Course description
* Thesis 12,000 words (37.5 points)
* five elective subjects (62.5 points)
Total 100 points - subjects are 12.5 points each, unless indicated otherwise.
Thesis subject
Subject Semester Credit Points
136-529 HPS Thesis
A supervised research project of 12 000 words. Semester 1, Semester 2 37.50
Elective subjects
Subject Semester Credit Points
136-442 Directed Study
The content of this subject is dependent on the interests and expertise of the student. This subject functions to provide students with the opportunity to do supervised research on a topic not normally treated in the undergraduate curriculum. The stu... Semester 1, Semester 2 12.50
136-509 Science and Ideology in the 20th Century
In the first half of the twentieth century the natural sciences underwent a dramatic transformation, both in terms of their theoretical foundations and their tehnological applications. But this was also a tumultuous period of European cultural and po... Semester 1 12.50
136-544 Beyond the Spin:Technoscientific Failure
There is much to be learned from failure, and the application of science and technology has in recent years provided no shortage of examples - the Ford Pinto, Bhopal, Challenger, thalidomide, Cane Toads, Chernobyl, the M16 rifle, Three-Mile Island, t... Semester 2 12.50
136-528 Medicine and Culture
Over the ages people have deployed various methods - metaphysical, magical or the pure empirical - to combat the ravages of disease. Bloodletting, cupping, leaching, doses of highly poisonous chemicals, blisters, copious draughts of mineral water, hy... Semester 2 12.50
136-545 Science and its Publics
The subject will examine the complex relationship between science and its publics from historical, philosophical and sociological perspectives. Students will be asked to critically reflect on the role of science in society and examine how this may ha... Semester 1 12.50
136-527 Ecology and Environmentalism
This subject examines the workings of knowledge practices in contemporary environmental management. Students develop an understanding of the unprecedented transformation in the environment, the sciences, and in politics across the twentieth century. ... Semester 1 12.50
136-536 Scientific Realism and Anti-Realism
This subject examines the contemporary debate between realism and anti-realism in the philosophy of science. The scientific realist argues that science is to be understood as the attempt to discover the truth about the objective world. Anti-realists ... Semester 2 12.50
161-484 The Western Tradition & its Discontents
Since the Renaissance many scholars and scientist have considered themselves as part of a tradition based on principles set out in Greek and Roman antiquity and reestablished in early modern Europe. While this tradition is still prevalent both in aca... Semester 2 12.50
Philosophy elective subjects
Postgraduate diploma students may take up to two existing honours subjects offered in philosophy towards their fourth-year studies in history and philosophy of science. Subjects from the following list will be approved automatically. Other subjects may be approved on a case-by-case basis. Students may take up to one subject from another discipline area with the approval of the postgraduate coordinator
Subject Semester Credit Points
161-434 Metaphysics and Epistemology
This unit covers selected issues in contemporary epistemology and metaphysics. We will focus on a particular philosophical issue (for example, a topic in fundamental ontology, or in the philosophy of knowledge, in theories of meaning, or in philosoph... Semester 1 12.50
161-445 Topics in Philosophy
This subject will not be available in 2009 12.50
161-436 Philosophy of Language and Mind
This subject examines contemporary developments in philosophy of mind and language in the analytic tradition. Topics addressed may include: (1) mental representation, (2) the nature of linguistic communication, (3) sense vs. reference, (4) the nature... Semester 2 12.50
