Admission requirements
Admission to (one of) the programme(s) listed under Part of in the information bar on the right.
Description
What is time? What is the difference between past, present and future? Is there a difference? Do the past and the future so much as exist? Does the present move towards the future? Can causes work backward in time? Where does the asymmetry between past and future come from – does it have to do with entropy, or with freedom, or with knowledge, or with causation? Can physical theories do justice to our experience of time? Is time even real?
In this course, we will explore the philosophy of time, a vibrant part of philosophy today. Our main focus will be on contemporary discussions in analytic metaphysics, such as the debates about presentism versus eternalism, the nature of persistence, the arrow time, and retro-causation. But we will also delve into some historical texts, as well as the ideas of more continental or just hard-to-classify thinkers like Husserl, Bergson, and Collingwood.
Inevitably, we will run into questions of philosophical methodology – for the question of how we ought to study time, and whether the way that we study it influences our conclusions, will come up again and again. We will not avoid these questions, but will pursue them with vigour.
This being an MA class, we will emphasise research skills and in-depth discussion. Active participation is required, and your curiosity and research will play a role in shaping the course.
Please note: the overlap between this course and dr. Caspar Jacob’s 2024-2025 course Philosophy of Space and Time is small, and you can take both.
Course objectives
This course aims to give students detailed insight into contemporary philosophy of time, as well as some familiarity with currents of thought in continental philosophy and the history of philosophy.
Students who successfully complete the course will have a good understanding of:
the central questions and theories in the philosophy of time;
ways of thinking about the relation between the scientific and the manifest image of the world;
questions of philosophical methodology, as they appear in the pursuit of the above-mentioned questions.
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
explain and intervene in the central discussions in philosophical thinking about time;
discover and delve into parts of the literature that were not dealt with in class;
write a paper setting out their own view and give coherent arguments for it that show serious knowledge of the literature;
reflect on the methodological presuppositions of their own thinking.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar.
Assessment method
Weighing
| Partial Assessment | Weighing |
|---|---|
| Active participation and weekly writing / research / discussion exercises* | Excellent fulfilment can be rewarded with a 0.5 bonus point for the final paper |
| Final paper | 100% |
*Fulfilling these is a requirement for being allowed to participate in the final exam.
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
The reist covers the final paper. There is no possibility to retake the weekly exercises.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
We will read a wide variety of texts, which will be announced during the course.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the information bar on the right.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga