Department of Philosophy
The University of Hong Kong
2002-2003
Contents
6. Introductory Logic courses. 10
7. Second and third level
courses for 2002/200310
9. Special joint major
programmes19
Major in politics and philosophy. 19
Major in linguistics and philosophy. 23
12. Staff-student consultative
committee (SSCC)26
13. Teachers in the department 27
Choices in Philosophy
·
If you are new to philosophy, our four general
first-level courses all aim to give you an introduction, and to get you
thinking for yourselves. They do not require any previous background in
philosophy. All these courses are available to students in different faculties.
http://www.hku.hk/philodep/intro
- You acquire skills valued by most employers, like the ability to
analyse and solve problems, to communicate, to organize ideas and issues, to
assess pros and cons. These skills are important not just in philosophy but
also in the modern job market.
- Many employers prefer students with broad intellectual experience
and skills. This is particularly true of students who study philosophy in
combination with other subjects. You can take a social science subject (e.g.
politics or psychology) as one of your double majors.
-
The
study of philosophy is useful for at least the following careers: business,
management, public administration, journalism, law, communication, public
relations, teaching and publishing.
Our courses are divided into three levels and four groups. The three
levels correspond to the three years of study for an undergraduate degree. But
it is open to students outside the Arts Faculty to take, for instance, a first
level philosophy course in any year of study (provided that the regulations of
their own degree programme permit it). The four groups are rough indications of
courses related to each other in subject-matter, though not necessarily in
approach. The four general first-level courses correspond to the four groupings
of higher-level courses.
Students wishing to take the second/third level courses should normally
have taken at least one first-level course, except where otherwise indicated,
or with prior approval. Apart from PHIL3810 SENIOR SEMINAR and PHIL3910 SENIOR
THESIS, they are all second or third level courses. Some of these courses are
also available to students of other faculties as “broadening courses”.
Most of these courses consist of 18 lectures in one semester, together
with tutorials.
Of all the second and third level courses listed, twelve to sixteen
will normally be given each year. This means that not every course will be
available in any two-year period. Therefore, student preferences will play a
part in determining which courses are given. Some courses, however, are likely
to be given every year (because of our commitments to curricula outside the
B.A., and for other reasons), and some we prefer to give at least once every
two years to make sure that every student has an opportunity to take them.
Students who major in philosophy must take at least eight courses in
philosophy (i.e. eight second or third level 6 unit courses), and are
recommended to take at least one course from each of the following categories:
·
Group
I : Knowledge and Reality
·
Group
II : Mind and Language
·
Group
III : Moral and Political Philosophy
·
Group
IV : History of Philosophy
Third year majors are
recommended to take the SENIOR SEMINAR (PHIL3810) in their final year,
especially if they are considering further study in philosophy, provided that
their second year grades reach a good level.
You may also double major,
by combining Philosophy equally with any other discipline in the Faculty of
Arts or the Faculty of Social Sciences. This is a favoured and good pattern of
work.
You may also major in a
cross-disciplinary programme in POLITICS AND PHILOSOPHY (see p.19), or in
LINGUISTICS AND PHILOSOPHY (see p.23).
Key : * = offered in 2002/2003; 1
= first semester; 2 = second
semester
PHIL1001 Knowledge of the world:
an introduction to philosophy *1
PHIL1002 The human mind: an
introduction to philosophy *2
PHIL1003 Ethics and politics: an
introduction to philosophy *1
PHIL1004 Chinese and Western
thought: an introduction to philosophy *2
PHIL1005 Critical thinking and
logic *1
PHIL1006 Elementary Logic (3
credits) *1, 2
PHIL2110
Knowledge
PHIL2130 Philosophy of the sciences
PHIL2140 Philosophy of social
science
PHIL2150 Philosophy and biology
PHIL2210 Metaphysics *2
PHIL2370 Aesthetics
PHIL2420 Chinese philosophy:
metaphysics
Group II : Mind and Language
PHIL2070 Pragmatism
PHIL2075 Special topic: The
semantics/pragmatics distinction *2
PHIL2220 The mind *1
PHIL2230 Philosophy and cognitive
science *1
PHIL2460 Philosophical Chinese
PHIL2510 Logic
PHIL2511 Paradoxes *2
PHIL2520 Philosophy of logic *2
PHIL2610 Philosophy of language
PHIL2660 Symbolism
PHIL2080 Marxist philosophy
PHIL2310 Theories of morality
PHIL2340 Moral problems *2
PHIL2350 Philosophy of law
PHIL2355 Special topic: Theories of justice *1
PHIL2360 Political Philosophy *2
PHIL2368 Special topic: Environmental
philosophy *2
PHIL2370 Aesthetics
PHIL2380 Philosophy and
literature
PHIL2390 Philosophy of religion
PHIL2430 Chinese philosophy:
ethics *1
PHIL2480 Confucianism and the
modern world
PHIL2001 The beginnings of
philosophy
PHIL2002 Early modern philosophy
PHIL2010 Plato
PHIL2011 Aristotle *1
PHIL2020 Descartes
PHIL2025 Hume
PHIL2030 Kant's critical
philosophy
PHIL2035 Philosophy of the
Enlightenment *2
PHIL2040 Nietzsche
PHIL2060 Wittgenstein *1
PHIL2077 Habermas
PHIL2383 Modernity and Postmodernity
PHIL2440 Confucius
PHIL2442 Mencius
PHIL2450 Zhuangzi
PHIL2650 Special topic: James and
Dewey: some problems
of philosophy *1
PHIL3810 Senior seminar *2
PHIL3910 Senior thesis (double course, 12 credit units) *
(only students majoring in philosophy may offer a thesis)
In addition to the above courses, the Department also offers the
following broadening courses:
YPHI0004 Paradoxes and puzzles (3
credits) *1
YPHI0002 Culture, value, and
the meaning of life (3 credits) *2
There are four general
introductory courses in philosophy with different themes, each earning six
credits :
·
PHIL1001
Knowledge of the world: an introduction to philosophy
·
PHIL1002
The human mind: an introduction to philosophy
·
PHIL1003
Ethics and politics: an introduction to philosophy
·
PHIL1004
Chinese and Western thought: an introduction to philosophy
All these courses are
available to Arts, Science, and Social Sciences students, and students of any
other Faculties whose regulations allow them to enroll. There are no prerequisites. Method of
assessment for all four courses will be 100% coursework, which may include
in-class tests.
