasting nature, from different historical periods, and will be given in public. Matters concerning the submission of the programme and the choice of accompanists are discussed with tutors.

20 credits

Extended Special Project

This module allows you to negotiate a special project that does not conform to Dissertation, Performance and Composition, on a topic agreed with tutors on a case-by-case basis. It affords an opportunity for you to work with others outside of your discipline and to communicate your work to non-specialist audiences where appropriate. The project must be public-facing and potentially have career-oriented goals; it may include a placement activity.

Special Project can be taken in 20 or 40 credit versions. MUS3040 Special Project (20 credits) comprises the project itself, presented through a public self-designed website and blog. MUS3041 Extended Special Project (40 credits) adds a critical reflective essay that serves to link the project to extant academic work and provide a context for aspects of the project itself.

40 credits

Music annual modules (optional):

Intermediate Performance

This module will introduce you to performance practice and techniques related to performance at an intermediate level. It will act as preparation for advanced performance in Year 3 Recitals, and builds on the foundation work completed as part of Performance in Year 1.

You will take individual instrumental/vocal lessons, which will run alongside workshop-based lectures throughout the academic year.

20 credits

Intermediate Composition

This module follows on from Composition in Year 1 to support the development of your compositional practice. You will study more advanced techniques of 20th and 21st Century classical music and develop strategies for making longer pieces. You’ll write for small ensembles and soloists, including collaboration with advanced performers taking the MA Performance Studies, and you will have opportunities to get your work played in concerts. This work will prepare you for other composition-related modules, including Portfolio of Compositions and Special Project in Year 3.

20 credits

Creative Applications of Music Technology

This module will introduce you to a range of technologies that might be used for creative purposes and provides an opportunity for further electronic music composition. The module necessarily focuses upon the science of music (sound and the digital medium, filters, reverbs, synth design, computer music programming) before engaging with the construction of two works: one that is very synth driven (a dance music style) and one that further develops your electroacoustic music study. The technological aspects of the module are quite broad and strengthen essential transferable skills and computer literacy. The creative aspects of the module develop your original composition profile whilst augmenting skills in sound design and commercial composition.

20 credits

Music rotational modules (optional):

Practical Musicianship: Improvisation

This module will introduce students to skills and techniques related to practical musicianship. By learning skills such as ensemble direction, improvisation, sight reading, reading in different clefs, transposition at sight and realising a graphic score, students will learn how to become more flexible as performers.

20 credits

Ensemble Performance

This module will enable students with appropriate instrumental or vocal skills to develop ensemble playing, and will present students with the opportunity to interact with other musicians in a supervised situation. Ensembles will be formed according to available student resources, and an appropriate wide-ranging repertoire chosen for study. Particular attention will be paid to ensemble considerations, though technical matters and the development of stylistic awareness will also form an important part of the course.

20 credits

Orchestral Technique

This module covers the essential knowledge and skills for scoring music for symphony orchestra, as well as for smaller groupings of orchestral instruments. The module equips you for arranging and writing music for ensembles you might find yourself working with in the future, as a player, composer, conductor or teacher. The Orchestral Technique module is appropriate for all music students, but is particularly important for those specialising in composition. It will give you relevant knowledge of instruments, repertoire and techniques, and also provide the background training you will need for composing for media and film, and for live performance.

20 credits

Sound and Moving Image

This module gives you the opportunity to compose sound and music for film and other visual media, and position sound and music within the filmmaking process. Using a variety of software, you will be responsible for the entire project from the ideas stage through to the creation of all audio materials. A diverse range of existing movies, audiovisual works and relevant literature will be studied, and you will be expected to use these to inform your own work.

20 credits

Music in Renaissance Europe

This module will introduce you to European musical cultures in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and the research methods through which they are discovered and studied. You’ll investigate the roles played by music in the everyday life of street and home, as well as in religion and politics.

The module links music to some of the big critical themes in the European history of the period, including Europe’s expanding international horizons through trade and colonialism, the dramatic increase in the circulation of books thanks to new printing technology, and conflict both within and between religious faiths.

20 credits

Baroque Music

Public knowledge of baroque music today is shaped by the dominance of a ‘canon’ of music considered authoritative or ‘great’, which for ideological and historical reasons is dominated by white European male composers. This module sets out to help change that.

