Unit rationale, description and aim

If metaphysics is the study of reality, epistemology is the study of how we can know about reality, of how the human mind is able to access itself, acquire knowledge of the world and grasp the truth. In this unit, students will read some of the classic western texts relating to the nature, scope and limits of knowledge. They will study seminal ancient and Hellenistic works in the field by thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle and Sextus Empiricus, concerning the nature of knowledge, how it differs from belief and the problem of scepticism. Students will also encounter key early modern works by philosophers such as Locke, Hume, Reid and Kant on the criteria for certain knowledge, the relative contributions of reason and sense perception to the acquisition of knowledge, the role of testimony and the implications for the nature and methods of the natural sciences. Students will also examine some major twentieth-century works by philosophers such as Russell and Chomsky, concerning the questions of types of knowledge and innatism. Through their analysis of such texts, students will be encouraged to develop skills in argument analysis and conceptual analysis.

2026 10

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  • Term Mode
  • Semester 1Campus Attendance

Prerequisites

WPHI101 Thinking the Real: Western Metaphysics

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.

Use clear oral and written English expression purp...

Learning Outcome 01

Use clear oral and written English expression purposefully to develop coherent and consistent positions in relation to some of the central problems western epistemology
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC9, GC11, GC12

Use clear English expression purposefully to devel...

Learning Outcome 02

Use clear English expression purposefully to develop coherent and consistent positions in relation to western epistemology
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC7, GC11, GC12

Critically analyse selected debates in the history...

Learning Outcome 03

Critically analyse selected debates in the history of western epistemology
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC7, GC9

Apply skills in philosophical research such as arg...

Learning Outcome 04

Apply skills in philosophical research such as argument analysis and conceptual analysis
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC3, GC7, GC11

Content

Topics will include: 

  • The nature and scope of knowledge
  • The sources and foundations of knowledge
  • Scepticism
  • Reason and rationality
  • Testimony, myth and analogical reasoning
  • Innate knowledge
  • Theories of perception
  • Theories of truth
  • Self-knowledge
  • Religious knowledge

Assessment strategy and rationale

This unit continues the strong emphasis on textual analysis of seminal works in western philosophy. The assessment strategy is designed to require students to demonstrate their understanding of the key epistemological ideas and theories covered in the unit (LO1) through critical analysis of the set texts and the crafting of well-developed positions on them (LO3). Such analysis will be modelled and enriched by the style of discussions in the seminars. The focus on oral and written communication (LO2) and development of research skills (LO4) is also designed to assist the student in achieving the unit learning objectives.

The assessment tasks are designed to develop critical analytical skills, including comparative analysis, argument analysis and conceptual analysis. Students are first required to give an oral presentation on one problem in the theory of knowledge and to write this up as a short, written assignment. The two research essay tasks require students to delve more deeply into the work of the philosophical problems studied in the unit, using comparative methods and developing skills of philosophical prose writing.

Overview of assessments

Assessment 1: Oral and written analysis task Req...

Assessment 1: Oral and written analysis task

Requires students to give an oral presentation, which is subsequently written up as a short, written assignment, on a key epistemological problem and up to two responses to it that are discussed in one or more of the early assigned texts in the unit.

Weighting

20%

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

Assessment 2: Short Essay Requires students to i...

Assessment 2: Short Essay

Requires students to identify and critically examine in a short essay a key epistemological theme or problem that is developed in at least one of the early modern texts discussed in the unit.  

Weighting

30%

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

Assessment 3: Comparative Research Essay Require...

Assessment 3: Comparative Research Essay

Requires students to write a long essay analysing an important debate in western epistemology, one not addressed in previous assessment tasks, with reference to at least two of the key thinkers whose writings are 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 an attendance mode for seminar groups of up to ten students. The focus of these seminars will be on critical engagement with the texts themselves, as well as leading secondary literature concerning those texts. On the basis of prior reading of the set texts for each week, classes use the Socratic method, taking the form of guided analyses of the key ideas presented, through questioning, debate, shared analysis and evaluative dialogue.

It is through this broadly Socratic approach to thinking and discussion in these seminars that students will be enabled to identify and interpret key ideas raised in the seminal texts studied. They will learn to critically analyse the philosophical theories presented in these texts, and they will also learn skills in articulating responses of their own to these texts. Such positions will take into account ideas encountered in other units of study (e.g., within western metaphysics and ethics) as well as implications for contemporary thought and culture. In this way, skills in textual analysis and comparison, and philosophical analysis will be further developed, skills that are in great demand in the professional workplace.

Representative texts and references

Representative texts and references

Aristotle. Posterior Analytics, 2nd edn, ed. Johathan Barnes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Chomsky, Noam. Cartesian Linguistics, 3rd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

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

Kant, Immanuel. The Critique of Pure Reason, ed. Werner S. Pluhar. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1996.

Locke, John. An Essay concerning Human Understanding, ed. Peter H. Nidditch. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975.

Montaigne, Michel de. The Complete Essays. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993.

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

Reid, Thomas. Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, eds Derek R. Brookes and Knud Haakonssen. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002.

Russell, Bertrand. The Problems of Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Sextus Empiricus. Outlines of Scepticism, eds Julia Annas and Jonathan Barnes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

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