You will complete a dissertation on a subject of your choice, subject to available supervisory expertise.
Students taking this module undertake research on a philosophical topic of their choice (subject to approval by the Department), and write a dissertation of 8,000 words on that topic.
An Individually Negotiated Topic offers you the opportunity to explore in detail some central themes in a philosophical area of your choice. The areas that can be studied vary but may include, among others, Plato, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Wittgenstein, Contemporary Aesthetics, History of Aesthetics, Ethics, Epistemology, Philosophical Logic, Philosophy of Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Science, Feminist Philosophy.
An Individually Negotiated Topic offers students the opportunity to explore in detail some central themes in a philosophical area of their choice. The areas that can be studied may include, among others, Plato, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Wittgenstein, Contemporary Aesthetics, History of Aesthetics, Ethics, Epistemology, Philosophical Logic, Philosophy of Mathematics, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Science, Feminist Philosophy.
This module introduces students to philosophical approaches in understanding organisations and their management. The module will consist of three interrelated themes. The first will comprise the attempt to familiarise students with the essential problems at the heart of philosophical debate and expose them to different ways of dealing with them. The second theme will be organised around contemporary schools of thought and thinkers (e.g. logical positivism and Foucault), and founding intellectual fathers of economic thought (e.g. Marx). During these sessions we will be preoccupied with utilising various philosophical lenses in order to make sense of organisational phenomena, gain a better grasp of the intellectual origins of our extant understandings, and critically reflect upon taken-for-granted views about managing. The final theme will concentrate more sharply on organisational settings by studying how advances in organisational theory have afforded important philosophical insights into organisations and (the possibility of) their management.
Can there be a proof that God exists? Or might phenomena such as suffering serve to show that an omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent being cannot exist? Such questions are central to the philosophy of religion; attempting to answer them leads us to reflect on such topics as the character of religious belief, its relation with science and morality, the place of reason in religion, and the meaning of religious language. Giving some attention to religious ideas and conceptions of religion beyond those developed in the Abrahamic traditions, this module will explore some of those questions and the issues they raise. It is possible to undertake this module successfully without having completed the first year module, Faith and Reason. However, this module can be seen as building on that one. The subject matter of the second year module will be more advanced and will be explored in greater depth.
We build our world on scientific knowledge, in fact we stake our lives on it. Every time we board a train, send an email or take a medical drug we reaffirm our trust in the products of science. But what, if anything, gives science the authority it seems to have? Is there a particular method that is distinctive of science? Can we distinguish science from pseudo-science? And how do the sciences generate and confirm theories from limited series of particular observations? Should we believe that the best-supported scientific theories and models are true, or should we merely accept that they 'work'? And what should our attitudes towards unobservable entities be? Finally, can science be a wholly neutral and objective mode of investigating reality? Or is it distorted by the values and interests of individual scientists and the societies they live in? And does that mean that its results must be understood in relation to the social, historical and ideological context in which it is carried out? The aim of this module is to introduce you to some of the basic problems, concepts and positions in the philosophy of science, and to encourage reflection on the power, and also the limitations, of scientific methods of thinking.
In this module you will explore some major philosophical questions related to sex, sexuality and gender. We will consider general questions about the nature of sex, sexuality and gender: What makes an act sexual? What is a sexual orientation? What is gender? We will connect general theories to concrete issues in the ethics of sex, sexuality and gender, discussing issues such as whether monogamy is permissible, legal protection of sexual orientation and the role of gender in public and private life.
This module will look at the dominant traditions in the philosophy of social science and how these have shaped substantive research within the study of the social sciences.
