Please note - Swinburne University of Technology

AH101 History of ldeas
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisites: nil
Assessment: continuous
Subject aims and description
This subject is an introduction to the history of ideas. By
using a particular intellectual focus or theme, it seeks to
show how our contemporary understanding of ourselves and
our relationship to the world haw been shaped by important
developments in the past.
Themes which serve as a focus for this course may include
one or more of the following: Darwin's theory of evolution;
the concept of the self (from Descartes to Freud); God and
nature; knowledge and belief.
Textbooks
Please consult with lecturer before buying textbooks
References
Desmond, A. and Moore, J. Darwin. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1992
Regis, Ed. Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition.
Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1990
AH102 Theories of the Universe
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisites: nil
Assessment: continuous
Subject aims and description
ldeas about the world and our relationship to the universe.
Within the general framework of social history the main
emphasis is on the interaction of culture, civilisation, social
change, and science.
Major topics include: ancient societies, religion and science,
concepts of the universe, theories and hypoetheses,
Preliminary reading
Koestler, A. The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of
the Univene. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1964
Textbook
Kuhn, T. The Copernican Revolution. Cambridge. Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1957, Repr, 1973-74
References
Boas, M. The Scientific Renaissance. London: Fontana. 1970
Crombie, A. Augustine to Calileo. 2 vols., 2nd ed, Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 1969
Toulmin, 5. and Goodfield, J. The Fabric of the Heavens.
Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963
AHI 03 Critical Thinking
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisites: nil
Assessment: by examination and class exercises
Subject aims and description
The aim of this course is to help students develop critical
reasoning skills which they can apply both in the assessment
of arguments encountered in academic and everyday
contexts and in the construction of strong arguments in
support of their own claims. A variety of practical skills is
taught. For example, how to: distinguish claims from
evidence; assess claims on the basis of the evidence
presented; identify fallacies in arguments; organise material
in logically coherent patterns; evaluate objections to claims
made and to respond to them in a sustained and objective
manner. Such skills are basic to the effective completion of
academic assignments.
Textbooks
Please consult with lecturer before buying textbooks
References
Barry, V. and Rudinow, J. Invitation to Critical Thinking. Fort Worth,
Tex.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1990
Gwier, T. Practical Study of Argument. 3rd ed, Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth, 1992
AH201 Mind, Language and Thought
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisite: one of AH100. AHIOI, AH 102,
AH 103 or approved equivalent
Assessment: continuous
Subject aims and description
This subject explores theories of the relationship between
mind, cognition, language and culture. Themes studied will
be chosen from the following list: mind, brain and
cognition; language, meaning and truth; language as
representation and as metaphor; signs, language and culture.
Preliminary reading
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. Metaphors I44 Live By. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1980
Teichman, J. Philosophy and the Mind. Oxford: Blackwell. 1988
Textbooks
Please consult with your lecturer before buying textbooks
Reference
Gardner, H. The Quest for Mind. New York: Vintage Bwks, 1974
AH203 Nature and Human Nature
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisites: AH100, AH101, AH102, AH103 or
approved equivalent
Assessment: continuous
Subject aims and description
The purpose of this course is to examine the ways in which
biological theories of behaviour and heredity have influenced
social thought. The interrelationships betwen theories of
human nature are explored in terms of the birth of the new
science of psychology at the end of the nineteenth century.
Themes to be explored include: the 'mis-measure of man';
the origins of the naturelnurture controversy; the rise of the
concept of culture in social science: the origins of industrial
psychology; biology and scientific Utopias; the concept of
the savage; behaviour and the perfectibility of man; scientific
theories of race and their impact; the image of the black
Australian in European anthropology; Sigmund Freud, his life
and times.
Textbooks
Fancherf, R. Pioneers of Rychology. 2nd ed, New York: Norton, 1990
Freud, 5. Two Short Accounk of Rychoanalysis. Harmondsworth:
Penguin, Repr. 1972
Reference
Gould, 5.J. The Mismeasure of Man. Hanondsworth: Penguin, 1984
AH204 Philosophy of Culture
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisite: one of AH100, AH 101, AH1 02,
AH 103 or approved equivalent
Assessment: continuous
Subject aims and description
This course is designed to provide students with the
historical, philosophical and theoretical background to
current research in the study of culture, to examine the
assumptions underlying the major theoretical developments
and major schools of cultural studies and thereby to show
the relationships between the different dimensions of
culture, to reveal the practical implications of such research,
and to consider what are the most promising lines of
research for the future. The subject examines Marxist,
hermeneuticist, structuralist, post-structuralist and symbolic
interactionist approaches to culture, and the conflicis
between the proponents of these different approaches.