You’ll work as a team, with clearly defined roles, to produce a critical edition-with-commentary of music created using staff notation between c.1600-1750 by a musician who was NOT a white European man, which is obscure or completely unknown in the present day. Optionally, the group may also choose to record historically-informed performances of some or all of the music included in their edition. The materials produced will ultimately be made publicly available online.

20 credits

Mozart in Vienna, 1781-1791

In this module, you will examine Mozart's career as performer and composer in Vienna (1781-91), looking at the environments and circumstances in which he worked and the aesthetic contexts in which he thrived. Topics will include: the circumstances that led Mozart to move from Salzburg to Vienna in 1781; his career as a performer; aesthetic, historical and contextual issues in 1780s Vienna; Mozart's instrumental, operatic and sacred works composed in Vienna; and Mozart's status as a musical-cultural icon in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

20 credits

The Broadway Musical

This module addresses the development of the Broadway musical, focusing on leading figures and critical issues. It looks at shows such as My Fair Lady and Oklahoma!, examines aspects of identity such as race and sexuality, and unpacks the collaborative nature of the genre. Alongside lectures on set works, you will pursue an individual project on a topic of your own choice, allowing freedom to identify with the work being studied.

20 credits

Music and Wellbeing

To give students the opportunity to undertake the intensive study of a particular aspect of musical sound/material, behaviour or thinking, from the past or present; to demonstrate their ability to produce a substantial piece of scholarly written work; to enable them to consolidate and develop research techniques and critical skills; and to develop skills in writing and presentation. The dissertation need not involve original research but can be a conflation of existing knowledge. Dissertation topics should enable candidates to demonstrate the ability to place music in its historical and cultural context, and to support their arguments with informative comments based on detailed analysis. The length of the dissertation should be approximately 7,500 words.

20 credits

Music Psychology in Everyday Life

This module will introduce you to theories, empirical investigations and applications of music psychology relevant to everyday life. You will learn about the diverse uses of music in everyday situations, which may include personal, communal and commercial settings. The reasons for music use in these situations are explored and possible explanations of music's ability to support functions are critically reviewed, including social, emotional, personal, educational and commercial impacts. The module will be delivered through lectures, group discussions, and small research projects.

20 credits

Music Placements

This module provides an opportunity for you to experience a working environment of interest to you and to undertake work-related learning in a professional music setting. You will choose and negotiate your own placement with the support of tutors and a directory of local and national organisations. Alongside the placement, tutors will support you through seminar sessions. Topics include: preparing for the placement, how to get the most out of the experience, and preparing for the assessment. Through this experience you will develop specialist knowledge of the music industries and critical, career-relevant reflective skills.

20 credits

Community, Music and Education

This module will engage you in the current debates and practices of music in education and community settings, from the formal classroom setting and instrumental studio, through the work done by community support groups, to more recreational musical practice in the community. Questions of music's place in the curriculum, the relationship between school and home music, and the challenges of providing a vibrant musical education for all people, will be addressed in lectures and discussions.

You will work in mentored groups to investigate and support community music-making or school-based music education in Sheffield, building your skills as a researcher, and learning about career options including teaching, delivering and managing music provision for young people and vulnerable adults. You will finish the module knowing more about music and its contribution to education and society, through your critical reflection on published research evidence, and through school and community fieldwork visits.

20 credits

Sound Recording Practice

This module examines the fundamental theories of recording. Focussing upon the recording of both sound and music, it provides you with an opportunity to realise an original track. The module engages briefly with technical aspects of recording (microphone types, sound file formats) before using practical work and listening to decide upon choice of microphone, placement and capture. By making field recordings, location recordings, and session-based recordings, you will acquire a broad understanding of relevant issues and methods. The mixing and mastering of session-based recordings results in your finished track and helps you develop the skills required in the professional sound studio.

20 credits

Traditional Music in the Modern World

This module will introduce you to the study of folk and traditional music, focussing on a range of contemporary folk music cultures. You’ll learn to use a range of approaches (ethnomusicology; critical and culture theory; political theory) to consider the traditional identities these music cultures construct, and how they relate to their modern, economic, political and technological contexts. Past and current definitions of the terms folk music and traditional music are explored, and music cultures are investigated in terms of specific debates and contexts, such as revivalism, nationalism, institutionalisation, competition and education.

