Module Descriptors
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHICAL TEXTS LEVEL 5
PHIL50192
Key Facts
School of Digital, Technologies and Arts
Level 5
30 credits
Contact
Leader: Hugh Burnham
Hours of Study
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 40
Independent Study Hours: 260
Total Learning Hours: 300
Assessment
  • PORTFOLIO weighted at 100%
Module Details
Module Texts
Halper. (2012). Aristotle's Metaphysics a Reader's Guide. Continuum.
Reeve. (1995). The Practices of Reason: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. Clarendon.
Sheppard. (2006). Guide to Plato's Republic, Edinburgh UP.
Plato. (2009). Republic. Penguun.
Aristotle (2009). Nicomachean Ethics, ed. R. Crisp. CUP.
Rorty (ed) (1981). Essays on Aristotle's Ethics. University of California Press.
Zuckert. (2011). Plato's Philosophers. Chicago.
Module Resources
Lecture room, seminar room, white or blackboard facilities, library and IT facilities.
Module Learning Strategies
Contact time will comprise some or all of: lectures, seminars, small group work, individual or small group scheduled tutorials, whole or partial group workshops, student individual or group presentations, in-class tests or other in-class forms of assessment, student-led group discussions, student-requested or drop-in tutorials, telephone or other technology-assisted tutorials or conferences, visiting speakers, and on-line discussion, advice or feedback.

The Continuous and Formative Portfolio will consist of a set of elements, all of a formative (learn while doing) nature, and variously distributed throughout the teaching semester. There may also be diagnostic-formative assessments (learn while doing, but not formally assessed). The portfolio may include some or all of the following elements, among others: bibliographic exercises, PDP development diaries, quizzes, essay planning exercises, oral examinations, short answer or multiple choice in-class tests, self-evaluative exercises or reports, exposition essays, research essays, mentoring evaluations, individual or group oral presentations, presentation write-ups or evaluations, informal logic exercises, dissertations, field work reports and discussions, evaluation reports, literature reviews, on-line discussion forum contribution, continuous assessments of performance or contribution, on-line workshop write-ups, critical discussions, article or book reviews, research plans, methodological reviews and evaluations, career planning exercises and reports, take-away examinations, draft versions of any of the above, revised versions of any of the above. All elements of assessment within the portfolio must be passed for the module to be passed.

Key Information Set Data:
Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activities 13%
Guided Independent Learning 87%
Module Indicative Content
These modules aim to fulfil four key elements of a good philosophical education:ONE, a historical sense, by which a philosopher is able to maximise the fecundity of philosophical concepts or analyses encountered, even for their application to contemporary issues. TWO, a capacity to read philosophically and critically, by which a philosopher is able to penetrate a way of thought deeply and see it as part of a coherent overarching movement of thinking, THREE, the ability to build a philosophical case, by representing in prose just such a coherent movement. FOUR, a grasp of the interconnectedness of apparently discrete disciplines within philosophy.

These broad ends are achieved by close textual analysis and philosophical investigation of a small number of representative philosophical texts from the history of philosophy. The texts in question will be chosen insofar as they represent a least some of the concerns and styles of their age, while also contributing to the historical development of the discipline. Within these aims, and within the learning outcomes given above, the choice of texts will not be fixed. Indicative texts would be:

Lucretius, De rerum natura
Plato, Republic, Phaedo, Symposium
Aristotle, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Physics
Augustine Confessions
Module Additional Assessment Details
100% by continuous and formative portfolio. (5000 words)
[Learning outcomes 1 - 5]

Key Information Set Data:
Coursework 80% of assessment
Practical exams 20%