1. Demonstrate understanding of some central philosophical debates in contemporary metaphysics.
2. Analyse contemporary and historical argumentative texts and extract the relevant views and arguments from them.
3. Accurately present philosophical arguments in written form and oral contexts (individual and/or group).
4. Evaluate philosophical and scientific arguments about time, identity and freedom, providing appropriate grounds for those evaluations.
5. Identify and use relevant evidence to support or criticise metaphysical hypotheses.
6. Present a sustained argumentative case in written form, addressing potential counterarguments and objections.

The majority of readings for this course will be available electronically through MyUni. However, the unit on free will (lectures 18–24) will focus on this text:

• van Inwagen, Peter (1983) An Essay on Free Will. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Students will find it important to have unimpeded access to a copy of this book. A copy will be put on reserve in the Barr Smith Library.

This course meets for two lectures each week. Students are expected to attend lectures or view the lecture recordings hosted on MyUni, as well as review the lecture notes. The focus in lectures is on situating readings in their broader intellectual context and modelling disciplinary approaches to the material.

The lectures are supported by tutorials, 10 per semester. There is a tutorial task set for each tutorial (usually involving reading and responding to a short passage extending the material covered in lecture). Each tutorial involves a student presentation on the tutorial task.

Note: There is no tutorial attendance requirement in this course, though students are of course strongly encouraged to make use of tutorials to consolidate and deepen their understanding. The tutorial presentation, while similarly optional, is worth 5% of the final mark.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements. The actual hours spent on the course will vary from week to week, and will of course be higher in those weeks immediately prior to the submission of an assignment; please be sure to plan your time carefully.

A detailed lecture plan will be included in the syllabus, available through MyUni in early February. An indicative division of lecture topics is as follows:

Full details of due dates and submission procedures will be outlined in the syllabus, available from MyUni in early February.

This course involves both formative and summative assessment. There are weekly tutorial tasks, and two essays.

Summative assessment consists of two essays and a presentation. The essay details are as follows:

• Essay 1 is an 1800 word essay on set topics covering the first half of the course. Questions will be made available by the end of week 4.
• Essay 2 is a 2500 word essay on set topics covering the second half of the course. Questions will be made available by the end of week 9.

Essays are marked in accordance with the standard University of Adelaide grade descriptors.

The tutorial presentation will take place in a week mutually agreed by you and your tutor, and is also connected to formative assessment through tutorial tasks. There will be one tutorial task set each week in which there is a tutorial, and made available through MyUni (under ‘Tutorials’). Typically these tasks take the form of an investigation of a topic touched on in lecture; they are designed to extend your knowledge of the course material and of the techniques and topics that are used in the disciplines of formal semantics and philosophy of language. Each week one pair of students will kick start tutorial discussion of these topics by presenting some preliminary ideas and conclusions in the first ten minutes of tutorial. It would be a good idea to prepare a brief handout (no more than 1 side of A4) to anchor your presentation. The joint presentation will be given a mark out of 5 by your tutor. In addition, every student should prepare answers to the set task, and come prepared to discuss them in tutorial. While tutorials are structured around these set tasks, there will also be time for student-driven questions about the lecture material.

Allocation of students to pairs for the tutorial presentation, and decisions about which pair will present on which topic, will take place at the first tutorial in week 2.

All essays must be submitted electronically through MyUni. In this course, work will be submitted and marked through Turnitin.

Further details of submission requirements, required format of submitted work, late policies, extensions, &c. will be found in the course syllabus, available through MyUni in early February.