Units timetabled for 2013 and 2014 are provisional only, and details of semester and time will change. The official timetable for each year is released on 1 September of the prior year.

Archived unit descriptions for 2011 are available here.

The Modern Self as Subject: From Descartes to Kant

Unit Code: 
AP370
RTI: 
United Faculty of Theology
Unit Value: 
15 points

Can my experience of myself be trusted as what is finally real? Or is this experience just another obstacle to knowing things as they are? This unit explores the modern project, beginning with Descartes, and continuing through Hume and Kant, to place the knowing self at the centre of existence.

Learning Outcomes: 

Upon successful completion of this unit, it is expected that students will be able to:

  1. discuss the issues attending Aristotle’s origination of the term “subject”
  2. explain, and debate the significance of, the developments St. Thomas Aquinas brings to Aristotle’s idea of “being”
  3. explain why Descartes abandons the Aristotelian/Medieval view of the subject; debate the validity of the criteria Descartes employs in his quest for reliable knowledge.
  4. explain and critique the process by which Descartes attempts to confirm the existence of the (thinking) self
  5. critically assess the ways in which Hume, more radically still than Descartes, attempts to challenge key assumptions of the Aristotelian tradition, including the claim for an immaterial soul, and the reality of self-perception
  6. explain and assess the ways in which Kant’s description of the “I” of thought takes into account Hume’s objections to, e.g., Descartes
  7. discuss why, how, and how successfully Kant seeks to demonstrate that his reasoning subject has genuine freedom
  8. discuss how Kant’s description of the human faculty of judgement attempts to show how the “natural” subject and the “free” subject are reconciled
Lecturer/s: 
John Martis
Timetabling
Semester: 
Semester 1
Day: 
Tuesday
Time: 
10 - 1
Location: 
Centre for Theology and Ministry
Unit Frequency: 
Biennial
Years Offered: 
2010
Years Offered: 
2012
Years Offered: 
2014
Unit Fields
Courses: 
Graduate Diploma in Theology
Courses: 
Master of Divinity
Courses: 
Master of Theological Studies
Field: 
Field A Humanities
Disciplines: 
Philosophy
MDiv Field: 
Christian Thought and History
Department Name: 
Department of Philosophy
Unit Level
GradDip Field: 
Elective
MDiv Type of Study: 
Specialised
Prerequisites: 

30 points of Foundational study in Theology and Church History

Mode of Teaching: 
Semester
Teaching Methods: 

3 hours of lectures and tutorials weekly for 12 weeks

Workload
Number of timetabled hours per week: 
3
Expected personal study hours per week: 
9
Total workload hours per week: 
12
Total workload hours for unit: 
144
Assessment
Assessment TypeWeightingLearning Outcomes Assessed
Assessment Type: 

1 x 3000 word essay

Weighting: 
50%
Assessment Type: 

1 x 3000 word essay

Weighting: 
50%
Recommended reading: 

* = set texts recommended for purchase

  • Ayer, A.J. Hume. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.
  • Bunnin, N. and E.P. Tsui-James. The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.
  • Melchert, Norman. The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy. 3rd ed. Mountain View: Mayfield, 1999.
  • Robinson, David, and C. Garratt. Introducing Descartes. Cambridge: Icon Books, 1999.
  • *Schacht, R. Classical Modern Philosophers: Descartes to Kant. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984.
  • Want, Christopher and Andrzej Klimowski. Introducing Kant. Cambridge: Icon Books, 1999.

© United Faculty of Theology, 2008-2012.