Structure of Studies
The complete Undergraduate Studies Guide (in Greek) for the 2016-2017 academic year can be found here
A new undergraduate studies program comes into effect in the 2013-2014 academic year. The program consists of eight semesters and 42 courses, corresponding to 133 credits or 240 ECTS credits distributed evenly between the semesters (30 ECTS per semester).
Courses in the undergraduate studies program split into several categories:
A. REQUIRED PHILOSOPHY COURSES
Α1. Lectures
The objective of these courses is to orient students and give them basic knowledge in philosophy. Thematically, courses are designed to (a) give an adequate overview of key moments and nodal points in the history of philosophy, (b) allow students to get their bearings in the fundamental branches of philosophy, and (c) guide students through schools of thought up to the present.
Α2. Philosophical topics
Courses designed to acquaint students with ways of grasping, analyzing, treating and presenting topics which are proper to the discipline. Courses in this category thus focus on a specific topic and study it through a selected bibliography; they are linked to workshop courses with obligatory attendance (see E2). Students admitted after 2011-12 cannot enroll for an undergraduate thesis unless they have passed the topics courses and associated workshops.
Α3. Logic
Logic is a propaideutic course for philosophical analysis and the rational construction of philosophical argument and of thought generally. It also introduces students to the philosophy of logic. The course is linked to separate logic workshops in which attendance is compulsory (see E2).
B. REQUIRED COURSES IN OTHER DISCIPLINES
Students have to pass three required courses in other disciplines, which may be offered either by the Department of Philosophy or by other University of Patras departments: Education science Ι, Education science ΙΙ, Ancient Greek Literature.
Required courses in other disciplines and elective courses in other disciplines (see D) are a part of the undergraduate program specially designed to cover disciplines corresponding to area PE02 of the secondary education curriculum and education science. They thus entitle holders of the B.A. degree from the Department of Philosophy to sit the state examination for secondary school Greek teachers, as well as giving students a grounding in the methodology of those disciplines.
C. ELECTIVE PHILOSOPHY COURSES
C1. Philosophy reading workshops
These courses are methodological. Students acquire the skills to independently study original philosophical texts. (a) Selected texts are used to develop the ability to analyze philosophical discourse, determine the philosophical content of concepts, make distinctions, reconstruct and assess the explanatory power of arguments, and grasp philosophical positions. Students learn to be sensitive to factors such as infra-textual and inter-textual coherence, the historicity of texts and theories, and references to existing theories. (b) Students learn how to use special reference works, philosophy dictionaries, historical dictionaries, indexes, electronic sources and library resources, and how to make use of bibliographies to locate information. (c) Finally, students acquire the ability to extract philosophical knowledge from primary sources and exercise their ability to produce written philosophical discourse.
Attendance and enrollment rules for philosophy reading workshops
Attendance, take-home assignments and presentations are compulsory in philosophy reading workshops. Students who miss more than three classes are not graded. Assessment is either by means of written course work during the semester alone, or by course work plus a final examination to text skills acquired.
Students have to choose one course from each group of philosophy reading workshops. They are allowed to enroll in a different course from the same group if they fail both examination sessions and have to pass the course the following year.
C2. Philosophy options (lectures or seminars, semesters 5-8)
These elective courses are offered in the 3rd and 4th years of the undergraduate program and enable students to choose new areas or deepen their knowledge in areas of their own choice. The courses cover important stages of the history of philosophy and central topics of systematic philosophical schools and theories, completing the undergraduate study program in philosophy. At this level, senior students increasingly (semesters 5-6 and especially 7-8) have the opportunity to determine the content of their study program and their own scientific profile. Philosophy options can be either lectures or seminars. Students must pass a total of thirteen philosophy options to be awarded the undergraduate degree.