By the end of this module you will be familiar with digital photogrammetry in archaeology and the visualisation of photogrammetric datasets. You will also have a basic grounding in key methods in photogrammetry and be able to create accurate and detailed datasets. Working in small teams, you will learn how to successfully acquire still and video imagery and create digital models. In addition to this you will become experienced in both designing and implementing photogrammetric methodological solutions to archaeological research questions and evaluating their impact on recording and interpretation. Throughout the module you will learn to critique your application of photogrammetry and identify key elements of digital recording techniques. Furthermore, you will extend your knowledge concerning the state-of-the-art methods of data visualisation. You will be acquainted with the creation and analysis of orthomosaics and digital elevation models. You will learn how to both create line drawings and cross-sections and combine photogrammetric datasets with new geospatial data, such as GPS and LiDAR data. As a translator between photogrammetry and archaeology you will also produce clear reports explaining and evaluating surveying and processing methodologies in specific contexts.
- To introduce basic concepts governing optical waveguides, fibres, lasers and optical amplification. - To foster a physical and quantitative understanding of key photonic devices. - To foster an understanding of the use of photonics in sensing and communications applications.
The course is devoted to carrying out a series of experiments from the area of photonics and related technologies. The experiments have been selected to underpin and illustrate some fundamental concepts in laser and fibre science and offer an opportunity to develop the correct use of key experimental techniques. After the lab part of the course is completed, a conference will be held where the students will give presentations on one of the experiments carried out. Note this is a course only for MSc students.
The main radiation mechanisms dominating astrophysical processes are discussed and examples are given of the situations in which they are most important. We show how the physical conditions, e.g. the temperature, density and magnetic field strength, can be determined from the emitted radiation in astrophysical situations, such as stars, galaxies and the nuclei of active galaxies. Detection techniques across the electromagnetic spectrum are investigated. The course is fundamental to our interpretation of astrophysical data and so is vital for all astronomers. However it is very much a physics course and so is also of use to students who are not taking astrophysics degrees. This aims to connect taught physics with the beginnings of astronomical research. The content requires a strong mathematical foundation.
This module builds on the knowledge and understanding of sound fields and their generation and propagation that was built up in previous modules. Those fundamental concepts are explored in greater depth to allow them to be applied to a wide variety of practically important systems, such as ducts, rooms and barriers.
The PHYS2022 Physics from Evidence I module consists of three parts: Teaching Lab, Computing Module and Student Conference. The Teaching Lab and Computing Modules run through the first 10 weeks of the semester and the Student Conference is in week 12.
A wide variety of physics topics is covered, showing the experimental evidence underlying a number of topics in physics encountered in lecture courses and textbooks. Students are also introduced to techniques they might encounter in a physics-related career.
The upper atmosphere consists of the outermost layers of Earth's atmosphere, above about 90 km altitude, on the edge of space. It is a very different place to the atmosphere we live in at ground level; temperatures reach extremes of cold (< 200 K) and extremes of hot (> 1000 K), waves cause fluctuations with huge amplitudes compared to the ground level weather, and the wind speed is often many times faster than hurricane force. A part of the upper atmosphere is ionised, forming the ionosphere, allowing electric currents to flow and influencing the propagation of radio waves. Photons emitted from the upper atmosphere are observed as the aurora and airglow. We now know that the atmospheric layers are much more coupled than previously thought, so things happening in the upper atmosphere can influence energy and momentum transfer in the atmosphere below, and vice-versa. Changes in chemical composition in the upper atmosphere caused by energetic particles from the Sun can also lead to important composition changes in the middle atmosphere, for example in the ozone concentration. Meteorologists are therefore expanding their models into the upper atmosphere to improve forecasts of weather and climate. A rapidly increasing number of spacecraft orbit within the upper atmosphere, and therefore an understanding of its variability and dynamics is vital for a society increasingly dependent on space technology. This module will provide an overview of the physics and chemistry of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. Methods for measuring and observing the upper atmosphere will also be introduced, and recent research results will be discussed.
The primary goal is to provide students with the practical programming and data analysis skills that are necessary for both their degree course and most careers in physics. Python is used as the introductory programming language, and numerical simulations will be used extensively in order to introduce and illustrate key statistical concepts. The emphasis throughout will be on developing insight, understanding and practical skills, as opposed to the formal/mathematical aspects of programming and statistics. The skills developed in this module will be required in many experimental/practical modules across all physics programmes.
