PHL1080 Time, Self and Mind
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Handbook entry- a brief description of the subject can be found in the handbook entry. The handbook also provides information about the unit leader, the semester and mode in which the unit is available, the contact hours and the assessment requirements.
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MUSO site - there is a MUSO/Blackboard site for this unit where assessment tasks, lecture notes and other unit resources will be posted. Once enrolled, students taking this unit are advised to check the site regularly.
Subject description:
PHL1080 is an introduction to metaphysics. It deals with questions about the nature of time, causation, human freedom, personal identity and the possibility of artificial intelligence. An unusual feature of the subject is that each topic is introduced by way of science fiction stories in which metaphysical issues are explored. So the first topic takes off from a discussion of time travel.
An example
Imagine that a time traveller from the future brought with him a copy of your autobiography, one written shortly before your death still well in the future. Suppose you read it and find to your dismay that it includes many details not only about you, but about the future history of the world, that you do not like at all. Armed with this information you think: I must try to prevent all that from happening; I must try to make a better world. But then the thought strikes you, this must already have happened or the biography could not have been written for the traveller to bring with him. If the biography is a true record of future history, then I can no more change what is going to happen than I can change the past.
Thoughts like these have led many to think that if time travel is possible then fatalism is an inescapable attitude: what will be will be, and unfortunately the future is ours to see. But such an attitude is in conflict with many views that we have about ourselves and our place in the world. It conflicts, for example, with the common sense view that we are free agents whose deliberate actions may make a difference to the course of history. Does it follow that the possibility of time travel would undermine such deeply held views? That would be disturbing, for many scientists now think that time travel is possible.
About Teaching and Assessment
The assessment regime for this subject is unusual. It involves a series of tasks, each of which must be completed to a satisfactory standard before moving to the next. Students have a right to attempt any task several times, as they might a driving test. And to some extent, students also determine the standard to be reached on each task, for they may nominate Credit level, or Distinction, rather than a bare Pass, as the minimum standard they will achieve. Then that standard has to be achieved in every task before the subject is completed. In most cases, marking will be completed within two or three days of submission, so students will have very rapid feed-back on their progress. There will be a final invigilated exam which, like all other tasks, must be completed at the nominated standard. It too can be repeated if necessary.
This assessment regime, known as the Keller Plan, has been found to deliver better than normal results and a high level of sudent satisfaction.
Please note that students studying PHL1080 in Summer 2009/2010, will also complete a component titled 'Introduction to Logic'.
This component further develops the apparatus for testing the validity of arguments.