What is Philosophy?

Philosophy is an intellectually exciting discipline in which fundamental questions of human existence, value and society are examined, debated and challenged. Its methods are reason and argument and philosophy students are given the skills to reason and argue clearly, cogently and effectively. Rather than a body of doctrine, philosophy is a method or a way of approaching abstract general questions such as what is a good life, what is the fundamental nature of reality, what is the purpose (if any) of human existence?

 

Do you enjoy…

• Challenging and questioning the assumptions of your society and of generally accepted views?
• Arguing and debating about fundamental questions of human existence and value?
• Engaging with great thinkers, reading, assimilating and responding to them?

 

Philosophy: The course for you?

This course offers the opportunity to engage in depth with questions of metaphysics (about the fundamental nature of reality), epistemology (the theory of knowledge), ethics (theories of right and wrong), political philosophy (the nature of the just state), philosophy of mind (questions about thought, language and reason) and various other areas. The staff are world-recognised specialists in their respective areas of expertise. The department's approach is predominately, but not exclusively, within analytic philosophy, which focuses on conceptual analysis and logical precision, and is unique in this respect in Ireland.