Unit rationale, description and aim

Metaphysics is the study of what there is, its nature and origins. In asking basic questions concerning the nature of reality, metaphysics challenges us to look beyond our everyday assumptions about the world and to understand it in a more abstract manner. In this unit, students will study some of the classic texts in the history of western metaphysics. Through reading key texts by Plato, Aristotle, and Lucretius, they will survey major ideas in ancient and Hellenistic metaphysics, such as the relationship of matter and form, the possibility of change and the nature of the soul. The works of early modern philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley and Hume will focus students on how later thought builds upon, and questions, key aspects of the ancient and medieval traditions of metaphysics in relation to questions such as the existence of God, human freedom, the connection between mind and world, and the nature of properties, causation and time and space. The unit aims to facilitate understanding of key questions and theories in western metaphysics and to enhance skills in textual and conceptual analysis.

2026 10

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  • Term Mode
  • Semester 2Campus Attendance

Prerequisites

Nil

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Describe some of the central problems in western m...

Learning Outcome 01

Describe some of the central problems in western metaphysics and major positions and theories taken in response by some key philosophers in the tradition
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC11, GC12

Explain using clear English prose, coherent and co...

Learning Outcome 02

Explain using clear English prose, coherent and consistent arguments for different positions on some of the central issues in metaphysics
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC7, GC11, GC12

Analyse debates in the history of western metaphys...

Learning Outcome 03

Analyse debates in the history of western metaphysics
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC7

Apply philosophical research skills, such as argum...

Learning Outcome 04

Apply philosophical research skills, such as argument analysis and conceptual analysis
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC3, GC7, GC9, GC11

Content

Topics will include:  

  • The nature and possibility of metaphysics
  • The nature of being (substance and accident; matter and form; essence and existence; potency, actuality and teleology)
  • Necessity, contingency and the existence of God
  • The problem of free will
  • The nature of the mind
  • Space and time
  • Causation and laws of nature
  • The theory of properties

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment strategy for this unit is designed to enable students to demonstrate their understanding of the key ideas and theories covered in the unit (LO1) through analysis of the key texts (LO3). Assessments require clear oral and written communication (LO2) and development of philosophical research skills (LO4) in order to assist the student to achieve the unit learning objectives.

The first task requires students to identify, explain and discuss a key idea from an early set text in the unit, and to present it orally to the group (supported by a written text of their own). This task is designed to help develop analytical skills in an oral communication context.. The second task requires students to compare and contrast at least two different philosophers’ approaches to one of the metaphysical issues discussed in the unit. The third task requires them to delve further and more deeply into the work of one or more thinkers explored in the unit, supported by relevant secondary literature chosen on the basis of their own research. In this way, they are required to produce a more developed interpretation of their own concerning the metaphysical matters at issue.

Overview of assessments

Assessment 1: Textual analysis by Oral Presentati...

Assessment 1: Textual analysis by Oral Presentation (supported by written elaboration)

Requires students to identify, explain and discuss one key idea in the history of western metaphysics, as it is developed in one of the early assigned texts in the unit.

Weighting

20%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC7, GC11, GC12

Assessment 2: Comparative written analysis task&n...

Assessment 2: Comparative written analysis task  

Requires students to identify, explain and discuss one key theme that is differently developed in two of the assigned texts in the history of western metaphysics in the unit.

Weighting

30%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2, LO4
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC3, GC7, GC9, GC11, GC12

Assessment 3: Research Essay  Requires stud...

Assessment 3: Research Essay 

Requires students to analyse and interpret an important debate in western metaphysics, with reference to at least two of the key thinkers whose work was examined in the unit.

Weighting

50%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC3, GC7, GC9, GC11, GC12

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Classes are run in attendance mode for seminar/ tutorial groups of ten students. The focus of these seminars will be on engagement with the texts themselves, aligning with the nature of the degree program as essentially a ‘great books’ course. On the basis of prior reading of the set text for each week, classes take the form of guided encounters with the key ideas presented, through the facilitation of questioning, debate, shared analysis and evaluative dialogue.   

It is through the broadly ‘Socratic’ approach to thinking and discussion in these sessions, that students will be enabled to identify and explain key ideas raised in the seminal texts studied; they will learn to analyse the philosophical theories enacted in these texts; and they will also learn skills in developing coherent and consistent positions of their own in response to these texts. Such positions will take into account implications for contemporary thought and practices. In this way, skills in textual analysis, and clear verbal and written expression will be modelled and developed, skills that are of great demand in the professional workplace.

Representative texts and references

Representative texts and references

Bosley, Richard N. and Tweedale, Martin. Basic Issues in Medieval Philosophy, 2nd edn. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2006.

Aristotle. The Complete Works of Aristotle, 2 vols, ed. Johathan Barnes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.

Armstrong, D. M. Universals: An Opinionated Introduction. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1989.

Berkeley, George. A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, ed. Kenneth Winkler. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1982.

Elisabeth of Bohemia and Descartes, René. The Correspondence between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and René Descartes, ed. Lisa Shapiro. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Hume, David. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, ed. Peter Millican. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Leibniz, G. W. and Clarke, Samuel. The Leibniz–Clarke Correspondence, ed. H. G. Alexander. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1965.

Locke, John. An Essay concerning Human Understanding, ed. Peter H. Nidditch. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things, ed. M. F. Smith. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2001.

Plato. The Complete Works of Plato, ed. John M. Cooper. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1997.

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