Philosophy
Course information and guidelines for the Philosophy programme.
This information is aimed at students studying Philosophy course units, either as part of a Philosophy degree programme or on their own. Here you'll find lots of information about how to contact us, when and where our office hours are, the 'Good Practice Scheme' we've signed up to, and more.
Perhaps most importantly, the study resources section contains lots of information and advice about how to get the most out of studying Philosophy and how to do well in your essays and exams.
We hope you find this information useful. If you can think of any improvements, please email Helen Beebee with your suggestions.
Handbooks
See Blackboard Programme Hub
Programme details
See Blackboard Programme Hub
Study guides
See Blackboard Programme Hub
Groups and networks
- The main Philosophy website contains general information about the Discipline Area, including information about staff and teaching assistants' research interests, upcoming events, and opportunities for postgraduate study in philosophy at Manchester.
- Blackboard, available through the MyManchester portal, is the place to find all the information you need about the philosophy course units you're taking, including comprehensive course outlines (with class times, curriculum, reading lists, essay deadlines, etc.), handouts and presentations from the lectures, and downloadable tutorial texts.
- You will also find the Philosophy Hub on Blackboard. This has information that is useful to students with philosophy as part of their degree programme, including information about student reps, studying abroad and our peer mentoring scheme, plus minutes from Staff-Student Liaison Committee meetings, and more. Access via the MyManchester portal.
- MyManchester is the portal that allows you to access exam timetables, Blackboard, the Philosophy Hub, information about the Students’ Union, advice on student finances, and lots more.
- And finally, why not join the the Philosophy@Manchester Facebook group? This is a place where you can informally ask questions of other group members (mainly staff, other philosophy students, and recently graduated philosophy students), post and read links to philosophy-related news, and so on. If you're not a Facebook user, though, don't worry: you won't miss out on any information you need to know; we use email for that.
- Oh, and there's the Philosophy Society Facebook group as well.
Good Practice Scheme
We have signed up to (most aspects of) the British Philosophical Association/Society for Women in Philosophy (UK) 'Good Practice Scheme', aimed at increasing the representation of women in UK philosophy. You can find out a bit more about it on the Philosophy website.
Since the scheme works on an 'honour' system - we are not audited by the BPA or SWIP, so they are taking our word for it that we comply - it's important that we let you know what exactly we are claiming to have done and be doing. That way, if we fail to do something we said we'd do, or if we're failing to meet the recommendations in the way we intend, you can pull us up on it. Take a look at our 'GPS implementation' document, which explains what we've done and what's in the pipeline.
If you're interested in the issue of the underrepresentation of women in philosophy, you could have a look at K. Hutchison & F. Jenkins (eds), Women in Philosophy: What Needs to Change? (Oxford: OUP, 2013) - shortly to be available in the University Library.
If you're interested in the issue of implicit bias, you could have a look at the following, as well as Jenny Saul's contribution to the above volume:
J. T. Jost et al, “The existence of implicit bias is beyond reasonable doubt: a refutation of methodological and ideological objections and executive summary of ten studies that no manager should ignore”, Research in Organizational Behavior, 29 (2009): 39-69. (You'll need to log in via the UoM if you're off-campus; click 'sign in' at the top.)
You could also complete some 'implicit association tasks' (IATs) by visiting Harvard University's 'Project Implicit' website.
