Courses / Module

• Distinguish epistemology as a philosophical discipline from kindred approaches to knowledge (e.g. from sociology, psychology, anthropology).
• Identify the meaning of basic terms used in epistemology, such as, ‘knowledge’, ‘opinion’, ‘belief’, ‘true belief’, ‘false belief’, ‘conjecture’, ‘certitude’, ‘certainty’, ‘apodictic certainty’.
• Recognise the significance of the epistemic distinction between ‘a posteriori’ and ‘a priori’ knowledge-claims.
• Discriminate between historical formulations of the problem of knowledge and responses to that problem attempted in ancient Greek, modern and contemporary philosophy (e.g. by Plato, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Husserl, Chisholm, Gettier, Bonjour, Lehrer, Goldman) and evaluate their accounts.
• Recognise the significance of the difference between the question of the psychological origins of ideas and the epistemological justification of knowledge-claims, and the inadequacy of the former to found the later (e.g., Hume, Brentano, Husserl, ‘the Gettier Problem’).
• 6. Evaluate central tenets and themes in contemporary foundationalist and coherentist accounts of knowledge.

• 24 lecture hours (12 weeks x 2 lecture hours per week); 1 tutorial hour (x 4 tutorial groups); directed reading, reflection, discussion and writing.

• Module Graded (numeric value) or Ungraded (Pass/Not Passed): Graded
• Continuous Assessment detail(s): 100% Continuous Assessment

• Pass standard: 40%
• Could the result of this module be capped? No
• 40%
• Penalties: As set out in the Department Student Handbook.

• Essay assignment c. 2,000 words

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