Introduction to Philosophy

An overview of some of the main topics in Philosophy

About the course

This course introduces some of the main areas of research in contemporary philosophy. In each module, a different philosopher will talk you through some of the most important questions and issues in their area of expertise. We’ll begin by trying to understand what philosophy is – what are its characteristic aims and methods, and how does it differ from other subjects? Then we’ll spend the rest of the course gaining an introductory overview of several different areas of philosophy.

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Topics

Topics covered on this course include:

Epistemology, where we’ll consider what our knowledge of the world and ourselves consists in, and how we come to have it;
Philosophy of science, where we’ll investigate foundational conceptual issues in scientific research and practice;
Philosophy of Mind, where we’ll ask questions about what it means for something to have a mind, and how minds should be understood and explained;
Political Philosophy, where we'll investigate whether we have an obligation to obey the law;
Moral Philosophy, where we’ll attempt to understand the nature of our moral judgements and reactions – whether they aim at some objective moral truth, or are mere personal or cultural preferences, and;
Metaphysics, where we’ll think through some fundamental conceptual questions about free will and the nature of reality.

Videos

Handouts

Document

What is Philosophy? (485.24 KB / PDF)
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What is knowledge? And do we have any? (350.84 KB / PDF)
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What is it to have a mind? (428.01 KB / PDF)
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Morality: Objective, Relative or Emotive? (415.75 KB / PDF)
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Should you believe what you hear? (360.24 KB / PDF)
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Are scientific theories true? (490.38 KB / PDF)

If you require a PDF document in an alternative format, such as large print or a coloured background, please email philinfo@ed.ac.uk (for Philosophy enquiries).

Textbook

To accompany ‘Introduction to Philosophy’, we are pleased to announce a tie-in book from Routledge entitled Philosophy for Everyone. This course companion to the ‘Introduction to Philosophy’ course was written by the Edinburgh Philosophy team expressly with the needs of MOOC students in mind. ‘Philosophy for Everyone’ contains clear and user-friendly chapters, chapter summaries, glossary, study questions, suggestions for further reading and guides to online resources.

Philosophy for Everyone

Instructors

This article was published on 2024-10-14