Note: For PHIL1001 and
PHIL1004, Arts students may opt to use them to fulfil the information
technology requirement specified in Regulation UG3, and thereby earn an extra
three credit units. Those taking this option should also
register for PHIL1007 USING
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN PHILOSOPHY (though this is not a separate
course).
All first year students are
encouraged to learn some logic, for example by taking the three-unit ELEMENTARY
LOGIC course.
Lecturer : Dr James
Human beings have always attempted to understand and control the world
they live in by asking questions, and seeking effective answers, about that
world. These attempts have taken many forms, but philosophy has always been a
central part of this process of explanation and the progress of knowledge. The
questions of what we can know, how we can know, and how we can use what we
know, are prime examples of philosophical questions that have come down to us
in a long history of inquiry -- philosophy is a part of the natural and
practical curiosity of mankind.
Lecturer : Dr Lau
This
course is an introduction to philosophical issues about the mind. These include
metaphysical questions about what minds are, whether the mind is something
non-physical or whether it is some kind of a computer. Then there are the
epistemological questions about the limitation of human knowledge, such as
whether we can really know what other people's experiences are like, or whether
there is a God.
PHIL1003 Ethics and
politics: an introduction to philosophy
Lecturer : Dr O’Leary
One of the founders of Western
philosophy, Socrates, claimed that the most important philosophical question is
“How is one to live?” How are we to
live in our relations with others as individuals (ethics)? And how are we to live together as
communities and societies (politics)?
This course will introduce some of the ways that key philosophers in the
Western tradition have answered questions such as: Is there any reason why we
should avoid exploiting our fellow human beings? Why should we keep our promises? Can we expect virtue to make us
happy? What is the best way to organise the
societies we live in? Why is government necessary? These and other questions
will be explored by reading some key texts from the history of philosophy and
by viewing clips from some key movies of recent years.
Lecturer : Professor Hansen
This course introduces
philosophical thought from both the Chinese and Western traditions. We will
discuss six philosophers from major movements in the history of philosophy:
Plato (Ancient Greece), Mencius (Classical Confucianism), Zhuangzi (Classical
Daoism), Nietzsche (Existentialism), Zen (Chan Buddhism), and John Dewey
(American Pragmatism).
A set of ten possible
examination questions will be delivered in advance of examinations.
These courses are available to first year Arts Faculty students, and to
first, second and third year students from all other faculties.
Lecturer : Dr Lau
Critical thinking is a matter of thinking clearly and rationally. It is
important for solving problems, effective planning, and expressing ideas
clearly and systematically. We shall study the basic principles of critical
thinking, and see show how they can be applied in everyday life.
Students who have enrolled in the broadening course YEDU0001 CRITICAL
THINKING FOR EVERYDAY LIFE are not allowed to take this course.
Assessment: 60% coursework, 40% final exam
PHIL1006 Elementary Logic (offered in both first and second semesters)
Course co-ordinator : Dr Lau
Formal logic uses special symbolic notations to study reasoning and arguments systematically. This is a web-based self-study course on basic formal logic, in particular, sentential logic. Although there are no lectures, there are optional tutorial sessions for students to ask questions. Registered students should visit the philosophy department at the beginning of the semester to obtain a course handout.
Credit units : 3
Assessment: 60% coursework, 40% final exam
Not available to students who have taken PHIL 2510 Logic
Courses listed under Group I to Group IV below are also offered to
second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.
Unless otherwise indicated, all second- and third-level courses are
assessed by 100% coursework, which may include in-class tests.
