BA Philosophy

Year 1

(Award available for year: Certificate of Higher Educ)

Learning outcomes

On completion of the year students should have provided evidence of being able to:

a) Recognise the formal structures underlying valid argumentation
b) Demonstrate an understanding of selected ideas of some major philosophers through the reading of primary texts
c) Demonstrate a basic knowledge of philosophy within some of the main areas of the discipline, including epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, philosophy of mind and science
d) Demonstrate a basic knowledge of the nature of philosophical thought and methodology
e) Demonstrate a basic ability to express their own views, and appreciate their strengths and weaknesses as learners

Transferable (key) skills

a) Students will have had the opportunity to gain experience and feedback with respect to written communication skills, problem solving, the assessment of arguments, and the construction and defence of their own view. They will use IT systems comprehensively to engage with teaching and assessment on their modules.

b) Students will have had the opportunity to reflect on their personal responsibility skills – learning to learn, self-management, and awareness of individual strengths and weaknesses.

Assessment

Four compulsory modules at L1 cover all five LOs at this level, so all students will have the opportunity to achieve these LOs regardless of optional modules taken.

Efforts have been made to streamline assessment at this, and all levels, so that we are only assessing LOs once on each module. As is appropriate to our discipline, and with only a few exceptions, this is often in the form of a coursework essay. There will be a diverse range of unassessed formative exercises on all modules, allowing students to make progress with the LOs and skills outside an assessment context. The listed transferable skills will be exercised on all modules, and opportunities for explicit discussion and support will be made available by module leaders in office hours and in routine meetings with academic personal tutors.