Philosophy Course Map

Now that is exciting..

The Single Honours Philosophy map is now online. Be AMAZED by the new modules; be ASTOUNDED by the route requirements and compulsory courses; be slightly troubled by the enthusiasm of the staff...

In case you can't wait to click through... here it is:

Philosophy (Single Honours Degree) Course Map

To achieve your award you must pass the correct number of CAT points at each level and meet all award requirements (see UMS Regulations) as well as passing ALL compulsory and core requirements, including:

Level I: RPE101, RPE102, RPE107 and PHI190 plus either RPE104 or RPE105

Level II: RPE207

Level III: RPE307 and PHI333

Notes: N/A

Level I Modules:

Code and Title	CAT Points	Study Period
PHI190: Studying The Humanities: Learning And Personal Development Restrictions: Cannot be taken with EX160, or any other module coded 190	15	N/A
RPE101: Philosphical And Ethical Arguing	15	SEM1
RPE102: Religion In The Contemporary World	15	SEM1
RPE103: Contemporary Ethical Issues	15	SEM2
RPE104: Introducing Islam	15	SEM2
RPE105: Judaism	15	SEM1
RPE106: New Religious Movements	15	SEM2
RPE107: Western Philosophy	15	SEM2
RPE108: Greek Philosophy	15	SEM1
RPE136: Overseas Study Visit Restrictions: Cannot be counted with OTC136 Overseas Study Visit or OTC116 Overseas Study Visit	15	N/A

Level II Modules:

Code and Title	CAT Points	Study Period
PHI201: The God Of Philosophy	15	N/A
PHI202: The Rationalists	15	N/A
PHI204: Critical Philosophy	15	N/A
PHI299: Scholarly Project	15	N/A
RPE201: Philosophy, Science And Belief Prerequisites: Pass RPE101	15	SEM1
RPE206: Ethical Traditions Prerequisites: Pass RPE101	15	SEM1
RPE207: 20th Century Western Philosophy	15	SEM1
RPE209: Philosophy Of Mind Prerequisites: Pass RPE101	15	SEM2
SPX208: Ethics And Morality In Sport I Restrictions: Cannot be taken with SV201	15	SEM1
SY232: Social Theory: Major Shifts In Modern Society Restrictions: Cannot be counted with SY227 or SY228	15	SEM1

Level III Modules:

Code and Title	CAT Points	Study Period
PHI301: Buddhist Philosophy Restrictions: None. However, students are strongly advised to familiarise themselves with the basic teachings and practices of Buddhism before the start of the module.	15	N/A
PHI302: Islamic Philosophy Restrictions: None. However, students are strongly advised to familiarise themselves with the basic teachings and practices of Islam before the start of the module.	15	N/A
PHI333: Dissertation	30	N/A
PHI398: Indpendent Study	15	N/A
RPE301: Love, Sex And Death	30	YEAR
RPE304: Ethics And Reason Prerequisites: Pass RPE201, or RPE207, or SY22x	30	YEAR
RPE305: Philosophy And Literature Prerequisites: Pass RPE2XX, or EX2XX	15	SEM2
RPE307: Philosophical Close Reading	15	SEM1
SY319: Research, Epistemology And Philosophy Restrictions: Cannot be taken with SY310	15	SEM1

Swings and Roundabouts...

Some changes to let people know about this summer...

Some minor changes to the RPE Course have taken place, and we have also launched a straight Philosophy programme as well.

The role of Course Leader has passed from myself to Dr Roy Jackson - who now takes on the role - and good luck to him with all those annual reports, programme change committees and student questions...

In addition to that - we have a new member of staff as well. Dr William Large has joined us and will be teaching from Spetember. I expect Will to introducue himself on here soon, but if you can't wait his profile at his previous job is still live HERE - but probably not for long...

Simon Critchley on Heidegger - on Guardian Website

Over at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jun/05/heidegger-philosophy you'll find Simon Critchley offering an intro to Heidegger: which is worth a read. He is going to blog more on this - so may be worth a look...

