Master 2 Philosophy

Length: 1 year (can be spread over 2 calendar years)

Preparing for degree: Master of Arts in Philosophy

Entry requirements: MA1 in Philosophy (or equivalent)

Choose 4 courses and 1 research seminar from below - to be approved by the Director of Studies

Master 2 involves a thesis of 350 000 characters - (including spaces). Students will then complete an oral thesis defense in front of an academic jury.

List of Courses

Introduction to Plato

Plato ranks as one of the most important thinkers in the Western philosophical tradition. This module introduces the student to some of the fundamental ideas that inform his works as well as guiding the student through some developments in his presentation of these ideas.

Aristotle and the Aristotelian Tradition

This course introduces some of the key elements in Aristotle's thought.

Foundations of Ethics

Ethics, like philosophy, is in search of principles and universals. Ethics reflects on a particular human experience, namely, the experience of the good or of being good, and sets it in the context of the whole. One could also say that ethics reflects on what is the good and how our lives are oriented towards it

Bioethics I : Foundations of Modern Bioethics

Legal, Philosophical and Moral dimension

Bioethics II : Informed Consent and Risk Analysis

Investigators have a duty to ensure subjects give not only informed, but voluntary consent?

Bioethics III: Clinical Ethics & Legal Implications

Concerned with restoring and strengthening bonds between professionals, patients and families, not simply dealing with principles like bioethics.

Social and political philosophy

There are many different definitions of Social Political Philosophy (SPP): the political can be defined as social decision making; philosophy is the most general form of inquiry that is the attempt to say what it is true and why.

Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy of Religion is also known as Philosophical Theology or Philosophy of God. Other names include Natural Theology and Theodicy.

Introduction to critical thinking. Part I

Etymologically, the word "Epistemology", from the Greek, means the science of knowledge. It is an investigation of knowledge and its problems. A synonymous term is Criteriology which again from the Greek means to distinguish or judge. It deals with testin g knowledge to find truth or detect error.

Introduction to critical thinking. Part II

The modern epistemological problem has two aspects:

1. The opposition between science and philosophy or truth and error. We find this basically in Descartes and Kant.

2. The conflict between science and science or that of contemporary and classic physics and not an opposition between science and philosophy or truth and error.

The Origins of Philosophy (Presocratics)

This course is divided into six sections : What is Philosophy? ; Why Study Philosophy? ; The place of philosophy in theology ; Main Areas of Philosophy ; Presocratic Philosophy ; Socrates

Kant: A philosophy of Freedom

According to Gibelin in his Foreword to Religion within the Limits of Reason Alone, Freedom is the central theme of Kant’s philosophy. This course will introduce to Kant, centering on Freedom as a key concept to understand his philosophy, in the three spheres defined by the critical project: Metaphysics, Moral and Aesthetics.

Philosophical Anthropology

The term ‘anthropology’ is derived from two Greek words: ἀνθωπος (anthrōpos) and λογος (logos).

Introduction to Moral theories in Bioethics II

This course is the second part to Introduction to Moral theories in Bioethics I.
The course will introduce the students to the historical beginning of bioethics, as well as some of the moral theories employed in bioethics discourse.

Contemporary Issues in Bioethics I

To show the implications of normative theories for specific moral issues or contemporary debates on particular ethical issues.

Contemporary Issues in Bioethics II

To show the implications of normative theories for specific moral issues or contemporary debates on particular ethical issues.

Michel Foucault, analyst of the norm

The norm is the idea central to the thought of Michel Foucault. It is the point from which he studies modern society. He distinguishes the norm from other forms of power.

Being and Knowing

Essential Questions of Philosophy in this very complete course about Being and Knowing.

Indian Philosophy Unit I

The main objective of this unit is to get an above all understanding of what Indian Philosophy is and in what circumstances it has developed. Though Indian Philosophy has developed in different parts of India it has many common characteristics hence the student is likely to know a few important ones. Furthermore, one should have a basic understanding of what Indian philosophy is accused of.

Indian Philosophy Unit II

What is expected from the students in this Unit is that they must be able to point out the importance of Vedas in Indian Philosophy, the classification of Vedic literature and must have a proper understanding of the Samhitās, Brāhmaṇas and Āraṇyakas. However, the Upaniśads will be dealt separately. Further, one must be acquainted with a few other important teachings of Veda such as Vedic religion, how monism developed from polytheism, and a basic understanding of what ṛta, the law of karma, the theory of creation, the institution of yajña, āśramas and varṇa is.

Indian Philosophy Unit III

By Studying this particular unit one must be able to understand what is the meaning of Upaniṣad, how it was developed from Vedas and what are its main teachings and how they reach their logical culmination in the identity of the self and the Brahman. One must also be able to understand the Upaniṣadic view point of bondage and liberation along with the cosmogony and puruṣārtas.

The main objective of the conclusion is to introduce the students to the different systems of Indian Philosophy as it deals with various philosophical thoughts of several traditions originated in Indian Subcontinent.

Philosophy of Language

Philosophy of language is an extraordinarily rich field. It has a history stretching back, in the Western tradition, to the preSocratics.

Analytic Philosophy

This course seeks to introduce students to analytic philosophy.

Ethics: from Ancient to Modern

This course will take students through ethical discourse from the time of Plato to Aristotle, then to Kant and utilitarians.

John Locke's Epistemology and Political Philosophy

John Locke : seventeenth century English philosopher, one of the greatest Enlightenment thinkers and forerunner of Liberalism and British Empiricism.

Political Philosophy: An Introduction

Political philosophy is a branch of philosophy that studies essential questions about various political issues, concepts and problems that are important to any human society.

David Hume: The Great Empiricist

This is a comprehensive and systematic course on the philosophy of David Hume – a prominent Scottish Enlightenment philosopher widely known for his influential system of philosophical empiricism, naturalism and scepticism. Based on his influential and extreme Empiricist ideas, Hume can be rightly considered as one of the most important philosophers of all time.

Metaphysics or Philosophy of Being

Metaphysics, a discipline with long standing history, has been understood in different ways. Traditionally, it is considered as the most general and fundamental discipline of all other disciplines. Metaphysics or the Philosophy of Being as Being seeks to answer questions about existence.

Introduction to philosophy of law

Important issues in legal philosophy range from abstract conceptual questions about the nature of law and legal systems, to normative questions about the relationship between law and morality, politics and other norms as well as the justification of various legal institutions. Although this course will deal with conceptual themes of philosophy of law especially in the first section, the course generally focusses on the practical and readily applicable aspects of the field.