PHIL 330 Investigations in the History of Philosophy
- Prerequisite PHIL 242/3.0 or PHIL 243/3.0 or PHIL 250/6.0 or PHIL 251/3.0 or PHIL 252/3.0 or PHIL 257/6.0 or permission of the Department.
None.
one-way Exclusions
- Lectures
- Nihil Krishnan, A Terribly Serious Adventure: Philosophy and War in Oxford 1900鈥1960
- Various readings on Course Reserves (accessible via the on-Q site)
Instructor: David Bakhurst
For several decades in the 20th Century, Oxford was the centre of the philosophical universe. At that time, there emerged a radical and controversial style of thought known as 鈥渙rdinary language philosophy鈥, which held that philosophical problems could be solved, or rather 鈥渄issolved鈥, by careful attention to our everyday forms of thought and talk. This period of British philosophy has recently been the topic of several outstanding and accessible books. In this course, we will read one of them, Nikhil Krishnan鈥檚 A Terribly Serious Adventure (2023), together with writings from some of the most talented and ingenious thinkers of the period: Gilbert Ryle, J. L. Austin, A. J. Ayer, R. M. Hare, Elizabeth Anscombe, Iris Murdoch, Peter Strawson, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Bernard Williams.
Learning Outcomes
Assessments
Assessments
A combination of essays, quizzes, and a take-home final exam.