Philosophy (Conversion) MSc
Causation PHIL5108
- Academic Session: 2026-27
- School: School of Humanities
- Credits: 20
- Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
- Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2
- Available to Visiting Students: Yes
- Collaborative Online International Learning: No
- Curriculum For Life: No
Short Description
This course explores one of the central topics of metaphysics: causation. It takes the historical, recent, and state-of-the-art developments in theorising about causation, and relates it to a range of other topics in philosophy, and in the wider world. Students will learn to critically engage with up-to-date professional texts, and to apply their understanding on this topic to their other courses, and, for some, to their future work.
Timetable
16x1hr lectures and 4x1hr seminars as scheduled on MyCampus.
Excluded Courses
None
Co-requisites
None
Assessment
The standard assessments for this course are:
■ Essay 1 (2500 words) - 50%
■ Essay 2 (2500 words) - 50%
If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:
■ There is no alternative to the essays, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions)
Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.
Course Aims
This course aims to: ·
■ Introduce students to key concepts and positions within the philosophy of causation.
■ Provide students the opportunity to engage with contemporary debates, and exercise their critical reasoning skills.
■ Illuminate different methodological approaches within metaphysics, and the inter-connected nature of different metaphysical debates.
■ Equip students with an enriched understanding of a key concept within modern analytic philosophy.
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course
By the end of this course students will be able to:
■ Categorise and differentiate between key concepts that feature in philosophy of causation, including in debates around epistemology, perception, ontology, ethics, and the law.
■ Critically assess and explain the reasoning underlying the counterfactual theory of causation and the modal metaphysics behind it.
■ Explain the reasoning underlying the contrastive and interventionist theories of causation.
■ Critically assess and explain the reasoning the distinction between causation and causal explanation in light of the methodologies deployed in contemporary debates around causation.
■ Identify, develop and defend controversial assumptions about causation in the wider philosophical literature out with metaphysics.
■ Develop and defend a philosophical position related to current literature on metaphysics of causation