20 credits

Topics in Popular Music

This module explores in depth, a range of models, case studies and themes for the study of Popular Music. Students are introduced to varying analytical and critical approaches to the study of popular musics in global perspective, with topics including (e.g.): how popular musicians learn; popular music and humour; popular music as world music; reading popular music `texts'; understanding business models; and conducting a popular music ethnography. As well as developing a factual knowledge of the genres covered in the module, students will develop a critical awareness of research methods and discursive themes in the field of popular music studies.

20 credits

World Music Performance

In this module you’ll acquire a practice-based understanding of one world music tradition (selected in advance by the course tutor), improving your musical performance skills and experiencing first-hand the modes of transmission that are part of the tradition. Through performance-based seminars, you will learn to play and/or sing in the style offered, backing up that experience with theoretical knowledge derived from ethnomusicological literature. Your learning will also be supported by a writing-based project, supported by seminars/tutorials as appropriate, resulting in a Learning Journal documenting and reflecting on the learning experience.

20 credits

Jazz Studies

This module introduces some of the key figures and developments in the history of jazz, from its origins as an early twentieth-century American music, to its various contemporary manifestations across the world. You will engage with the contexts and debates that have shaped (and continue to shape) the performance, reception, representation, and study of jazz music, and will conduct independent research into a jazz-related topic of your choosing.

20 credits

Musical Culture in East Asia

This module introduces the musical life of East Asia, including China, Korea, Japan and neighbouring areas, in historical and cultural context. While emphasising traditional East Asian music and musical theatre, you’ll also examine East Asia’s participation in the culture of Western-style classical and popular musics.

You’ll learn to recognise many forms of East Asian music and explain how they use sound in pursuit of particular cultural goals. You’ll also carry out a guided research project on a cultural, historical and/or analytical topic in East Asian music.

20 credits

Opera and Identity

This module gives you the opportunity to explore, understand and debate contemporary critical issues about the relationship between opera and identity. Focussing on opera from 1800 to the present day, the historical and social contexts surrounding the creation, premiere, and reception of opera forms the backdrop to the study of individual works in relation to topics including race, gender, sexuality, class, colonialism, religion, exoticism, political ideology, and national identity. From exoticised 19th-century Italian constructions of Egypt, through to the interplay of gender and sexuality in the depiction of pop culture icon Anna Nicole Smith, the operatic stage provides a forum for the consideration of some of society’s most pertinent and widely debated issues.

20 credits

Analysis of Classical and Early Romantic Music

This module will introduce you to musical analysis in the western classical tradition. The emphasis is on the internal and external workings of musical forms in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, focussing on Haydn’s and Mozart’s mastery of standard classical forms, on Beethoven’s formal manipulations, and on the interaction of form and expression in the early nineteenth century (e.g. Schubert and Chopin).

Topics will include: motivic, thematic, melodic and rhythmic manipulation; interrelationships between counterpoint, harmony and melody; standard formal patterns; formal expansions and contractions; wit and humour in the late eighteenth century; expression and form.

20 credits

Ethnomusicology

This module introduces ethnomusicology as a way of researching musical culture, with selected musical traditions explored as case studies in applying and assessing ethnomusicological methods. These methods typically emphasise ‘ethnography’, in which the primary sources are live human beings and knowledge is produced by interacting with them through musical participation, observation and interviewing.

You’ll have the opportunity to conduct an ethnographic fieldwork project, either face-to-face or ‘virtual’, and write up the results in your assessed work. Alternatively, you can submit an essay examining published ethnomusicological research on a specific topic. Either way, you should reflect critically on how musical knowledge is produced by ethnomusicological methods.

20 credits

Music Promotions

This practical module, running across two semesters, provides an introduction to key concepts and methods essential to effective music promotion. You will work in a group to plan and implement a promotion strategy for an event or music product release, applying theoretical principles of music promotion in practice.

Supported through regular lectures and seminars, you will develop a deeper understanding of the operational elements of a music promotions project; analyse strategic (including commercial) considerations involved in selecting music for promotion; iIdentify and apply financial and legal best practice in music promotion; develop and implement strategies and techniques for publicising and marketing of music through traditional and digital media; and learn how to work more effectively in groups in the context of music promotion.

