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PHI-10028 - Module Specification
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

For academic year: 2025/26 Last Updated: 04 December 2025

PHI-10028 - Ancient Global Wisdom
Coordinator: Sophie Allen Tel: +44 1782 7 33364
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 4
Credits: 30
Study Hours: 300
School Office:

Programme/Approved Electives for 2025/26

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2025/26

This module presents ancient philosophy with a twist, for although Greek philosophy is discussed in depth, ideas from traditional Indian, Chinese and African philosophy are given prominence too. By seeing how similar philosophical concerns arose, you will come to a better understanding of how ideas and controversies develop and how the past has shaped our thinking. You will write dialogues and empathetic monologues, in the spirit of ancient philosophy. For unforgettable experiential learning, you will have an opportunity to perform these in the perfect setting: The Keele Amphitheatre.

Aims
This module aims to introduce students to key traditions and questions in ancient philosophy from around the world, many of which remain relevant and important today. Students will be encouraged to recognise that relevance, to explore both the differences and the common themes of distinct traditions of philosophy from different cultures, to apply their own reasoning skills to the problems which the ancient thinkers posed and to suggest solutions to them. The module will also focus on developing skills for reading philosophy, including the interpretation of excerpts in different styles and from different traditions, and will include the close reading of an ancient text. These skills are immediately transferable to other areas of the degree and applicable more generally. Students will learn how to present their ideas clearly and to structure arguments by means of classroom debates and assessments. The ancient philosophical traditions explored will include Greek, Indian (Brahmanic, Buddhist, Jain and Secular), Chinese, African.

Intended Learning Outcomes

critically explain and compare fundamental ideas from at least three major ancient traditions of philosophical thinking on the basis of lectures, seminar discussions and further research: 3
research arguments or positions of philosophers from ancient philosophical traditions and critically present the results in writing: 1,2,3
illustrate the general relevance of ancient philosophy to contemporary philosophical thought: 3
show sensitivity in discussion and written work to the different scientific, social and political contexts in which the philosophers studied were working, and what they took the aims of philosophy to be: 1,3
present and philosophically appraise the key ideas encountered in studying a specific text in detail: 2
demonstrate conceptual familiarity and critical understanding of some of the main interpretations of the specific text: 2
describe and discuss some interpretative difficulties which are encountered in reading ancient texts: 2,3
recognise and explain cases where linguistic accident, or lack of conceptual definition, has produced philosophical problems which we may not consider to be problematic, and to consider in discussion whether this phenomenon might apply to current philosophical debates: 1,3

Study hours

24 hours lectures
24 hours seminars
92 hours preparation for seminars and seminar work
40 hours preparation for philosophical dialogue
40 hours preparation for exam
80 hours preparation for empathetic monologue

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Assignment weighted 25%
Philosophical dialogue on a topic chosen from a list.
Students will be asked to submit a 1,000-word philosophical dialogue on a topic related to ancient accounts of the world or knowledge.

2: Assignment weighted 40%
Empathetic Monologue
Students will be asked to submit two philosophical dialogues, with a total maximum word count of 1500 words, in which they take two opposing sides on a topic - one dialogue in which the protagonist of the dialogue defends View X, and another in which the protagonist argues against View X. There will be a choice of views to write about.

3: Open Book Assessment weighted 35%
Open book assessment with a 28 hour assessment window, 2 hour active writing time, to answer two questions from a list.
This open book assessment will run for 28 hours with questions made available on KLE when the assessment commences. The suggested writing time is 2 hours, excluding referencing and proof-reading. Students will be given a choice of several questions on the content of the whole module. They should submit the answers to two questions to KLE before the deadline, at least one of them on the third topic of the course (these questions will be in a separate section on the exam paper). Further guidelines and preparatory reading will be provided on KLE.

The University undertakes a continuous review of its teaching and research provision to ensure programmes are of a high quality and changes may be made to modules where it is necessary and reasonable to do so. Please be aware that minor changes to modules, such as a change to an individual assessment, can occur up until enrolment, although we endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes. Details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/legalgovernancecompliance/governance/actcharterstatutesordinancesandregulations/studenttermsconditions/

Last Updated: 04 December 2025