Each second/third-level course carries 6 credits, except for PHIL3910
SENIOR THESIS which earns 12 credits.
PHIL2210 Metaphysics (second
semester)
Lecturer : Dr Ci
This course covers both the nature of reality and
the nature of knowledge of it and treats the two questions as intrinsically
connected. We shall examine a number of important theories of metaphysics, as
well as anti-metaphysics, including those of Plato, Descartes, Hume, Kant,
Nietzsche, Heidegger, and contemporary philosophers such as Habermas, Rorty and
Putnam. We will treat these theories not only as representing different views
on metaphysics but also as forming a logical order of development.
Lecturer : Dr Deutsch
One of
the central issues in contemporary philosophy of language and linguistics
concerns whether and where one should draw the line between semantic meaning
and pragmatic meaning, or the meanings had by the words and sentences a speaker
uses, and what a speaker means in using those words and sentences. One reason
the issue is central is that there are debates over the semantic meanings of
certain expressions, e.g. names and definite descriptions. Without a general
account of the difference between semantic and pragmatic meaning, these debates
cannot be settled. Another reason the issue is central is that there are some
who, in a roughly Wittgensteinian manner, deny that there is any real sense to
be made of the notion of semantic, or literal, meaning. According to them,
there is, therefore, no line between pragmatic and semantic meaning at all. In
this course we will try to determine whether the distinction can be drawn, and,
if so, where.
Lecturer : Dr Deutsch & Dr Mallon
This course will focus on some central issues in the philosophy of mind, issues which arise when we think of the relations between mind and the world. Among the issues to be discussed in the course are the following: What does having a mind enable us to do? Do non-human animals have minds? What is the relationship between mind and rationality?
<SPAN
lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size:
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Lecturer : Dr Mallon<SPAN
lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt">Dr
Although our sciences have
given us a lot of knowledge about the universe and the world we are in, the
nature of our own mind remains an area about which we know very little. Cognitive science is the science of the mind
and it is an exciting area which has undergone tremendous development in recent
years. By building computational models
and studying the neurobiology of the brain, cognitive scientists help us better
understand how the mind works. But some people argue that certain mental
phenomena, such as thinking and consciousness, can never be explained using
scientific methods. Others argue that
it is a matter of time before we can build robots and computers that think and
behave as we do. In this course we shall
discuss these and other related philosophical debates.
This is a compulsory course
for Cognitive Science students, but it is also suitable for all other students
who are interested in finding out how the mind works.
There are no
prerequisites for this course.
PHIL2511 <SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt">Paradoxes<o:p></o:p></SPAN>
<SPAN
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Lecturer : <SPAN
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<SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial;
mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN><SPAN
lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size:
12.0pt">Paradoxes are arguments which proceed from highly plausible
assumptions, through highly plausible and usually simple steps to highly
implausible conclusions. Some examples: Zeno's paradoxes of motion,
Kant's antinomies, the Liar and the paradox of the surprise examination.
What such paradoxes show is that there is something deeply wrong with some of
our most fundamental ways of thinking. We shall attempt to find solutions
to certain of these paradoxes.<o:p></o:p></SPAN>
The prerequisite for this course is
PHIL1006
PHIL2520 : Philosophy of
logic (second semester)
Lecturers : Dr Deutsch, Professor Goldstein and Dr Lau
When
thinking about inference, a number of concepts come to our attention, such as truth, logical constants, propositions,
necessity, consequence, logical form.
Various questions with which the course deals include: ‘What is the
relation of Logic to reasoning?’; ‘What does the existence of paradoxes tell us
about our accepted logical principles?’; ‘What is the best way to represent
arguments in ordinary language if we wish to study the validity of such
arguments?’; ‘Are there types of discourse which are by nature fuzzy, demanding
a fuzzy logic for their representation?’; ‘Must logic fit empirical facts, or
is it a 'pure' discipline?’ The prerequisite for this course is
PHIL1006
PHIL2340 Moral
problems (second semester)
Lecturer : Dr Martin
Many practical problems give rise to moral
controversies. Among the questions to
be considered in this course are ‘Should one person treat all others equally?’;
‘Is abortion a type of killing, and is it acceptable?’; ‘Should certain types
of pornography be banned?’; ‘Does love require fidelity?’; ‘Can capital
punishment be justified?’; ‘Is it right to take affirmative action in favour of
groups who have been discriminated against in the past?’; ‘Should old people be
helped to die, if that is what they wish?’.
These are all ‘large-scale’ questions, but we shall also be discussing
less grand, but no less important moral dilemmas that we each confront from
time to time.
This course will address
fundamental questions in political philosophy concerning the nature of power
and freedom; and the complex relations between the two – at both a
philosophical and a political level. It will use work by Michel Foucault on the
nature of power and ‘governmentality’ to suggest a genealogical critique of
liberalism and neo-liberalism. The central question to be addressed in the
course will be: to what extent is freedom an invention of the modern liberal
arts of government? The course comprises lectures, tutorials, readings and
occasional screenings of clips from recent (and not so recent) movies.