20 credits

Optional philosophy modules:

Advanced Logic

This module will build upon PHI203 Formal Logic It will examine some philosophically important areas of formal logic, and it will also consider some philosophical debates concerning foundational aspects of logic. The unit will be assessed by means of a coursework essay on a philosophical topic [worth 50% of the final mark] and an unseen exam [worth the remaining 50% of the final mark]

20 credits

Aristotle

Aristotle (384-322BC) was the most prolific philosopher of the ancient world and one of the most important of any age making hugely important contributions to logic, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of biology, ethics, aesthetics and political philosophy. This module will introduce students to the study of Aristotle through one or more of his many writings. The aim of the module is to encourage students to read important yet difficult Aristotelian texts, to engage critically with the ideas and arguments contained therein and to provide some appreciation of Aristotle's place in the ancient philosophical world and his contribution to contemporary debate.

20 credits

Ancient Chinese Philosophy

This course will introduce students to ancient Chinese Philosophy through a study of some of it classical texts.

20 credits

Feminism

Feminists have famously claimed that the personal is political, and argued against traditional understandings of the public/private distinction. This module will be devoted to examining a wide variety of areas not traditionally considered to be of political relevance, which feminists have argued are in fact crucial to politics. We will discuss such issues as family structure, feminine appearance, sexual behaviour, science, culture and language.

20 credits

For the Love of Knowledge: Topics in Analytic and Social Epistemology

We know things as individuals, but we also know things collectively. And what we know individually can depend on our relation to other knowers and collective knowledge. These relations are not merely epistemic, they are also practical and ethical. Knowledge can, for instance, be based on trust, while a failure to recognize someone as a knower can be a matter of injustice. Knowledge thereby has a social character and an ethical dimension. This course will introduce a broad range of topics in epistemology that explore this social and ethical turn.

20 credits

Free Will & Religion

This module focuses on philosophical questions about the relationship between free will and theistic religions. It has often been claimed that adherents of these religions have significant motivations to affirm an incompatibilist conception of free will according to which free will is incompatible with determinism. Incompatibilist conceptions of free will, it has been argued, have benefits for the theist such as enabling them to better account for the existence of moral evil, natural evil, divine hiddenness, and traditional conceptions of hell. Yet, on the other hand, it has been argued that there is a significant tension between theistic religions and incompatibilist conceptions of free will. For example, there are tempting arguments that an incompatibilist conception of free will makes trouble for affirming traditional views about God’s omniscience, freedom, and providence. We will engage in a critical examination of these and related arguments.

20 credits

Gender and Religion

This module is an interdisciplinary module in interdisciplinary religious studies, as it applies feminist and queer philosophy and scholarship on gender and sexuality in the study of diverse religious traditions and cultures around the world. The module will examine examples of gendered and sexual identities and practices in different religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, as well as philosophies and cultures in China, and Japan. We will study feminist criticism of religion and engage contemporary debates on gender, transgender, sexuality, and religion. These will enhance students’ knowledge in comparative religious studies, and also provide global education, as we will analyse examples from many different cultures and global contexts. Students can choose their topics for assessment and examine lived religion or religious texts and other cultural traditions, like Kama Sutra, or religious institutions, and their policies or practices.

20 credits

Global Justice

What are the demands of justice at the global level? On this module we will examine this question from the perspective of analytic Anglo-American political philosophy. We will start by looking at some debates about the nature of global justice, such as whether justice demands the eradication of global inequalities. We will then turn to various questions of justice that arise at the global level, potentially including: how jurisdiction over territory might be justified; whether states have a right to exclude would-be immigrants; whether reparations are owed for past international injustices such as colonialism; and how to identify responsibilities for combatting global injustice.

20 credits

Hegel and the Phenomenology of Spirit

This course will focus on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), one of the greatest and most influential works of nineteenth century philosophy. We will study the entire text, in an attempt to uncover the nature of Hegel's method, his goals, and the role and significance of the Phenomenology in Hegel's system. As the Phenomenology covers an enormous range, this will lead to a discussion of Hegel's epistemology and metaphysics, of his philosophy of history, ethics and political philosophy, and of his critiques of Kant, Schelling, Rousseau and others.

20 credits

Metaphysics

Update short/full description: The course will focus on metaphysical themes of perennial interest such as parts and wholes, the nature of people, and the passage of time. Readings will be drawn mainly from recent and contemporary sources. Lectures are shared with PHI225, and students who have taken that module may not take this one.

