Magister Course in Theoretical Philosophy

The one-year Master’s course in theoretical philosophy offers an intellectually stimulating and supportive postgraduate environment. You will be taught and supervised by members of faculty who are internationally well connected and actively involved in research.

• Course structure

  The first semester: Four course modules of 7,5 credits each

  One of the modules is mandatory -

  Scientific Method and Research Ethics

  - and the other three are chosen by the student in consultation with the course convener. Under the heading Modules you’ll find a list of courses to choose from, all taught in English.

  Literature course 1, 1st half of semester: The Concept of Mind from Plato to Descartes, 7.5 credits.
  Description of course content: This course focuses on the theories of what we nowadays call ‘the mind’ in pre-modern philosophical sources in Europe and the Islamic world. In much of the sources the relevant notion is that of the soul, and the soul also has a number of life-functions in addition to those that we today conceptualize as functions of the mind. We focus on questions about what the soul (as mind) is taken to be. Is it an entity capable of separate existence or rather something that inseparably and inextricably belongs to the body and only lives and exists in bodies? What things or creatures have minds and what does this mean? What is the role of reason and its concepts in human cognition? Is there non-conceptual perception, and how does the external world make its impact on our minds? Or, rather, is the soul something that makes its impact on the world? And who invented the mind-body problem?
  Instructors: Henrik Lagerlund and Miira Tuominen.
  Examination: Assignments/essay

  Literature course 2, 1st half of semester: Scientific Realism, 7.5 credits.
  Description of course content: The scientific realism debate is one of the classical debates in philosophy of science. Scientific realists claim that the core tenets of predictively successful and empirically well-confirmed scientific theories should be taken to be approximately true. Often, this view is understood in the sense that the theory’s scientific objects refer to something in the external world. Scientific antirealists, to the contrary, deny those claims. The debate is of crucial importance for understanding the status of scientific reasoning. In the course, we will develop a broad perspective on the debate. We will start by looking at the related but different metaphysical realism debate, which addresses the question as to whether it makes sense to posit a world independent from the human perspective. We will then discuss the historic roots and classical core arguments of the scientific realism debate. The final part of the course will address recent developments and perspectives.
  Instructor: Richard Dawid
  Examination: Assignments/essay

  Literature course 3, 2nd half of semester: Non-Doxastic Targets of Epistemic Evaluation, 7.5 credits.
  Description of course content: In this course, we will be considering the question of which mental attitude types are subject to evaluation from an epistemic point of view. Traditionally, it has been assumed that the only mental states that are candidates for epistemic rationality, irrationality, or justification, are doxastic states (viz., beliefs or credences). While mental states of other attitude types may have a causal influence on our beliefs, they are not in themselves rational or irrational but arational.
  More recently, however, it has been argued that some non-doxastic mental states may also be legitimate targets of epistemic critique. In this course we will focus mostly on the mental states of perception and emotion but will also look briefly at perspective and attention. We will be asking ourselves: how we can know whether mental states of a certain attitude type are epistemically evaluable; what makes it the case that mental states of a certain attitude type are epistemically evaluable; what the conditions of rationality would be for non-doxastic states; and, what the implications would be for “traditional” views in epistemology such as evidentialism and reliabilism.
  Instructor: Tricia Magalotti
  Examination: Assignments/essay

  In addition to the courses listed under Modules, you can also opt for courses at the undergraduate level. Since these courses will be credited at the advanced level, the exam requirements will be adapted to the advanced level. This could be an option for students with a particular interest in any of those courses for the the purpose of preparing for the master thesis the following semester, or if the student has a lacuna in his or her education that needs to eliminated. At most two of the literature courses can be of this kind, and the decision to follow those undergraduate courses instead of the course modules must be approved of by the course convenor.

  The student must pass the examinations of the first semester in order to proceed to the second semester.

  The second semester: Thesis work (30 credits)

  Instructor: Kathrin Glüer-Pagin

  The second semester consists of a thesis work (30 credits). The topic is elective but must be approved by the convenor and must fit the research profile of the members of the faculty. A supervisor will be allocated to the student, based on her or his project description. The final grade of the entire course is determined by the grade of the thesis. The exam of the thesis part consists in the thesis itself, a defence of it at a seminar, and an opposition on another student’s thesis at a seminar. It is recommended to study the grading criteria and the guidelines for the thesis.

  Since an entire semester is devoted to writing the thesis, the demands are higher than for a bachelor’s thesis, with respect to volume (approximately 40 pages), content, and degree of independence in the writing process. This is reflected in the grading criteria.

  Stilguide magisteruppsats

  Assessment

  Examination: Assignments/essay

  Grading criteria for Master’s thesis

• Schedule
  The schedule will be available no later than one month before the start of the course. We do not recommend print-outs as changes can occur. At the start of the course, your department will advise where you can find your schedule during the course.

  Literature courses schedule

  • Schedule FI4MN2 Autumn 2023 Day-time 100%

• Course literature
  Note that the course literature can be changed up to two months before the start of the course.

  • Valid from Autumn 2021

  • Reading list FI4MN2 Helfart 100% - valid from Autumn 2021

  See syllabus archive for all reading lists

• Contact

  Course convenor: Professor Kathrin Glüer-Pagin

  kathrin.gluer-pagin@philosophy.su.se