Aims

This course aims to teach the students the necessary academic skills to function independently as a philosopher. We train reading, oral, writing, research and argumentation skills.

Philosophical Writing and Reading Skills

Reading

- Students develop a sensitivity to different (philosophical) text types and can use them when reading and writing.

- Students can reveal the structure and coherence of a simple, usually short philosophical text.

- Students can identify and analyze arguments and explain the text.

- Students can apply reading strategies to a philosophical text.

- Students are acquainted with different ways to approach a text (e.g. explicate philosophical and historical context, hermeneutical, deconstructive).

- Students are introduced to the rhetorical, stylistic and logical dimensions of a text.

Translating

- Students are aware of potential problems with translations into other languages: they understand that translations also imply an interpretation and that some concepts are difficult to translate.

- Students pay the necessary care to the translations they make. When students use an existing translation, they choose a quality translation.

Writing skills

- Students can write an academic text that is accessible to colleagues.

- Students pay attention to both content and form: language (spelling, grammar, academic language), structure, and style.

- Students can formulate a written research question and develop a position.

- Students can clearly distinguish between their own and other people's words and thoughts in their texts.

- Students can write a summary of a simple philosophical text or answer written questions about a text.

- Students can formulate (the essence of) a line of thought from a text in their own words in a short paper.

- Students can identify, analyze and evaluate the argumentation in writing.

- In addition, students can interpret and assess a simple philosophical text in a short paper.

- Students can write a text in which they enter into a dialogue with the author and support or criticize the discussed text with arguments.

Oral Skills

Academic presentation skills

- Students can give a clear and convincing oral summary and analysis of a relatively short philosophical text or a philosophical problem within an agreed period of time.

- Students can, in a clear and convincing manner, verbally defend some arguments for and / or against a particular position.

- Students can develop clear support material and use it in an appropriate way, such as presentation software and / or a hand-out.

- Students can ask a good question orally after the presentation of a fellow student and, after their own presentation, answer questions from fellow students concisely.

- Students can assess the oral presentation of themselves and of fellow students in an appropriate way (self- and peer-assessment).

Participating in philosophical conversations

- Students are able to distinguish between various academic and non-academic philosophical conversation formats, such as a discussion, debate, research dialogue, Socratic dialogue and dilemma discussion.

- Students can listen to the arguments of fellow students and respond to them with arguments in a critical and respectful way.

- Students participate in the conversation and allow the others to speak adequately.

- Students can provide clearly formulated contributions to some of these conversation forms in an appropriate way.

- Students can take on different roles in these conversation forms: participant, observer and rapporteur/minute taker.

Philosophical Research Skills

Organization and Information management

- Students can draw up simple bibliographic references using bibliographic software.

- Students are introduced to strategies to organize their own research, e.g. distinction between thinking process and writing process.

- Students can use the library of the HIW, apply the distinction between primary and secondary sources and distinguish different types of sources in philosophy (basic).

- Students know the sources that support good language use.

- Students can formulate a good search query.

- Students can draw up search terms and combine them with Boolean operators (basic).

Finding, evaluating, and using sources

- Students can find a publication and literature on a subject in Limo (basic).

- Students can understand bibliographic references in different citation styles.

- Students can find articles in philosophical reference works.

- Students can evaluate sources for their usability and reliability.

- Students can use relevant source material in an adequate way when writing papers and preparing presentations.

- Students can paraphrase, quote and refer according to the notes and bibliography system and the author-date system of the Chicago Manual of Style and can set up a bibliography.

- Students can recognize, describe and avoid plagiarism.

Philosophical Argumentation Skills

- Students are able to identify, analyse, comment on and evaluate philosophical argumentation.

- Students have an understanding of the rhetorical and logical dimensions of argumentation.

- Students are able to construct a correct philosophical argument on their own.

Previous knowledge

Students must have the following previous knowledge (level of secondary education):

- they must be able to express themselves correctly both orally and in writing using academic language in English;

- they must have acquired basic skills in using a PC, the Internet and a word processing programme (with spell check), e.g. Word.

Is included in these courses of study

• Bachelor of Philosophy (Abridged Programme of 63 ECTS) (Leuven) 63 ects.
• Bachelor of Philosophy (Abridged Programme of 102 ECTS) (Leuven) 102 ects.
• Courses for Exchange Students Institute of Philosophy (Leuven)