In this course we will develop an understanding of historically and
philosophically significant approaches to the environment such as anthropocentrism
(advocated by mainstream environmentalism) and biocentrism (advocated by
deep ecology). We will read authors
both from the history of philosophy (Bacon, Descartes and Locke) as well as
modern philosophers. We will look at
the implications of these philosophies in such concrete cases as land
preservation, pollution management and animal rights. These cases will include examples from recent environmental
controversies in Hong Kong.
Lecturer : Dr Martin
An introduction to comparative moral philosophy, with readings drawn
from the classical Chinese tradition as well as from modern, analytical
sources. Figures to be taken up include Confucius, Mencius, Mo Tzu and
Han Fei Tzu. Attention will be given to the historical development of
Chinese moral thinking through these key representatives. Questions to be
taken up include the question of whether traditional Chinese thought can have
relevance to us in the modern world and how our beliefs about human nature may
shape our beliefs about what is moral or immoral.
Group IV : History of philosophy
PHIL2011 Aristotle (first
semester)
Lecturer : Dr Cook
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle researched
virtually every aspect of human knowledge available at the time, producing a
body of work that influences philosophy and many other fields down to the
present. This course will look at some of his writings in the physical
sciences and in human affairs, examining the interconnection of these areas of
inquiry.<o:p></o:p></SPAN>
<SPAN
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There are no
prerequisites for this course.<o:p></o:p></SPAN>
PHIL2035 Philosophy of the enlightenment (second
semester)
Lecturers : Dr Cook and Dr
James
The eighteenth-century European philosophical movement
known as 'The Enlightenment' called all previous philosophy into question,
destabilizing conventional views of humanity, nature, society and the
cosmos; the Enlightenment influences philosophy to this day. This
course examines important eighteenth-century European thinkers such
as Francis Bacon, Bernard Mandeville, Denis Diderot, Jean le Rond D'Alembert,
Julien Offrray de La Mettrie, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant
from a historical as well as philosophical perspective.
PHIL2060 Wittgenstein (first
semester)
Lecturer : Professor Goldstein
Wittgenstein
said that his aim in philosophy was ‘to show the fly the way out of the fly
bottle’. By this he meant that certain
preconceptions, oversimplifications and poor analogies had led philosophers to
construct misguided theories about such things as sensation, meaning,
understanding and the nature of language, and that it was his task not to
construct alternative theories but to point out the ways in which the theorists
(including his earlier self) had become entrapped. This programme may appear modest, but Wittgenstein's approach has
had far-reaching consequences and his work has received more discussion than
that of any other twentieth century philosopher and has influenced philosophy
and many other disciplines.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN>
PHIL2650 Special topic:
James and Dewey: some problems of philosophy (first semester)
Lecturer : Dr James
For non-philosophical reasons,
William James quickly became best known for his popular lectures on Pragmatism
rather than his central works on psychology and on the philosophical
implications of both psychology and evolutionary biology. James himself saw
this coming and greatly regretted it, so towards the very end of his life he
wrote a further popular book Some Problems of Philosophy in which he
described the larger vision of which pragmatism was a mere part. The book is
written at an introductory level and, despite the authority and insights of the
philosophy it contains, it is quite easy and entertaining reading. Throughout Some
Problems of Philosophy James makes connections to the philosophy of his
friend and colleague John Dewey. In this course, through a series of informal
lectures/reading sessions (a full Reading Guide for the text will be provided
for all students) we will explore both this fascinating book and those equally
interesting connections.
PHIL3810 Senior seminar (second semester)
Lecturers : Dr. O’Leary and Dr Cook
The Senior Seminar provides
an opportunity for third year students who have shown philosophical talent, as
well as for first year postgraduate students, to pursue selected topics through
intensive discussion. The choice of
texts or topics, the assessment method, and the overall theme, if any, will be
determined at the beginning of the course in light of the interests of the
participants. Enrolment restricted
(normally by invitation).
Assessment: 100% coursework
A thesis may be prepared
under supervision for submission not later than March 31 of the final
year. Notice of intention to offer a
thesis must be given before June 15 of the second year, and this intention will
be confirmed or modified on the supervisor's advice by the end of the first
week of the first semester of the final year, after the candidate has had the
opportunity to do and submit preliminary work over the summer vacation. The
thesis will earn twelve credits. Only students majoring in philosophy may offer
a thesis.
Assessment will be based entirely on the completed thesis.
The following two courses qualify as university broadening courses and
are open to all students in any Faculty except the Arts Faculty.
Course co-ordinator : Dr O’Leary
Human
life has value. Why? What is value? Do values come from nature? From biology? Or from history? We
transmit cultures, histories, and social practices. What makes such cultural transmission possible? If we have different cultures, do our lives
have different values? Do cultures
create our values? Why do we value
art? Why is death bad? These are some of the questions we might
explore in this course. Topics may
range from: Zen to evolution and sociobiology.
