Entry requirements

60 credits in Practical Philosophy or Theoretical Philosophy

Learning outcomes

The purpose of the course is to introduce students to philosophical discussions about the nature of time. Upon completion of the course the student is expected to be able to:

• describe the main philosophical theories about the nature of time, such as the varieties of A-theories, B-theories, the motivations of these theories and the challenges that they face
• describe the main theories about existence in time, such as versions of endurantism and perdurantism, the motivations for these theories, and the challenges that they face
• analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the positions discussed
• discuss how the philosophy of time interacts with some other philosophical topics such as the freedom of the will, epistemology, and the philosophy of language.

Content

The nature of time has been a central issue for philosophical discussions for thousands of years. This course provides an introduction to the central issues in these discussions. The course is divided into two parts. During the first part of the course, we will look at some of the central issues in the philosophy of time. During the second part of the course, we will look at some specific discussions in other areas of philosophy, and study how they relate to the philosophy of time. A focus point of the first part of the course will be the discussion between "static" and "dynamic" views of time and in relation to this, we will also study McTaggart's famous argument for the unreality of time. During the second part, we will study the interaction between some aspects of the debate about free will and the philosophy of time, as well as some epistemological arguments for the knowability/unknowability of the future, and what they tell us about the asymmetry between past and future times. The course aims to provide both a general introduction to the philosophy of time, and to dive in a little bit deeper in some specific topics.

Instruction

Instruction will be through interactive lectures, and the students are expected to actively participate in discussions. The language of instruction is English.

Assessment

The examination for the course will be through two shorter writing assignments and a final paper of 3-4000 words on a freely chosen topic relating to the content of the course.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.