Programme of Study Catalogue

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

Demonstrate knowledge of main traditions, methodologies and concepts within Eastern philosophy.
Demonstrate ability to enter into critical and exegetical dialogue with philosophical texts on the nature of the self and reality.
Demonstrate critical and analytical skills through the analysis of philosophical arguments.
Engage analytical conversation and writing using philosophical categories to defend arguments and positions.
Interpret and analyse philosophical texts using print and on-line sources.

Content:

The module will address the concepts of self and reality in several philosophies and religions from Asia (e. g. Buddhism, Tantrism, Taoism). The module reflects upon how they are conceived, related to each other, and mediated through specific practices and exercises, and how these concepts and practices are similar/different to non-Eastern ideas of personhood, self, and world.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The methodology used will be a mixture of lectures, seminars and workshops to help students grasp the concepts in an active way. Every lecture will have lecturing supported by student-led discussions and activities to foster learning and retention of and reflection on the subject.
A typical session may involve twenty minutes of lecturing on a specific topic, followed by an hour of a seminar with discussions and argumentations over the subject introduced by the lecturer and forty minutes of a workshop, during which students will be involved in activities designed to improve their understanding of the topic.

Seminar:
Hours: 18

Workshop:
Hours: 10

Guided independent study:
Hours: 172

Further details relating to assessment:
Directed activities: these consist of weekly tasks that must be completed and submitted for inspection at timetabled sessions each week. The assessment will be assessed on a pass/fail basis with a pass requiring at least 75% of all weekly tasks to be completed successfully. A pass will lead to the full award of 10% towards the final module mark. A fail in directed activities will contribute 0% to the final mark.

Portfolio: these will be in the form of weekly assignments that may consist of short hermeneutical pieces, presentation summaries, abstracts of texts, etc. These will be marked weekly.

Assessment:

001 Portfolio; 2,000 word equivalent; Mid-Semester Two 50%
002 Presentation; 10 Minutes plus Discussion; End of Semester Two 50%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Suzanne Owen
Level - 5
Credit Value - 20
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 5S2