180081 KU Central Topics in Theoretical Philosophy (2025W)

This course is part of the entry phase of the MA in philosophy. Students will acquire important background knowledge and skills on five important topics within theoretical philosophy that are beneficial for every MA student, no matter what their areas of specialisation will eventually be.

Numerous topics could be covered. The actual selection will reflect the course leaders range of expertise: provisionally the plan is to cover the following five topics: scepticism, truth, intentionality (i.e. mental representation), models of conversation, and testimony.

This course is in the “Masterkurs” course format of the MA Philosophy programme (introduced 2024). This means that it comprises 10 ECTS and there are double sessions each week (i.e. twice 90 minutes a week). The course format involves some lecturing, but also discussion as well as composing and presenting written work on which feedback is given and received.

The course is structured as follows: we will dedicate two weeks (in one case possibly three) to each of the topics. In the first week of each topic, there will be some lecture-style presentation and seminar-style discussion of texts that everyone is expected to study in advance. In the second week on each topic, each student will be expected to compose a short position statement on a question or questions chosen from a list of questions pertaining to the topic. The pre-read position statements will then be debated in class.

After these five two-week parts, there will be another two weeks in which each participant is asked to choose one of the five topics and to compose and present a 2000 word paper in that area. This paper will be discussed in pre-read sessions, and participants will be able to use the feedback received to revise their paper, before they submit it to the course leader for evaluation. The deadline for submitting this 2000 word paper will be on the 15th of February 2026.