Masters degree in Philosophy
The Department offers a focused taught masters course for graduates with a background in Philosophy. The MA in Philosophy can be studied either one year full-time or two year part-time.
MA in Philosophy
Students studying the MA in Philosophy choose from a range of specialised subject modules taught by research-active academics, creating a specific pathway through the MA. The modules offered highlight the areas of particular strength at Nottingham – metaphysics, mind and knowledge, philosophy of language, ethics, and aesthetics. The MA is supplemented by a core 'Research Methods' module, designed to help students make the transition to postgraduate studies. Each student finishes their masters programme with a dissertation on a topic of their own choosing.
What does the course offer?
The course affords students who have studied philosophy at undergraduate level an opportunity to pursue the subject in greater depth. It prepares students who seek entry to a PhD programme, and accords with the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s practice of offering funding packages for 1 (masters) + 3 (PhD) years. It is also suitable for students who do not intend to study for the PhD, but who wish to deepen their knowledge of philosophy and acquire some research skills.
What will I study?
Students pick two modules for each semester from the following subjects:
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Metaphysics
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Mind and Knowledge
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Ethics
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Philosophy of Language
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Aesthetics
Students who wish to specialise in only two subjects — for example, ethics and aesthetics — choose the relevant pathway through the course in each semester, in this case Ethics and Aesthetics. Students seeking a more general degree may choose modules from three or even four subjects, for example Ethics, Aesthetics in the first semester, and Mind and Knowledge, and Philosophy of Language in the second semester. The dissertation, on a topic of the student’s choosing, is closely supervised by a member of staff. See below for further module information.
Students also take our specially designed module, Research Methods in Philosophy, which includes advice on how to write an academic CV, how to write a research proposal and secure funding, giving a paper at a conference and getting published, as well as the general research skills you will need in an academic post.
On successful completion of these modules, students write a 50-credit dissertation of 12,000 words, on a topic of their choice (subject to the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies).
Module overview
Click on the title of a module to display further information below.
V7DRES Research Methods
Convenors: Philip Percival and Andy Fisher
The module will cover: Applying for Research Grants; Philosophical Resources; Reading Philosophy and Taking Notes; Writing a Research Proposal; Writing Philosophy; Collaborative work; Presenting a paper; Networking; The supervisor; Thesis construction.
Autumn Semester (optional modules)
V74MP1 Metaphysics 1
Convenor: Philip Percival
This module focuses upon issues pertaining to: Existence (ontology); Truthmaking and truthmakers; Properties (Universals/Tropes; Nominalism); Laws; Modality and Possible Worlds (including de re modality and essence); and Notions of Realism.
Introductory Reading
David Lewis: On the Plurality of Worlds, ch.1 and ch. 3.
V74MK1 Mind and Knowledge 1
Convenors: Mark Jago and Scott Campbell
This module focuses on some of the central topics of contemporary epistemology. Part 1 of the module concerns reliabilist and contextualist theories of knowledge; margin for error principles; the a priori; and some formal epistemology. Part 2 concerns the epistemology of inductive inferences, inductive scepticism, and the new riddle of induction (grue).
Introductory Reading
Parts 1 and 11 of E. Sosa and J. Kim (eds) Epistemology: An Anthology, Blackwell
V74LA1 Philosophy of Language 1
Convenor: Neil Sinclair
This module discusses the role of context in the interpretation of communicative exchanges. In particular, it focuses on the following topics: 'classic' pragmatic contextuality (Gricean implicatures and their application to so-called non-literal speech, such as metaphor and irony), 'semantic' contextuality (indexicality), and the current debate on the semantic/pragmatic interface (contextualism, minimalism, etc.).
Introductory Reading
Kenneth Taylor, Truth and Meaning, Blackwell 1998.
V74ET1 Ethics 1
Convenor: Chris Woodard
Topics will be drawn from the following: Well-being; Aggregation, equality and priority; Consequentialism; Contractualism and deontology; Virtue ethics and particularism; Political Philosophy; and Applied ethics.
Introductory Reading
S. Kagan (1998) Normative Ethics (Boulder, Co:Westview Press).
V74AE1 Aesthetics 1
Convenor: Stefano Predelli
This module discusses some of the central issues in the contemporary debate on art in the analytical tradition, with particular attention to the following topics: definitions of art, interpretation and appreciation, representation, photography, and fiction.
Introductory Reading
Peter Lamarque and Stein Haugen Olsen (eds.), Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art, The Analytic Tradition, Blackwell 2003
Spring Semester (optional modules)
V74MP2 Metaphysics 2
Convenor: Jonathan Tallant
The module will focus on some of the main topics of contemporary philosophical debate about metaphysics, with particular attention to topics such as the following: The metaphysics of time and temporal passage; causation; the special composition question and fundamentality.
Introductory Reading
Tallant, J. 2011. Metaphysics: An Introduction London: Continuum, chapters 1, 2, 7 and 9
V74MK2 Mind and Knowledge 2
Convenors: Komarine Romdenh-Romluc and Penelope Mackie
This module focuses on some key issues from contemporary Philosophy of Mind. The topics we will cover are: self-knowledge, self-deception, knowledge of other minds, philosophy of action, and philosophy of perception.
Introductory Reading
Stanford Encyclopaedia entry on Philosophy of Action
Stanford Encyclopaedia entry on Philosophy of Perception
Shoemaker, S. 1986 'Introspection and the Self', Midwest Studies in Philosophy, X, pp. 101 - 120
V74LA2 Philosophy of Language 2
Convenor: Stephen Barker
This module will focus on some of the main topics in the contemporary philosophical debate about language, with particular attention to topics such as the following: negative existentials; reference; truth; vagueness; and paradox.
Introductory Reading
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V74ET2 Ethics 2
Convenors: Uri Leibowitz and Neil Sinclair
This module will focus on topics drawn from the following: Moral Language; Metaphysics of morals; Moral psychology; Moral epistemology; Reasons; rationality and normativity; Responsibility; praise, and blame.
Introductory Reading
The Moral Problem (1994), by Michael Smith
V74AE2 Aesthetics 2
Convenor: Greg Currie
The module will focus on some contemporary debates on art in the analytical tradition, with particular attention to the following topics: Art and objectivity, tragedy, narrators in literature and film, the language of literature, style.
Introductory Reading
Hume, On the standard of taste, and Of Tragedy, in his Essays, Moral, Political and Literary.
Currie, Narratives and Narrators, 2010 (available on line in Hallward Library).
Please contact Dr Mark Jago the Department's postgraduate admissions tutor, if you have any questions.