You may also enjoy the wide range of comments that have been posted (!)

d.

The 'Other' Hay Festival

How The Light Gets In is the UK's first philosophy and music festival in Hay on-Wye which runs over the same ten days, 22-31 May, as the Hay Literary Festival. For the first time ever in the UK, music and philosophy collide as top thinkers, leading musicians and pioneering artists explore the issues that matter through debate, music and live performance. With the overall theme: ‘Crunch. Values and Belief in a new era’ the Philosophy Sessions examine where we are and where we might go from here. The festival brings together a celebrated cast of speakers including philosophers Simon Blackburn, Susan Neiman, AC Grayling, sociologists, Steve Fuller, Zygmunt Bauman, and political theorists Will Hutton, Phillip Blond, Geoff Mulgan. Evenings are host to musical sets from performers including Michael Nyman, Baka Beyond, Stephen Fretwell and many more; and daily comedy sketches come courtesy of the likes of Ed Aczel and Robin Ince.

Excellent Buddhist Podcast

Taken from http://www.cbs.columbia.edu/weblog/2009/05/cbss-podcast-fredrick-m-smith.html :

"Fredrick M. Smith from the University of Iowa presented his talk on "Indian Buddhist Sociolinguistics and Buddhist Notions of Possession: A Fragment from the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa" on April 30, 2009 as part of the Columbia University Buddhist Studies Seminar series."

The podcast is at http://www.cbs.columbia.edu/files/cbss_podcast_smith.mp3

The Centre for Buddhist Studies at Columbia University (New York) has some excellent material online - start at its blog at http://www.cbs.columbia.edu/weblog/

enjoy..
d.

Baggini's Philosophy Monthly

Julian Baggini, editor of The Philosopher's Magazine and previous speaker at our University, has launched a new monthly podcast which is available on iTunes. Episode 1 featured a talk with the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks and Julian's visit to the Hobbes festival in that sweet little Cotswold town of Malmesbury. The second edition has just come out and features an interview with the former Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries on whether Christianity is a force for good.

...oh, and while you're at it, check out the Bristol Festival of Ideas podcast!

Buddhist Art

The Telegraph reviews a new Gallery at the Victoria and Albert museum, devoted to Buddhist art.
The review [click HERE] raises some issues about detachment, and the nature of the images, and whether the gallery actively promotes Buddhist values - so may well be of interest...

Also see http://www.rhfamilyfoundation.org/manyfaces for the Many Faces of Buddhism webpages, for events in London at present..

D.

Blogging Nietzsche

The Guardian online has an excellent site where various experts provide infomed comment on philosophy texts. Giles Fraser has written comments on Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals, Julian Baggini on Hume's views on religion, and currently Mary Midgeley is commenting on Hobbes' Leviathan. Check this out.

Islam Conference next week - Shi'ism: Past and Present

Just a reminder about next week's event - students (and others) are all welcome - but do register first - some details should be HERE, or contact Patricia Downes for details on attending. The programme for the day is:

SHI’ISM, PAST AND PRESENT

Programme
10.15 – 10.45 Registration and Coffee
10.45 Welcome: Dr Shelley Saguaro, Head of Department of Humanities, University of Gloucestershire

10.50 – 11.35 Rt. Rev. Prof. Kenneth Cragg (Oxford),
Why the Early Emergence of the Shi’a from within Sunni Islam?

