Academic English Writing is a required module for students enrolled in the master program in Philosophy. It is designed to explore academic writing processes and strategies in the target language (English) and includes general lessons on genre-specific, topic proposal and thesis/dissertation writing. Those enrolled are expected to comply with and submit requirements that display writing and language proficiency befitting of students in a post-graduate program.
This course aims at discussing what are usually two different philosophical areas. While epistemology is the study of knowledge and tries to answer questions such as “ how do we know what we know?”, ethics is seen as a source of external constraints on different domains of epistemic activity. Thus, this module will give a survey on central issues in contemporary epistemology as well as offer an overview of topics in ethics such as ethical commitments and responsability of choices. Finally, it will try to answer questions such as how can ethical commitments function as an aspect of the epistemic process? to what extent do ethical commitments pertain to the choices that held us epistemically responsible?
This course offers students to examine and discuss different areas of philosophy: theoretical which covers subjects such as metaphysics/ontology, philosophy of mind, logic, philosophy of language, epistemology; and practical with the study of axiology, political philosophy, ontology and philosophy of action. The aim of this course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the current debates in philosophy.
Year 1 Bachelor
The pursuit and construction of knowledge are central to understanding and improving our lives and our world. Creativity and thoughtfulness are, therefore, fundamental features of this human endeavor. While creativity enables us to discover new perspectives of perceiving the world, thoughtfulness leads us to a sensitive and ennobling configuring of reality. The affirmation of our humanity as a creative and thoughtful enterprise is a condition sine qua non for becoming scholars and citizens. Students will learn to discover and develop their creative abilities and to use them to enhance their learning experiences.
The development of thinking skills is fundamental to learning. Students will learn how to develop higher order thinking skills, especially through an appreciation of different philosophic and logic systems and an understanding of important research results from the analysis of human thought processes. In addition, students will learn to reason ethically and morally through readings, discussion of moral dilemmas, and other suitable exercises. They will also learn principled and conceptual thinking and reasoning skills.
Students will explore issues and patterns of the sociology of religions, namely: macro-theoretical perspectives; definition and typology of religion; theories on the origin of religion; psycho-sociological dimensions: taxonomy of experience and of religious behavior, religious conversions to sects and churches, theories of the maintenance of religious behavior; macro-sociological dimension: religion and capitalism, religion and social integration, secularization; religious experiences in East Asia.
This course will discuss the nature of moral judgments: what distinguishes right from wrong? Answers to these questions will be pursued through the readings of classical and contemporary philosophers.
This module aims to provide you with a comprehensive introduction to urban geography. It focuses on the restlessness of urban environments and their populations to produce constantly changing, gradually evolving dynamic spaces and places. The module explores the way in which globalization and the city exist in tandem, mutually implicated and reinforcing. We examine the way in which global processes impact on the local level and the way in which local conditions modify global forces to produce distinctive, new hybrid urban forms. The concepts and theories presented in the module are exemplified by relevant case-studies drawn from the global scale. The module will involve three distinct but interconnected elements, each delivered by a different member of staff. The three elements will consider: (1) The idea of city from the classical antiquity (historical and cultural geography); (2) The city as a locus of economic production, consumption and exchange (economic geography); (3) The city and the environment (environment and demography). By the end of this module, students should be able to: describe and account for broad changes in the nature, form, function and inter-relationships of urban spaces over time; describe and explain the attributes, features and characteristics of different types of urban spaces; discuss the changing nature of basic urban geographical thought and enquiry; identify the major approaches to the production and regeneration of urban spaces in the late twentieth century; define and discuss major concepts and ideas (keywords and phrases); and explore more complicated work by accessing resources further embedded in foundation studies.
This module examines Chinese society and culture in Macau; Macau as a bridge between East and West; linguistic and cultural diversity in Macau; government, family and economy; religion, politics and geography in Macau. It examines Macau’s economic, cultural, social, political and geographical location as a meeting point of Eastern and Western cultures, in particular the meeting place of European and East Asian cultures, and it studies Macau and its neighbours, and the cultural, economic and social influences which impact on Macau as a developing city. The module introduces aspects of governance, economy, culture and the impact of its return to China.