20 credits

Moral Theory and Moral Psychology

This course examines the relationship of moral theory and moral psychology. We discuss the relationship of science and ethics, examine the nature of self-interest, altruism, sympathy, the will, and moral intuitions, explore psychological arguments for and against familiar moral theories including utilitarianism, virtue ethics, deontology and relativism, and confront the proposal that understanding the origins of moral thought ¿debunks¿ the authority of ethics. In doing so, we will engage with readings from historical philosophers, including Hobbes, Butler, Hume, Smith, Kant, Mill, Nietzsche and Moore, as well as contemporary authors in philosophy and empirical psychology.

20 credits

Pain, Pleasure, and Emotions

Affective states like pain, pleasure, and emotions have a profound bearing on the meaning and quality of our lives. Chronic pain can be completely disabling, while insensitivity to pain can be fatal. Analogously, a life without pleasure looks like a life of boredom, but excessive pleasure seeking can disrupt decision-making. In this module, we will explore recent advances in the study of the affective mind, by considering theoretical work in the philosophy of mind as well as empirical research in affective cognitive science. These are some of the problems that we will explore: Why does pain feel bad? What is the relation between pleasure and happiness? Are emotions cognitive states? Are moral judgments based on emotions? Can we know what other people are feeling?

20 credits

Phenomenology

This module introduces students to Phenomenology - a philosophical tradition in continental European philosophy, which is closely related to Existentialism. Phenomenology seeks to understand the human condition. Its starting-point is everyday experience, where this includes both mundane and less ordinary forms of experience such as those typically associated with conditions such as schizophrenia. Whilst Phenomenology encompasses a diverse range of thinkers and ideas, there tends to be a focus on consciousness as embodied, situated in a particular physical, social, and cultural environment, essentially related to other people, and existing in time. (This is in contrast to the disembodied, universal, and isolated notion of the subject that comes largely from the Cartesian tradition.) There is a corresponding emphasis on the world we inhabit as a distinctively human environment that depends in certain ways on us for its character and existence. Some of the central topics addressed by Phenomenology include: embodiment; ageing and death; the lived experience of oppression; human freedom; our relations with and knowledge of, other people; the experience of time; and the nature of the world. In this module, we will discuss a selection of these and related topics, examining them through the work of key figures in the Phenomenological Movement, such as Edmund Husserl, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Frantz Fanon, and Edith Stein.

20 credits

Philosophical Project 1

A variety of topics will be set. For each topic, a short list of key readings is provided. Having chosen a topic, a short list of key readings is provided. Having chosen a topic, students are expected to master the readings, and the supplement them with at least two other pieces of relevant literature and they have used the available library and web resources to uncover. They then, having agreed a title with a tutor assigned to them for the module, write an extended essay that identifies the central issue (or issues) under discussion, relates the various responses to that issue found in the literature, evaluates those contributions, and goes some way to identifying a satisfactory resolution of the issue.

20 credits

Philosophical Project 2

A variety of topics will be set. For each topic, a short list of key readings is provided. Having chosen a topic, students are expected to master the readings, and to supplement them with at least two other pieces of relevant literature that they have used the available library and web resources to uncover. They then, having agreed a title with the tutor assigned to them for the module, write an extended essay that identifies the central issue (or issues) under discussion, relates the various responses to that issue found in the literature, evaluates those contributions, and goes some way to identifying a satisfactory resolution of the issues.

20 credits

Philosophy of Law

Law is a pervasive feature of modern societies and governs most aspects of our lives. This module is about some of the philosophical questions raised by life under a legal system. The first part of the module investigates the nature of law. Is law simply a method of social control? For example, the group calling itself Islamic State issued commands over a defined territory and backed up these commands with deadly force. Was that a legal system? Or is law necessarily concerned with justice? Do legal systems contain only rules or do they also contain underlying principles? Is “international law” really law?
The second part of the module investigates the relationship between law and individual rights. What kinds of laws should we have? Do we have the moral right to break the law through acts of civil disobedience? What is the justification of punishment? Is there any justification for capital punishment? Are we right to legally differentiate between intended crimes (like murder) and unintended crimes (like manslaughter), or does this involve the unjustified punishment of “thought crime”? Are we right to legally differentiate between murder and attempted murder, despite the fact that both crimes involve the same intent to kill?