Prerequisites
Students cannot start enrolling in philosophy options unless they have successfully passed 5 of the required philosophy courses offered in the first two years of study. Students admitted to the program through the Departmental selection procedure for applicants transferring from other degrees cannot start enrolling in philosophy options unless they have successfully passed 4 of the required philosophy courses offered in the first two years of study.
Attendance and enrollment rules for seminars
Philosophy option seminars have an upper enrollment limit of 15. Admission is based on selection by the instructor on the basis of a personal interview during the examination period preceding the semester in which the seminar takes place. Instructors assess students’ abilities in foreign languages, performance in related past courses, computer literacy, etc. Course evaluation is made on the basis of a 4,000-word written assignment presented at the seminar, corrected, and submitted in the examination period. Students missing more than three classes fail the course.
D. ELECTIVE COURSES IN OTHER DISCIPLINES
In addition to the three required courses in other disciplines, students attend 6 electives in other disciplines. This permits students to meet the requirements for area PE02 of the secondary education curriculum and education science (see B). It also allows undergraduates to combine the philosophy curriculum with related fields and design an overall program that is suited to their own wishes. The electives include foreign language course options.
E1. HUMANITIES COMPUTER WORKSHOP
The objective of this course is to train undergraduates in new technologies required for work in the Humanities and the adequate presentation of that work. Students are taught how to use search tools, manage bibliographies, consult data bases, find and use online resources, process documents, and prepare powerpoint presentations and concept maps. The computer workshop is a compulsory component of the undergraduate degree program. There is no September examination session for the computer workshop course.
E2. WORKSHOPS LINKED TO REQUIRED PHILOSOPHY COURSES (Α2 and Α3)
Philosophical Topics courses and the Logic course are associated with workshop components. The purpose of the workshops is to follow up lectures in those courses with practice and exercises. Attendance is compulsory and students cannot miss more than three classes. There are no September examination sessions for the workshop components.
Students’ performance in the workshops is factored into the grade for the associated course (Philosophical Topics or Logic). Pass grades for the workshop component apply for two successive examination sessions, but students who fail the course component in all of the year’s examination sessions have to pass the workshop component again the following year.
Students admitted after 2011-12 cannot enroll for an undergraduate thesis unless they have passed the topics courses and associated workshops.
F. SPECIAL COURSE CATEGORIES
F1. UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Undergraduate thesis supervisors. Theses are supervised by members of faculty (full time or part time). When topics are inter-disciplinary, a second supervisor can be appointed from another department with the University of Patras. Faculty members can supervise no more than 5 undergraduate theses in one academic year.
Conditions. Enrollment for an undergraduate thesis requires consent of a supervisor. Minimal conditions are ability to use foreign-language bibliographies and computer literacy.
Requirements. Students admitted to the Department after 2011-12 must have passed the Philosophical Topics course.
Calendar. Undergraduate theses can be assigned no earlier than the 6th semester. Students submit applications signed by the prospective supervisor to the secretary. The undergraduate thesis cannot be submitted less than 6 months from the date of application. Students should express their intention to enroll for an undergraduate thesis in semester 6 in order to have sufficient time in which to prepare it before the end of the their undergraduate program.
Examination is by the supervisor with one other member of faculty. Examinations are public and announced to the Department one week in advance.
Substitution for elective philosophy options. For students admitted since 2006-07 the undergraduate thesis replaces 3 elective 3rd and 4th year philosophy options and corresponds to 9 credits (15 ECTS). For students admitted between 1999-2000 and 2005-2006, the undergraduate thesis replaces 2 elective 3rd and 4th year philosophy options and one 3rd and 4th year required course from another discipline.
F2. TUTORIALS
Lecture-based courses can be supplemented with tutorials; tutorials can be taught not only by members of the faculty but also by special teaching staff (E.D.I.P.) or graduate (in particular doctoral) students.
F3. PRACTICE COURSES
The Department is considering the possibility of offering undergraduate practice courses. If approved, these courses will be incorporated into the current version of the undergraduate degree program.