What is truth from philosophical, theological, scientific perspectives? What is the relationship between truth and perception? What about truth and contingency? Students will explore these questions and will discuss the cases when this question can be answered with precision. In some of these cases, truth can be established through proof. Successes in this quest for certified truth are closely connected to successes in the automation of reasoning.
Year 2 Bachelor
What are good reasons to believe something? Do we need good reasons to believe what we believe? Do we need reasons for religious belief, such as belief in God, and if so, what kinds of reasons could these be? Are they like the reasons for mathematical or scientific beliefs, or are there special reasons, connected with the practical importance of religion, that apply to religious belief? Is religious belief different from others in that no reasons are needed for it? Or is it always wrong to believe without good reasons? We will explore these questions through texts, drawn from the history of modern philosophy, by writers such as Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, Kierkegaard, Clifford, Peirce, and James.
This course studies traditional philosophical problems, such as why and how to do what is right, what is good, the existence of God, perceptions of the world, body and mind, and free will, paradoxes.
This course will discuss logical systems for analyzing information structures, communications, and other cognitive actions. Emphasis on topics such as systems for information update; logic and game theory.
Students will explore the nature of time and its meanings for human beings. Topics include the existence of time, the flow of time, progress, recurrence, entropy, time travel, time and culture, and immortality. Readings in philosophy, literature and elementary physics will also be made.
Year 3 Bachelor
Students will explore the nature of knowledge and belief and the senses in which belief aims at knowing and of truth; the nature and status of norms and procedures employed in assessing the beliefs of others; striving to improve one's own beliefs; relations between believing and knowing; skeptical reasoning and its relationship to the nature and limits of human inquiry; connections between debates in the theory and domains of knowledge and the philosophy of mind.
The classical approach to scientific analysis is reductionism, which examines a system by taking it apart and understanding its constituent elements. This approach works well for many social and natural phenomena. Traditional analysis, however, is being revolutionized through complexity science. Complexity science is the study of systems composed of many and varied parts that interact in complex and non-linear ways. Complexity science recognizes that such systems cannot be understood simply by understanding the parts - the interactions among the parts and the consequences of these interactions are equally significant. In this course students will explore seminal readings and research in this area, and will become familiar with new approaches to perceiving and understanding reality.
This module will examine the importance of ethics in education with particular emphasis given to ethical issues with direct relevance to classroom teachers and teaching. This will include an examination of the different ethical codes that are applicable in different regions and counties and an evaluation of their applicability to teaching practice in Macau, both now and in the future. Students will also examine the need for professional development as a vital component of effective teaching, given the evolving challenges and demands in education.
Year 4 Bachelor
Students will be encouraged to recognize and understand the ongoing redefinition of societies as communities and the affirmation of the individual as a person. These capacities are relevant pre-conditions to students as they become cultured and transnational scholars. Students will be encouraged to delve into their learned and inherited cultural traditions to study and develop deeper awareness of notions, principles, methodologies and techniques useful to building family, academic, business, and civic communities that can and should make a difference. Recent research in the new science of networks will help the understanding and implementation of these ongoing transformations.
Students will explore how to have an impact as ethically serious global citizens. How do personal choices about consumption, careers and child-rearing affect a wider world? Has globalization created new contexts for humanitarian service and political engagement? What does it mean to live deliberately, to forge a conscientious religious or secular lifestyle? What are the possibilities for women and men to “make a difference”? Lectures are supplemented by films, biographical explorations, and in-class interviews with relevant practitioners.
Year 1
The course invites students to research three main domains on theories of knowledge: (1) Emotions; (2) Feelings; (3) Reason. The scientific literature, theories, concepts and leading problematic are summarized, discussed, and applied to a research on Van Gogh’s paintings: “madness and suicide”.
This course provides a comprehensive exploration into epistemology, the sources and nature of belief, justification and knowledge, as well as their structure and scope. Relevant scientific literature, theories, concepts and leading problematic beliefs are summarized, discussed, and applied.