11.40 – 12.25 Dr Arzina Lalani (Ismaili Institute, London),
The Shi’i Tradition in Islam

12.35 – 1.10 Shazim Hussayn (al Mahdi Institute, Birmingham),
The concept of the Mahdi in Shi’ism

OR

Dr Simonetta Calderini, (Roehampton University,)
Women, Wealth and Inheritance under the Fatimids

1.10 – 2.00 Lunch

2.05 – 2.50 Dr Moojan Momen (Wixamtree),
Undercurrents in Shi`i Esotericism from the Thirteenth to the Nineteenth Century
OR
Dr Theodore Gabriel, (University of Gloucestershire),
Shi’ism and Christianity

3.00 – 3.45 Saleem Khan (Pakistan & London Metropolitan University)
Accommodating Sectarian Diversity in Pakistan

3.45 Vote of thanks: Dr Theodore Gabriel

Tea

FEES: £16 (£8 for students and the unwaged; £5.00 for students of University of Gloucestershire). Tea/Coffee will be served morning and afternoon.
A sandwich lunch (to include sandwiches, crisps, cookies, fruit and coffee/tea) will be available if ordered when your booking is made. The cost for this is £5.50 and should be sent with your conference fee (or email Patricia to arrange)

Ted Honderich to speak in Cheltenham on War and Terrorism

Gloucestershire Philosophical Society, Summer Term.

Talk on Wednesday22nd. April, 2009, 7.30.p.m. FCH HC203 University of Gloucestershire
Map HERE.

Professor Ted Honderich, UCL

"Terrorisms, Terrorist Wars: A philosophical perspective."

Professor Honderich is an internationally renowned political philosopher; editor of the Oxford Companion to Philosophy, and Chair of the Royal Institute of Philosophy.

All welcome.

Artificial Intelligence debate

Some details of an interesting local event:

Café Scientifique Finale

Tuesday 12th May: (Last Debate in the current Café Scientifique Series) On Artificial Intelligence

Arrivals: from 7:15pm for 7.30pm kick off, finish around 9:30ish

Location: The Pavillion (in the gardens of The Royal Oak pub) 42, The Burgage, Prestbury, Cheltenham GL52 3DL

(plenty of parking opposite and in street)

Dr David Biggs, the University of Gloucestershire's Post Grad Director in Occupational Psychology will be discussing amid other things, the pending release of Terminator 4 which in turns sparks debate about the varying forms of artificial intelligence and expert systems writing out psychometric profile reports for people from ethnic minorities... More information to follow, but for now, please pencil this date in your diaries!

• Open to all — bring a friend/neighbour!
• Admission is free
• Bar food available
• First drink is kindly sponsored by The University of Gloucestershire.

Café Scientifique has become a regular event in the county as part of the University’s commitment to public engagement and all age learning.

To find out more about the Café Scientifique network visit www.cafescientifique.org or to join us online for regular updates and reminders join The Café Scientifique Cheltenham group on Facebook,
or for more information email Emma Heathcote-James

Philosophy Society Update

We will not meet on the first Thursday of May, but will meet on the first Thursday of June, the 4th. Gallery Room. Park Campus. 7pm.

We will be reading The Brothers Karamazov, a personal favourite. But not to fear, not the full 832 pages, only the Chapters "Rebellion" and "The Grand Inquisitor", probably about 20 pages. The link for "Rebellion": http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/dostoyevsky/d72b/chapter35.html and the link for "The Grand Inquisitor": http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/dostoyevsky/d72b/chapter36.html. If you are alert and lively you may like to read D. H. Lawrence's "The Legend of The Grand Inquisitor"; it is available in the learning centre

Look forward to seeing you in June,

Shelley

Easter reflections

Thought our readers might be interested in reading the following reflections on Easter from a Buddhist perspective:

http://www.xploreheartlinks.com/buddhism.htm#A%20Buddhist%20View%20of%20Easter

God edition..

New Statesman at http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2009/04/richard-dawkins-hitchens has an issue focused around God and the relationship between politics and religion..
Might be of interest..
d.

Philosophy Society Update

Despite the end of lectures for 2008/2009, hopefully some students are still around for The Philosophy Society meeting when we will be discussing Civil Disobedience by Thoreau.

As always, we are meeting in The Gallery Room at Park Campus at 7pm. The date is this Thursday, 2nd April.

Civil Disobedience is a short essay and can be easily read between now and Thursday. If you do not have the link: http://eserver.org/thoreau/civil.html

I am looking forward to a lively discussion,

Shelley Campbell