20 credits

Philosophy and Revolution

This course will look at the intense philosophical debate that followed the upheaval of the French Revolution. The main texts studied will be Edmund Burke's Reflection on the Revolution in France attacking the Revolution and Thomas Paine's reply defending it, The Rights of Man. Burke and Paine will be the main texts studied. We may also, if time allows, look at the writings of some such others - which might vary from year to year - as William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, Joseph de Maistre, Benjamin Constant and Germaine de Staël.

20 credits

Philosophy of Psychology

This course provides an in-depth look at a selection of issues in contemporary philosophy of psychology. Philosophy of psychology is concerned with such questions as : What is the structure and organisation of the human mind? Is the mind one big homogenous thing, or is it made up of smaller interacting components? If it has components, what sort are they and how are they interrelated? What aspects of our minds are uniquely, or distinctively human? What is the cognitive basis for such capacities as our capacity for language, rationality, science, mathematics, cultural artefacts, altruism, cooperation, war, morality and art? To what extent are the concepts, rules, biases, and cognitive processes that we possess universal features of all human beings and to what extent are they culturally (or otherwise) variable? Do infants (non-human) animals, and individuals with cognitive deficits have minds, and if so, what are they like? To what extent are these capacities learned as opposed to innately given? How important is evolutionary theory to the study of the mind? What is the Self? What are concepts? Is all thought conceptual? Is all thought conscious? What is consciousness? This course will discuss a selection of these and related issues by looking at the work of philosophers, psychologists, and others working within the cognitive sciences more generally.

20 credits

Plato's Symposium

The Symposium is a vivid, funny and moving dramatic dialogue in which a wide variety of characters - orators, doctor, comic poet, tragic poet, soldier-cum-statesman, philosopher and others - give widely differing accounts of the nature or erotic love (eros) at a banquet. Students should be willing to engage in close textual study, although no previous knowledge of either ancient philosophy or ancient Greek is required. We will be exploring the origins, definition, aims, objects and effects or eros, and asking whether it is viewed as a predominantly beneficial or harmful force. Are some manifestations or eros better than others? Is re-channelling either possible or desirable, and if so, how and in what contexts? What happens to eros if it is consummated? We will in addition explore the issues that the dialogue raises about relations between philosophy and literature, and the influence it has had on Western thought (e.g. Freud). The edition we will use is Rowe, C . J., 1998, Plato Symposium. Oxford: Aris and Phillips Classical texts.

20 credits

The Political Philosophy of Climate Change

Why is climate change a problem of global justice and how could the international community address this problem fairly? In this course we will look at various questions of justice that climate change raises and examine how political philosophers have attempted to answer them. Topics to be considered may include: historical responsibility for climate change, duties regarding future generations, the problem of allocating the burdens of addressing climate change, natural resource justice, the rights of indigenous peoples, moral issues concerning territorial loss or displacement, and the politics of geoengineering the planet.

20 credits

The Radical Demand in Logstrup's Ethics

The biblical commandment 'to love your neighbour as yourself' still has great resonance with people, as does the story of the Good Samaritan who helps the injured traveller he encounters on the road. But what exactly does this love require, and what it its basis? Do we have an obligation to care for others, or is it beyond the call of duty? How can love be a matter of obligation at all? If you help the neighbour, can you demand something in return? Should we help them by giving them what they want, or instead what they need? How far do our obligations to others extend - who is the 'neighbour', and might it include 'the enemy' ? And does the requirement to help the other come from God's command, or from some sort of practical inconsistency given we all need help ourselves, or from their right to be helped - or simply from the fact they are in need? But can our needs be enough on their own to generate obligations of this sort?
We will consider these sorts of questions in relation to the work of K.E. Logstrup [1905-1981], a Danish philosopher and theologian, who discussed them in his key work The Ethical Demand [1956] in which he characterized this relation between individuals as involving a 'radical demand' for care, involving important commitments about the nature of life, value, and human interdependency. We will compare his ideas to related themes in Kant, Kierkegaard, Levinas, and contemporary care ethics.

20 credits

Sources of Normativity

The module will present some fundamental debates in meta-ethics concerning the foundations of norms, obligations and reasons. We will read parts of Korsgaard's book 'The Sources of Normativity' and more recent literature grappling with the question Korsgaard has raised. We will try to understand what it means to ground a norm, whether norms must be grounded, what could possibly ground them and whether the grounding process has a terminus point.

20 credits