Credit units: 3
Assessment: Take-home examination (50%), portfolio (20%), attendance (10%),
participation (10%), project (10%)
Course co-ordinator : Professor Goldstein
A paradox is a piece of
reasoning that leads from a statement that is apparently true to a conclusion
that is apparently crazy, yet each step of the reasoning seems perfectly
good. For example (a very old example),
start with the statement that every statement is either true or false. Now consider the statement ‘This statement
is false’. We can easily reason that,
if this statement is true, it must be false.
Equally, we can reason that, if it is false, it must be true!! These paradoxes are not like the
‘brain-twisters’. They are not easy to
solve, and, by thinking about them, we can learn some very fundamental lessons
about how we think and reason.
Typically, a session will
begin with the lecturer describing a paradox, after which students will get
into groups to try and work out solutions.
Then we shall all come together, and the various proposals will be
discussed. The emphasis will be on
coming up with good, original ideas, brain-storming and presenting thoughts in
a clear, logical way.
Credit units: 3
Assessment: Portfolio (50%), presentation (50%)
Bachelor of Social Sciences
and Bachelor of Arts
This programme aims at
providing a structured course of study in politics and philosophy with a
special emphasis on political philosophy. This is an option in the B.Soc.Sc and
B.A. degree curricula which has been on offer since September 1993. The
programme is jointly offered by the Department of Politics and Public
Administration and Department of Philosophy. The teaching of the programme will
also be undertaken by lecturers from the two departments. If you want to know more about this
programme, you may contact either of the following, who will be happy to answer
your questions:
Dr Timothy O’Leary
Department of Philosophy
Dr Joseph Chan
Department of Politics and Public Administration
This programme provides a unique opportunity for academic dialogue and
cross-fertilization between the two disciplines. Politics and Philosophy may be distinct disciplines, but they
have some areas in common. Political science aims to offer empirical
descriptions and explanations of politics. But it is not entirely descriptive.
Politics is concerned with the problems of living together, and it necessarily
raises moral issues. Philosophers have long raised fundamental questions about
justice, democracy, the relation between law and morality, and so on.
Philosophy thus serves students of politics by equipping them with conceptual
resources and theories of ethics. Political science in turn serves students of
philosophy by providing them with concrete understanding of the empirical and
political context of morality.
This programme is intellectually challenging and rewarding. This programme covers some
of the most fundamental and challenging issues and theories in the humanities
and social sciences, including : the nature of knowledge, theories of morality,
human rights, social justice, law and morality. More important, the primary aim
is not only to impart information to you, but also to help you learn how to
think and argue effectively about philosophical, moral and political issues.
This joint study of politics and philosophy has at special relevance at
a time of rapid political change in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is in a state of
flux. The 1997 issue has had enormous impact on our political system, economy,
and way of life. The challenges confronting us are tremendous, and the
responsibilities bestowed on our leaders formidable.
As future leaders of the
society, university students should be given the opportunity to equip
themselves to face up to the tasks that lie ahead. It is hoped that this
programme will help students develop intellectual capacities that are essential
to fulfill these tasks : critical and analytical capabilities as well as the
knowledge and technique to understand and evaluate social and political issues
in the contemporary world and especially in Hong Kong.
What are the career
prospects for students graduating from this programme?
This programme follows the
best tradition of Liberal Arts education. It aims to attract students who share
the belief that the university is primarily a place of learning. The programme
aims at developing a number of capacities, including :
-
the
ability to think independently and critically
-
the
ability not to be deceived by fallacies in argument
-
the
ability to read attentively and speak and write lucidly
-
the
ability to be careful, accurate, and determined
Although the programme does
not aim primarily at vocational training, the personal and intellectual
qualities it seeks to foster and promote are very much valued in a great
variety of fields. In fact our past students in politics and philosophy have
worked successfully in the business sector, in journalism and the media, in the
voluntary sector, in the academic field, and especially in government.
Who can enrol in this
programme?
This programme is open to all Arts and Social Sciences students who
have completed the following first-year courses :
1.
POLI1002
Fundamentals of public administration OR POLI1003 Making sense of
politics, and
2.
Any
one course from PHIL1001 to PHIL1004.
The number of places on this
programme will be limited to thirty.
The programme comprises
eight mandatory courses as follows:
(i)
Politics
and Public Administration: 4 courses
from
POLI0029 Political theory
POLI0010 Democracy and its critics
POLI0005 Capitalism and
social justice
POLI0051 Issues in Chinese
Political Philosophy
(ii)
Philosophy: 4 courses. At least one of:
PHIL2001 The beginnings of philosophy
PHIL2002 Early modern
philosophy
PHIL2383 Modernity and
Postmodernity
one of:
PHIL2350 Philosophy of law
PHIL2080 Marxist philosophy
PHIL2360 Political
philosophy
one of:
PHIL2340 Moral problems
PHIL2310 Theories of
morality
PHIL2430 Chinese philosophy:
ethics
and another course in
philosophy not listed above.
