Week 1
Lesson 1
Morals 1 - Utilitarianism: Should we always act for the greater good?
This class will look at Utilitarianism, which is the Moral Philosophy that suggests a moral action is one where we act to promote the greater good. We look at some apparent counterexamples that might cause problems for this approach and some alternative approaches in Moral Philosophy that contrast to this version of Consequentialism. This is a great introduction to thinking about Moral Philosophy and how we could guide our actions and decisions as a society.
 Week 2
Lesson 2
Epistemology- "I think therefore I am" - Did Descartes prove we exist? Maybe not
In this class we will analyse the arguments surrounding one of the most famous Philosophy quotes of all time: Descartes' "I think therefore I am". He said this in order to prove his own existence because what if he was being deceived by an Evil Demon about everything. Well, it turns out it's quite hard to prove we are not and Descartes wasn't that good at it either. Which makes it a perfect topic for young minds to figure out where he went wrong!
 Week 3
Lesson 3
Philosophy of Perception - Do we (accurately) hallucinate all the time? Even now
In this class we will explore whether we see external objects directly or indirectly by discussing an extended Time-lag Argument and some theories of Time that relate to it. This is a really important subject in Philosophy of Mind & Perception because it explores how close our contact with external reality is and how reliable it is as a basis for empirical knowledge (Epistemology). We look at brains-in-vats and the film "The Matrix" and whether evolution cares which is true!
 Week 4
Lesson 4
Philosophy of Mind- What is consciousness? Could we be a (philosophical) zombie?
How do brains support our lived experience of colours, sounds and emotions? in the Philosophical literature this is referred to as Phenomenal (P) Consciousness and the Hard Problem of Consciousness. We look at some theories that discuss the possibility of (philosophical) zombies, that behave like us but have no P-Consciousness and whether maybe consciousness is just too hard a problem to ever solve!
 Week 5
Lesson 5
Morals 2 - Duty Theories: What duties can we act on without exception?
We start by analysing Kant’s and the Categorical Imperative, which explains how we can work out what a moral action is and why we are duty bound to act in that way. But finding good examples of which duties we can follow without exception is quite hard. Then we finish by examining an argument from Peter Singer that is morally wrong not to give to carefully selected charities that save lives if you can afford it!
 Week 6
Lesson 6
Personhood - What and who counts as a "person"?
First, we look at what a good definition of a Person is and why this may matter in terms of the allocation of inalienable human rights. We focus on alien, great ape and robot rights and do not discuss the very sensitive issue of abortion at all. We look at some of the possible consequences of denying criminals their right to freedom by putting them in jail and whether great apes should have partial human rights.
 Week 7
Lesson 7
Artificial Intelligence & The Ethics of AI
This very topical subject has been discussed for many years. First, we look at how hard it is to define and test for general intelligence. And then we look at classic arguments for determining AI such as the Turing Test and the Chinese Room example. Finally, we look at some of the ethical issues that are starting to emerge as AI becomes more widely used in our society.
 Week 8
Lesson 8
Personal Identity - What makes you the same person over time?
In this class we'll examine what connects us throughout the different stages of our lives. Do you identify with your body or are you more of a mind person? What if we transferred your brain into another body, is that still you? These are the sort of questions that we will discuss to help us with a fun wide-ranging adventure, thinking about the Philosophy of Personal Identity
 Week 9
Lesson 9
The Fermi Paradox- Millions of exo-planets, so where are all the aliens then?
The Fermi Paradox is based on the idea that because we are discovering the Universe is full of exoplanets, doesn’t this mean that the Universe should be full of habitable planets and therefore should be full of Aliens. If so, then where are they? We look at different possible solutions to this apparent paradox!
 Week 10
Lesson 10
Meanings of Life - 42 different approaches to finding meaning in life!
We finish the course with a meta-analysis of some of the solutions people have come up with to explain the meaning of life. We go from single issue solutions to more complex theories and end up discussing those that think it’s just a silly question and there is no meaning! We don’t attempt to answer this ourselves but instead enjoy analysing other people’s attempts and end by discussing the merits of positive nihilism!