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Module Title |
Introduction to Philosophy
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Module Code |
NS122
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School |
School of Nursing and Human Sciences
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Online Module Resources
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Level |
1
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Credit Rating |
5
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Pre-requisite |
None
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Co-requisite |
None
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Module Aims
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To examine the meaning of 'meaning', especially with regard to the 'meaning' of human suffering. Through this exploration, the course aims to introduce the students to philosophical thinking in general and some of its ethical implications for health care practices.
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Learning Outcomes
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On completion of this module and following a period of personal study the student will be able to:
7Give a general overview of major philosophical thinkers and their contribution to the issue of 'meaning'.
7Describe how various philosophical perspectives on 'meaning' have an impact on health care and nursing practices.
7Outline how these perspectives on meaning may influence the way patients are treated within the health care context.
7Demonstrate a developing skill of reflecting philosophically and articulating her/his own philosophical views in rational and logical argument.
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Indicative Time Allowances
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Hours
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Lectures |
0
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Tutorials |
0
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Laboratories |
0
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Seminars |
0
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Independent Learning Time |
75
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Total |
75
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Placements |
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Assignments |
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NOTE
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Assume that a 5 credit module load represents approximately 75 hours' work, which includes all teaching, in-course assignments, laboratory work or other specialised training and an estimated private learning time associated with the module.
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Indicative Syllabus
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"The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it." (Carl Gustav Jung) What is the meaning of 'meaning'? What does it mean when a patient says: "my life has no meaning anymore?" What does it mean when a patient asks: "has my suffering any meaning?" Do people suffer because they can see no meaning in their lives or do people see no meaning in their lives because they suffer? Are people happy because their lives are meaningful, or are their lives meaningful because they are happy? Has 'meaning' any intelligibility, i.e. is 'meaning' based on reason or is it based on feeling? Fredrick Nietzsche, a German philosopher, once remarked that "He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how." Would you agree with him?
These are some of the issues that we will explore in this module. We will investigate how philosophers (from as far back as 2000 years ago to the present-day) have grappled with such perennial questions. We will also study how their findings have an important ethical influence on the health care world, e.g. on the way that patients are to be treated especially when their lives are deemed to be without 'meaning' in the face of suffering.
This module will be presented in four parts:
·Firstly, we will examine how 'meaning' is used in every day speech: what's the meaning of x? What do you mean by that?
·Secondly, we will explore how philosophers have grappled with the meaning of 'meaning' (e.g. Plato, Aristotle, Satre, Kierkegaard, Camus, Wittgenstein, Lonergan).
·Thirdly, we will study the meaning of 'meaning' in the face of suffering. Here, we will use Viktor Frankl's descriptive analysis of the person's search for meaning within the context of the holocaust.
·Finally, we will attempt to apply our findings to the health care context (through various case studies), especially with regard to the patient's search for meaning in the face of suffering.
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| Assessment | | Continuous Assessment | 100% | Examination Weight | 0% |
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Indicative Reading List
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Essential:
Frankl Viktor E (1974) Man's Search for Meaning. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Aristotle (2000) Nicomachean Ethics. Translated and edited by Roger Crisp. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Benner Patricia (1989) The Primacy of Caring: Stress and Coping in Health and Illness. California: Addison-Wesley.
Bishop Anne H. , Scudder John R. (1990) The Practical, Moral, and Personal Sense of Nursing: A Phenomenological Philosophy of Practice. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Camus Albert (1960) The Plague. Translated by Stuart Gilbert. London: Hamish Hamilton.
Camus Albert (1962) The Fall. Translated by Justin O'Brien. London: Hamish Hamilton.
Chadwick Ruth, Tadd Win (1992) Ethics and Nursing Practice: A Case Study Approach. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Charlesworth Max (1976) The Existentialists and Jean-Paul Sartre. London: George Prior.
Copleston Frederick (1963) A History of Philosophy. London: Burns Oates & Wasburne.
Fitzpatrick F. J. (1988) Ethics in Nursing Practice: Basic Principles and their Applications. London: The Lineacre Centre.
Hallett Garth (1977) A Companion to Wittgenstein's "Philosophical Investigations". Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Hunt Geoffrey ed (1994) Ethical Issues in Nursing. London: Routledge.
Kenny Anthony (1978) The Aristotelian Ethics: A Study of the Relationship between the Eudemian and Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle. Oxford: Claredon Press.
Kierkegaard Sxren (1985) The Concept of Anxiety. Edited by Robert L. Perkins. Macon: Mercer University Press.
Kierkegaard Sxren (1988) Stages on Life's Way. Edited and translated by Howard V. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Lambert Pierrot ed. (1982) Caring about Meaning : Patterns in the Life of Bernard Lonergan. Montreal: Thomas More Institute.
Lonergan Bernard J. F. (1985) A Third Collection. New York: Paulist Press.
Plato (2000) The Republic. Edited by G.R.F. Ferrari. Translated by Tom Griffith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Solomon Robert C (1981) Introducing the Existentialists. Indianapolis: Hackett.
Satre Jean-Paul (1993) Being and Nothingness. New York: Washington Square Press.
Veatch Robert M., Fry Sara T. (1987) Case Studies in Nursing Ethics. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Voegelin Eric(1957) Plato and Aristotle. Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press.
Wittgenstein Ludwig (1953) Philosophical Investigations. Translated by G.E.M. Anscombe. Oxford: Blackwell.
Wittgenstein Ludwig (1969) On Certainty. Translated by G.E.M. Anscombe. Oxford: Blackwell.
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Programme or List of Programmes
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| BNGN | BSc in Nursing (General) |
| BNID | BSc in Nursing (Intellectual Disability) |
| BNPY | BSc in Nursing (Psychiatric) |
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