You may choose the remaining eight courses in any department, subject
to Faculty regulations. In the interest of providing a coherent programme,
however, you are strongly advised to select at least four electives from the
following courses:
Department of Politics and
Public Administration Politics:
POLI0006 China and Hong Kong
: the politics of transition
POLI0020 Hong Kong politics
POLI0021 Understanding
global issues
POLI0022 Governing China
Department of Philosophy :
PHIL2140 Philosophy of Social Science
PHIL2210 Metaphysics
PHIL2230 Philosophy and
cognitive science
PHIL2390 Philosophy of
religion
(Note that these Philosophy
courses are not offered every year.)
Enrolment in this programme
simply involves your signing up for the eight compulsory courses listed above.
You should:
1.
enrol
by registering with the Politics and Public Administration Department and the
Philosophy Department, and
2.
sign
up for four compulsory courses, preferably two from each Department in the
first instance.
If you wish to opt out of
the programme at any stage in your second and third years, you will be
permitted to do so provided that you satisfy the faculty requirements for
switching among courses.
Upon satisfactory completion of all requirements of the programme,
students registered in the Social Sciences Faculty will be awarded a Bachelor
of Social Sciences, and those in the Arts Faculty will be awarded a Bachelor of
Arts. The title of the programme “Major in Politics and Philosophy” will be
formally recorded in the transcripts.
This programme is jointly organised by the Department of Linguistics
and the Department of Philosophy. If you need any further information you may
contact either of the following members of staff who will be happy to answer
your questions:
Dr. Joe Lau
Department of Philosophy
Dr. K.K. Luke
Department of Linguistics
Philosophers have long been interested in languages for various
reasons. First, our linguistic capacity
is one of our most distinguishing features.
It allows us to express and record complex ideas, and to communicate
with each other. Understanding this
capacity is one way to find out more about human nature and our psychology.
Second, many philosophers
think that language has a deep connection with many philosophical
problems. Some philosophers think that
we should study languages because they reflect the structure of reality. Others think that our ordinary languages are
actually not precise enough and that artificial languages should be constructed
for philosophical and scientific purposes.
Still others think that philosophical problems are not real problems,
and that they arise because we misunderstand the nature of our own languages.
Finally, many philosophers
are interested in language simply because it is in itself a fascinating
topic. This is especially more so with
the recent growth of linguistics. Linguistics
is the scientific study of our language capacity. The development of linguistics is exciting because it offers new
perspectives and methods in looking at many philosophical questions about
language, questions such as: How are the rules of language different from other
social norms? To what extent is our
language capacity innate? Is it
possible to build machines that understand languages as well as we do? These and similar issues involve not just
empirical studies but also conceptual clarification. This is why philosophers and linguists collaborate and debate
with each other actively on such matters, and this makes the field even more
interesting.
Studying philosophy improves critical thinking and analysis, since you
will have to think systematically about both sides of an issue, and evaluate
arguments and reasoning carefully. In
studying linguistics, students will learn more about the role of language in
our psychology and society, and acquire concepts that help them gain a deeper
understanding of the grammar, history and sound system of natural
languages. By majoring in these two
areas, students not just gain the benefits of studying both disciplines. It
also helps develop the ability to integrate theories and information from two
different subjects. The intellectual
and linguistic skills you acquire as a result will be very important for a wide
variety of occupations, both in the private commercial sector and in the public
sector.
Who can enrol in this
Programme?
This programme is open to
all Arts students who have passed the following first-year courses:
1
LING1001
Introduction to Linguistics
2
Any
introductory philosophy course from PHIL1001 to PHIL1004.
In order to major in
Linguistics and Philosophy, a student must study in the second and third year
no less than eight courses in the two departments, including:
Linguistics:
LING2003 Semantics : meaning and grammar
LING2028 Syntactic
description
LING2027 Phonology
LING2032 Syntactic theory
Philosophy:
PHIL2610 Philosophy of language
PHIL2230 Philosophy and
cognitive science
and any two of:
PHIL2220 The mind
PHIL1005 Critical thinking
and logic
PHIL2380 Philosophy and
literature
PHIL2510 Logic
PHIL2520 Philosophy of logic
PHIL2511 Paradoxes
PHIL2460 Philosophical
Chinese
PHIL2060 Wittgenstein
The remaining eight courses
in a student's second/third year programme may be selected from those offered
by any department, as permitted by the regulations. It should be noted that not
all philosophy courses are offered every year.
Choices are subject to approval by the head of the department.
Plagiarism, especially from the internet, is an increasing
problem in this department and at this University; it is a serious offence
against both the rules and the spirit of the University. Plagiarism is defined as the use of other
people's ideas without correct and full acknowledgement. Your coursework should be your own; you will
learn nothing by copying, either from peers or from websites. Furthermore, copying others’ work is unfair
to your fellow students. We certainly
encourage discussion of ideas among students, but any ideas not your own that
you introduce into your written work must be properly referenced. Please seek guidance about referencing from
your lecturers and tutors. We also have
essay guides on the departmental website authored by Professor Laurence Goldstein,
Dr. Joe Lau and Dr. Alexandra Cook to help you with all aspects of
essay-writing, including proper referencing.
Please consult the Philosophy Study Guides page at the following URL:
http://www.hku.hk/philodep/ugrad/study.htm
The department offers two
higher degrees by research, the MPhil and the PhD, and can arrange for
supervision over a wide range of philosophical topics. If you are interested in
pursuing postgraduate studies, please contact Dr Ci.
This committee meets
regularly to discuss any matters of concern, and to consider ways of improving
the work of the department. All
students are welcome to make suggestions, and to attend the meetings.
The main areas of research
of the current department members are:
·
J.
Ci - theories of justice, philosophical and cultural dimensions of capitalism,
ethics and politics of modern and contemporary China
·
G.A.
Cook - social and political philosophy, continental philosophy, especially of
the 17th and 18th centuries, philosophy of nature and science,
environmental ethics and philosophy
·
M.E.
Deutsch - philosophy of language, philosophy of mind
·
L.
Goldstein - philosophy of logic and language (especially paradoxes), cognitive
science, Wittgenstein
·
C.
Hansen - Chinese philosophy, comparative philosophy, Daoism, Chinese theory of
language, Chinese theory of mind, meta-ethics, philosophy of law
·
E.P.T.
James - William James: physiology, psychology and philosophy; history and
philosophy of science (especially medicine), history and philosophy of
mathematics (especially Hilbert and Brouwer)
·
J.Y.F.
Lau - philosophy of mind and cognitive science, philosophy of language
·
R.J.
Mallon - philosophy of mind, philosophy of social science, social and political
philosophy
·
M.R.
Martin - moral and social philosophy, epistemology and philosophy of language,
history of early modern philosophy, classical Confucianism, comparative
philosophy
·
T.E.
O’Leary - contemporary European philosophy (especially Michel Foucault),
ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of literature.
Jiwei Ci was born in Beijing and studied in Beijing
and Edinburgh. Before coming to Hong Kong, he had taught in Beijing and had
been an Andrew Mellon Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center, a Fellow at the
National Humanities Center in North Carolina, and a Member of the School of
Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He teaches
various subjects in moral and political philosophy, from time to time also
offering courses on continental philosophy and on Confucianism. His research
interests include theories of justice, the philosophical and cultural
dimensions of capitalism, and the ethics and politics of communist and
post-communist China. He is the author, in English, of Dialectic of the Chinese Revolution: From Utopianism to Hedonism
(Stanford University Press, 1994) and, in Chinese, of a study of the moral
psychology of justice entitled Zhengyi de
liangmian (SDX, 2001).
Alexandra Cook was born in
Washington, DC. She studied at
Wellesley College, the University of Virginia and Cornell University. She received the PhD in political
philosophy from Cornell in 1994, where she specialized in Continental
thinkers. She has taught in the College
at The University of Chicago, at Colgate University (Hamilton, NY), and at
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her major interests are early modern philosophy and the European
Enlightenment, environmental philosophy and history and philosophy of
science. Her research on the botanical
writings of the eighteenth-century philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau brings
all these interests together. She has
published a translation and critical edition of Rousseau's botanical writings;
currently she is writing a book on Rousseau’s theory of nature.
Max Deutsch came to Hong
Kong in 2001. He began his graduate
studies in philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. After finishing his M.A., he moved to New
Jersey to begin a dissertation on the mind-body problem at Rutgers University.
He completed his Ph.D. in May 2001.
Max's current research is
focused on the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language. Topics in the philosophy of mind that
interest him include the mind-body problem, the nature of consciousness,
representational theories of phenomenal character, and the
internalism/externalism debate. Topics
in the philosophy of language that interest him include the semantics of names,
the semantics of attitude reports, the semantics/pragmatics distinction, and
theories of indexicals and demonstratives.
Max reads novels and listens
to music in his spare time.
Laurence
Goldstein, B.A. (Liv.); Ph.D. (St. Andrews)
Laurence Goldstein started teaching at the University of Hong Kong in
1976. He has taught at universities in
the U.S.A., Scotland, New Zealand, Germany and South Africa. His main areas of research at present are
the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language. He has just finished a book on Wittgenstein,
and is currently working on a book about paradoxes in which he hopes to finally
solve problems some of which have remained unsolved for over 2000 years. He has also been part of a group of scholars
in Bergen, Norway, transcribing all of Wittgenstein's manuscripts to
CD-ROM. Under Laurence's skilful
captaincy, the staff 5-a-side football team has never lost against the
students, and we plan to keep it that way.
Chad Hansen first came to Hong Kong over thirty years ago where he
became fascinated with Chinese language and culture and set out to understand
and explain Chinese philosophy.
