In a submission to the Undergraduate Studies Committee, the University has proposed 12 2000-level and 13 3000-level units in the Philosophy department be cut or merged.
The proposal has already passed the Faculty Education Committee and the Faculty Board and the Faculty Curriculum and Quality Team was also consulted on the changes. If approved, the changes will come into place on January 1 next year.
Five broader units will be added to replace the courses that are being cut and a new 3000-level core unit called Core Issues in Philosophy will now be a requirement for all Philosophy majors.
According to the submission, the changes were made to make the department “compliant with curriculum sustainability principles.”
“Each of our new units all replace several smaller units with one larger unit, as a way to become more sustainable whilst offering students the ability to study the core aspects of philosophy,” the document said.
Existing units on ‘Plato and Aristotle’ and ‘Hellenic Philosophy’ will be merged into the new 2000 level unit ‘Greek Philosophy’. Units such as ‘The Mind-Body Problem’ and ‘Existentialism’ will now have their content taught under the new ‘Existentialism and Lived Experiences’ unit.
Sub-disciplines like ethics will go from having multiple units such as ‘Practical Ethics’ and ‘Ethics (Advanced)’ will now be merged into the multidisciplinary unit ‘Ethics and Moral Psychology’.
Some units that are being cut like ‘Unruly Women’ and ‘Philosophy of Sex’ have no clear replacement in any of the new combined units.
Lachlan Anderson, President of the USyd Philosophy Society, opposed the cuts telling Honi Soit that the previous course offerings “allowed students to focus on the specific ideas that interested them in increasing depth throughout their years of study.”
“Now, that specificity and depth is diminished by short-sighted changes that neither students nor teaching staff want.”
Recent Philosophy Honours graduate Nikki Weiss also rejected the cuts telling Honi, “Units such as ‘Early Modern Philosophy of Perception’, ‘Unruly Women’, and ‘Philosophy of Sex’, are some of the most fascinating, well-taught and essential classes that myself and others have had the pleasure of taking”.
Weiss said the changes were an appalling cost-cutting measure. “It would be an absolute shame to future generations of Usyd students to sacrifice these incredible units, teachers, and mentors.”
A University of Sydney spokesperson told Honi that there were no plans to reduce staff members within the discipline as part of the changes.
“Philosophy staff worked on a new curriculum structure to align with these principles while ensuring a spread of units to reflect the range of subject areas in the discipline. Student demand was one of many factors informing the discipline’s approach in reconsidering its curriculum,” the spokesperson continued
The spokesperson said that student representatives were consulted on the changes in discipline meetings but confirmed that students were not involved in the final decisions on what units were impacted.
