Suggested Curricular Streams

The UCD School of Philosophy offers almost 40 modules. On this page, we have grouped some modules together into informal ‘streams’. If a student finds a module interesting, then they might want to explore other modules in the given stream. We stress that these are only recommendations; the School does not have any formal system of prerequisites.

Stream 1: Contemporary European Philosophy

• Level 1: Introduction to Modern Philosophy; Existentialism & Humanism
• Level 2: Phenomenology & Existentialism; Art & Society; Philosophy & Literature; Body, Mind, World; Revelation & Reason
• Level 3: Philosophy of Interpretation; History & Philosophy: Nazi Germany; Phenomenology & History

Stream 2: Mind, Language, and Logic (‘analytic’ philosophy)

• Level 1: Critical Thinking; Problems of Philosophy
• Level 2: Logic; Knowledge & Scepticism; Philosophy of Mind; Philosophy of Science
• Level 3: Wittgenstein; Philosophy of Language; Applied Epistemology; Philosophy of Fiction: Matters of Life & Death; Hume & Kant

Stream 3: Ethics and Society

• Level 1: Introduction to Ethics; Existentialism & Humanism
• Level 2: Feminism; Applied Ethics; Plato‘s Republic; Body, Mind, World; Philosophy of Work; Art & Society
• Level 3: Aristotle; History of Ethics; Philosophy of Religion; Philosophy of Law; Matters of Life & Death

Stream 4: Living History

• Level 1: Introduction to Modern Philosophy; Ancient Philosophy; Introduction to Eastern Philosophy
• Level 2: Rationalism & Empiricism; Phenomenology; Plato‘s Republic; Revelation & Reason
• Level 3: Philosophy of Interpretation; Irish Enlightenment; History of Ethics; Wittgenstein; Personal Identity; Love: A Philosophical Problem; History & Philosophy: Nazi Germany; Hume & Kant; Phenomenology & History