Returning to the United States, he went to University where he majored
in philosophy then went to the University of Michigan to study for a Ph.D. He studied Mandarin in Taiwan for a year
then returned to Hong Kong after a decade for his dissertation research. He finished his dissertation at the
University of Michigan and began teaching philosophy at the University of
Pittsburgh in 1972 where he was enlightened two years later.
From there he went to the
University of Vermont after the publication of Language and Logic in Ancient China. Later he was selected as University scholar for his second book, A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought. He
has also served as visiting professor at The Universities of Michigan, Hawaii,
Hong Kong, UCLA and Stanford before returning to HKU in 1991 where he was
appointed Professor in 1994.
He is presently translating
the Daode-Jing and writing a book on
Comparative East-West Ethics and an introduction to Chinese Philosophy. Besides Chinese philosophy, his main
interests are in comparative ethics, philosophy of law, philosophy of language,
and philosophy of mind. He values the
dynamism of Hong Kong as well as the language and especially the food.
Eric James, B.A. (Kent); B.Phil., D.Phil. (Oxon)
Eric James came to Hong Kong
in 1990. Prior to his arrival he had been a lorry driver, a psychotherapist, a
professional musician, and a lecturer for two years at the University of
Oxford. His initial research was in the
history and philosophy of science and mathematics, but he is now undertaking an
intensive series of studies of William James which involve detailed
investigations of the 19th century medical and physiological background of
James' metaphysics. He is also
interested, in general, in the historical interplay between medicine, physiology
and philosophy since the early modern period.
In his spare time Eric is involved in
small ensemble classical recording, and enjoys practising his digital
post-production techniques. Details of this can be found at www.utilityroomrecords.com
Joe Lau, B.A. (Oxon); Ph.D. (MIT)
Joe Lau left Hong Kong after
Form 5 and spent two wonderful years at Atlantic College in Wales. Having read
too many books by the physicist Paul Davies, he decided to go to Oxford to do
physics and philosophy. But while he was there, he became interested in the
philosophy of mind. So he went to MIT for graduate studies in philosophy. He
finished his Ph.D. four years later and came back to Hong Kong in 1994.
His research interests
include mainly the philosophy of mind and cognitive science, in particular
issues regarding the scope and limits of computational explanations of mental
phenomena such as thinking and consciousness. He is now the director of the HKU
Cognitive Science Centre. When he is not working, he likes to go hiking, watch
movies, disassemble his computer, or conduct cooking experiments.
Ron Mallon studied philosophy at Rutgers
University from 1994-2000. While he
began by focusing primarily on the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of
cognitive science, over his time at Rutgers he grew increasingly interested in
the connections between these areas and questions in the philosophy of social
science, social theory, and social and political philosophy. After completing his dissertation on social
constructionism in 2000, he taught for a year at the University of Utah before
coming to Hong Kong to take up a Research Assistant Professorship.
His
research interests currently include the nature of the social sciences, the
character of social roles, race theory, the philosophical import of intuitions,
and the cognitive architecture of self-deception. When not philosophizing, Ron
enjoys films, hiking, and running, and he spends far too much time playing
chess.
Dr Martin grew up on the relaxed and environmentally pure shores of
Honolulu, Hawaii. After receiving his university and postgraduate training on
the east coast of the United States, he came to HKU in 1980. His main
philosophical interests are moral and social philosophy, and early Chinese
philosophy, especially Confucianism. In his teaching Dr Martin's main courses
include Chinese Philosophy: Ethics, Theories of Morality and Early Modern
Philosophy. From 1993 to 2002, Dr Martin served as the Dean of the Faculty of
Arts, after serving five years as Associate Dean. In his leisure time Dr Martin
enjoys art collecting, travel and swimming.
Timothy O'Leary,
B.A. (Dublin); M.A. (Paris); PhD (Deakin)
Timothy O’Leary left Ireland
in 1989 having completed a BA at University College Dublin, and went to Paris
where he did a Maîtrise de Philosophie
at the University of Paris X. In 1992 he went to Australia, where he completed
a PhD on ethics and aesthetics in Foucault's late work. A book based on this
research will be published in 2002 (Foucault
and the Art of Ethics, Continuum). He taught at several Australian
universities before joining the Department of Philosophy at the University of
Hong Kong in January 2001. His major research interests are in the fields of
ethics and politics, with a particular focus on European philosophy since (and
including) Nietzsche. In recent years he has published in the area of the
philosophy of literature, especially in relation to the works of contemporary
Irish writers. His current research is focused on the ambiguous place of
psychoanalysis in the work of Foucault. He has recently been a Visiting
Research Fellow at the School of Philosophy, University of New South Wales,
Sydney.
·
Chu
Pa Suen, Vivian, MIL; Dip Trans IoL; Executive Officer
·
Lau
Tsui Kwan Tai, Ping; Clerk
·
Tang
Chiu Chee, George; Computer Technician
·
Wan
Li Fung Yi, Loletta; Clerk
To find out more about the department, please visit the department web
site at http://www.hku.hk/philodep. There you will find study
guides and links to other philosophy resources on the web.