MA ([Philosophy] Values & Knowledge)

Course details

The relation between values and knowledge is a central concern for any society. At present, it is widely assumed that the pursuit of knowledge is valuable only to the degree that it has measurable practical benefits as an outcome. Our programme offers a context for detailed consideration of this assumption. We identify and question the issues involved in it at deeper levels of analysis than are available through ordinary discussion.

This high level of critical scrutiny is made possible through the programme’s broad philosophical perspective - engaging with questions arising in other disciplines also. More specifically, our programme provides an in-depth study of different forms of values in terms of both their cognitive basis and their relation to other areas of knowledge and activity. We also consider the way in which knowledge has been defined and theorized since the Enlightenment. The programme combines historical perspectives and contemporary critical debates so as to provide a fund of analytic and argumentative skills that are advantageous for further work in philosophy or for competing in the job market.

Programme Aims

• To initiate students into historical and contemporary debates concerning the cognitive basis of values (especially moral and aesthetic ones), and the status of different forms of knowledge .
• To give this initiation a broad scope – embracing personality, gender, political concepts, knowledge in a historical context, and the emotions as such, as well as moral and aesthetic values.
• To explore how the cognitive significance of values may be implicated in the conditions of our knowledge of self and world, and in the grounds on which beliefs are held, and justified.
• To ensure that students are initiated into different methods of philosophical investigation that cross the usual pide between ‘Analytic’ and ‘Continental’ philosophy.
• To open possible overlaps with work done in other disciplines.

Key Facts

Entry Requirements

Applicants should have or expect to obtain a grade of an overall H2:2 or higher with a H2:1 in Philosophy in their first degree. Applications are welcome from students whose primary degree was in Philosophy or a cognate subject.

Course Outline

Full-time

The full-time programme is completed over one academic year. Students must take modules and complete a minor dissertation to the value of 90 ECTS in total.

• Modules for 2015 - 16
• Research Methods (Core)
• Philosophy Seminar:
• Participation & Management (Core)
• Political Values in the Modern World
• Moral Reasoning
• Values & Knowledge
• Cultural Philosophy of Globalization
• The Philosophy of Emotion
• Environmental Aesthetics
• Minor Dissertation

Part-time

• Students must take modules and complete a minor dissertation to the value of 90 ECTS in total over two years.
• Students must attain 30 ECTS in year 1 to progress to year 2 and must attain 60 ECTS in year 2.

Course Structure for Part-time Students

YEAR 1

• Research Methods (Core)
• 2 optional modules from the list below (options subject to change)
• Political Values in the Modern World
• Moral Reasoning
• Values & Knowledge
• The Philosophy of Emotion
• Cultural Philosophy of Globalization
• Environmental Aesthetics

YEAR 2

• Philosophy Seminar: Participation & Management (Core)
• 2 optional modules from year 1 list above.
• Minor Dissertation (Core)