Dr Bryan Roberts

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Philosophy of Science. This course is not available as an outside option.

The course is intended to develop the ability to construct sharp analytic philosophical arguments and to write structured philosophical essays. It will help students to choose the topic of their dissertation, help with how to go about researching the topic and how to write the dissertation (by presentation and criticism of preliminary drafts). The course starts with reviewing the structure and content of an MSc dissertation in Philosophy, the requirements of, and grading scheme used for marking dissertations.This is followed by presentations by students on topics intended as possible topics of their dissertations. The presentations will be extensively discussed in the seminar by fellow students and in subsequent private meetings with the seminar leader. In the Lent Term each student will read two former MSc dissertations with topics close to the interest of the student, and each student will report in the seminar on the merits and weaknesses of the selected works, trying to understand why the chosen dissertations received the marks they did. In the final part of the seminar students will again give presentations on the progress of their research.

10 hours of seminars in the MT. 15 hours of seminars in the LT.

A number of assignments - at least one per term - whose completion will aid the research into and writing of the dissertation will be set.

The course is not assessed.