| Unit name | Realism |
|---|---|
| Unit code | PHIL20034 |
| Credit points | 10 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Everett |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Philosophy |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The unit will introduce you to structural similarities between debates about semantics, ontology and epistemology in areas of philosophy from ethics to philosophy of mathematics. The lectures will discuss what it is to take a certain discourse literally as opposed to offering a reductive or other kind of non-literal analysis of it. We will then move on to consider theories of truth, and the difference between fictionalism, agnosticism and realism about some domain. These abstract categories will be illustrated by such questions as whether numbers exist, whether value judgements about the arts are to be taken as describing aesthetic facts or as merely expressing the emotional state of the person making them, and whether we can know propositions about the past and the future. The distinction between subjectivity and objectivity will also be considered. Other topics that may be discussed include: modality, semantic vagueness, the problem of universals, reference, description and names, and verificationism about meaning.
