Philosophy with German BA (Hons)

About the course

Philosophy

Academic philosophy examines our background conceptual frames and assumptions. Our thoughts, words and deeds make sense only because they fit into a larger conceptual frame. But are these hidden assumptions all plausible? Do they fit together? Can we, for example, believe everything that natural science tells us about ourselves, and continue to hold people responsible for their actions? Typical philosophical questions are: How should we live? How should we treat others? Is there a fixed human nature, and if so, what is it? Are we mere machines? Do we have freewill? What is knowledge? Are there any facts we can never know? What is truth? Our philosophy teaching was rated 'excellent' and was awarded the top grade of 24 out of 24 in the most recent Quality Assurance Agency Review. Further evidence of excellence is available on the philosophy pages of the University website.

German

The academic study of a foreign language is concerned with the acquisition and development of competence in a language and with the analysis and understanding of another culture through the medium of the target language. The intercultural nature of the subject encourages you to reflect upon aspects of your own culture and promotes an awareness of the differences from and similarities with the United Kingdom. Your language proficiency can be particularly enhanced by a period of study abroad during your Degree programme.

Why choose this course?

Philosophy at UH is a thriving intellectual community with regular visiting speakers and an optional residential weekend.

Study routes

• Sandwich, 4 Years
• Sandwich,
• Full Time,

Locations

• University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

Structure

Year 3

Core Modules

• Graduate and Information Skills 3

Optional

• German Route A - 6a

  This module further improves the students’ competence and confidence from study at levels 4 and 5 in understanding and responding to more advanced written and spoken German. Students develop skills which will be of value both professionally and socially and will be exposed to a wider variety of contexts and language registers. The module will enable students to participate more fully in discussions and develop logical argument. They will carry out reading and listening tasks and write texts within the framework of the vocabulary and grammatical structures studied. The module will be largely course book based, supplemented by on-line materials including for example on-line TV news items, blogs and magazine websites.

• German Route A - 6b

  This module enables students to improve further their competence and confidence from the previous semester in understanding and responding to more advanced German. Students continue to develop skills which will be of value both professionally and socially. The module will enable students to play a more active and spontaneous part in discussions and to use a wider range of phrases which express different shades of opinion in speaking and writing. They will carry out reading and listening tasks and write texts within the framework of the vocabulary and grammatical structures studied. The module will be largely course book based, supplemented by on-line materials including for example on-line news reports, blogs and magazine websites.

• Kant's Critical Philosophy

  "Kant made me sick." This was Bertrand Russell's reaction to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Much of the philosophy written in the Western tradition in the last two centuries is in some way a reaction to or development of Kant's 'Copernican revolution' in philosophy. Kant's main work, the Critique of Pure Reason, develops and defends two thoughts. First, our empirical experience is structured and conditioned by what we bring to it, so the problem of epistemology is the adequacy of our preconceptions. Second, there are limits to what pure reason can achieve, and much philosophy is a hopeless attempt to answer questions that lie beyond reason's powers. Kant argued that it is in the nature of reason to attempt more than it can achieve. Moreover, reason is sovereign over itself, and therefore must police its own boundaries. It is therefore always caught in a tension between transgressing its limits and enforcing them.

• Nietzsche, Genealogy and Morality

  Nietzsche famously claimed that 'God is dead'. But what does he mean by this? What ramifications would the 'death of God' have for morality and human flourishing? What would a 'Nietzschean' view of self and world look like? And what religious responses to Nietzsche's challenge are possible? With these questions in mind, this module investigates key aspects of Nietzsche's thought. Typically, after an introduction to his styles of philosophizing, the 'hermeneutics of suspicion', and his 'moral perfectionism', we shall focus upon his influential critique of morality. We shall investigate his account of ressentiment, guilt and 'bad conscience', alongside central Nietzschean ideas such as the will to power, eternal recurrence and 'self-overcoming'. We'll also consider some possible critical responses to his worldview. The central text will be On the Genealogy of Morality.

• Philosophy of Language

  Marks, sounds and gestures can all have meaning. But what is it for them to have meaning and how do they manage to have it? Is the meaning of my words to be analysed in terms of my intentions to communicate with another or the conventions I subscribe to when using words? In what way is meaning related to truth and my being warranted in asserting what I say? What other things can we do with words than state truths? How should we understand metaphorical uses of language? How do names and descriptions in particular manage to pick out objects in the world? Are some things I say true solely in virtue of the meanings of the words I use? Is there anything that fixes what it is that I do mean when I use words, or is meaning, to some extent, indeterminate? Can a study of language tell us anything about reality?

• Representation and Consciousness

  Cognitive science seeks to scientifically explain, or at least shed light, on how and why agents behave as they do. Yet it has met with some serious obstacles in trying to understand the nature of representation and conscious experience. This module introduces and examines various proposals about how these phenomena might be scientifically understood, at least in principle. It asks such questions as: Is cognition really a form of symbol manipulation? Do these symbols have any representational content? Are they about anything in the world? If so, what accounts for this? Is there any real prospect for a scientific theory of consciousness or do all ‘objective’ accounts necessarily leave something out?

• Virtues, Vices and Ethics

  There has been a revival of interest in 'virtue ethics' in recent decades, and it is typically presented as a third major approach to contemporary moral philosophy, alongside consequentialist and Kantian deontological theories of ethics. We shall briefly discuss this context and the work of some important recent virtue theorists. But the primary focus of this module will be a body of writing by contemporary philosophers on specific personal virtues and, where appropriate, corresponding vices. We shall thus bring philosophical reflection to bear on such 'everyday' issues as pride, humility, gratitude, love, compassion, hope, patience, forgiveness and trust.

• Wittgenstein's Philosophy

  Ludwig Wittgenstein is one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century. Much of today's philosophical thinking has been inspired by or has developed in response to his work. His first published work - the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus - provides, for some, an inspiration for powerful anti-metaphysical programmes. For others, it offers refined tools for doing metaphysics in a new, more fertile way. He himself came to reject aspects of his early work. How his approach evolved can only be fully understood by considering his early programme in the light of his second great masterpiece, Philosophical Investigations. This module does just that by introducing important aspects of Wittgenstein's philosophy in their historical and ideological contexts. The module will explore a range of topics such as: the nature of language and thought and their relations to reality; meaning and use; understanding and intentionality; following a rule; the possibility of a private language; the nature of philosophy.

Fees & funding

Fees 2013

UK/EU Students

Full time: £8,500 for the 2013 academic year

International Students

Discounts are available for International students if payment is made in full at registration

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Other financial support

Find out more about other financial support available to UK and EU students

Living costs / accommodation

The University of Hertfordshire offers a great choice of student accommodation, on campus or nearby in the local area, to suit every student budget.

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How to apply