THE 2008 SPECIFICATION

AN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY 1

REASON AND EXPERIENCE

Where do our ideas come from? If a baby was kept in a room with no stimulation from the outside world would it be able to develop any ideas at all? Do all of our ideas come after we have experience of the world, or do some of them already exist within us, for example the idea of a perfect circle, which we never encounter in the world. We shall consider responses to these issues from the two great schools of thought, rationalism and empiricism and see that the conclusions have profound implications for our knowledge claims.

THE IDEA OF GOD

From where and how does this idea of God arise? Is it an idea which is so profound that is must have come from a perfect being -God. Is the very idea proof that God exists? Alternatively, is it a product of sociological and/or psychological processes? Are the claims made for the attributes of God philosophically sound? We shall explore all of this and more.

AN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY 2

KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD

Here we shall explore what it is we are experiencing when we claim to experience the real world. We shall examine several theories of perception which attempt to address this and related issues and attempt to explain our experience in terms of a real world of oblects, mere sense data or ideas. The question is is there anything beyond your mind?

GOD AND THE WORLD

Is the existence of the world proof that behind it all is a creator - God? The argument from design suggests that it is. However, the existence of evil in the world, both natural and human made, seems to count against the existence of a totally good being behind it all. Perhaps the religious perspective is just that, a certain way of seeing the world and our experience and that is all.