ATS2872-ATS2873: Topics in Indian Philosophy

15%: Expository exercise 1
15%: Expository exercise 2
40%: Major essay
30%: End of year examination

Overall, I must say that I am very glad that I took this unit. I was apprehensive, having never done anything even remotely related to Indian philosophy. But I think that that was part of the appeal, for me - doing something completely new about which I was entirely ignorant. Now, after having finished the unit, I feel a little less ignorant, and a little more open-minded.

This unit was quite small in terms of number of students; a rough estimation would suggest around thirty students, but this varied a little from week to week. Participation is encouraged in class, and some robust debates were had. But what I liked about Monima is that she didn't force interaction; if you just wanted to sit back and listen (like me, for most of the time), you didn't really feel inferior for not contributing much.

The content of the unit is split into a few blocks, focusing first on Hinduism (encompassing numerous schools of Hinduism), then Buddhism, then Carvaka. And there are two main things looked at throughout the semester: whether a persisting 'Self' (soul) persists throughout time, and what it means to be a person. Of course, it's more complicated than this, because each philosophical position has many arguments and counter-arguments for each issue.

The first two assessment tasks were expository, in which you had to choose two out of three questions to write about. The responses were fairly short. The first half of each question tended to be summarising a particular argument, before providing a philosophical commentary or analysis on that position. All of the questions directly related to the content that had been covered to that point in the course. These assessment tasks sound easy, but due to the new concepts and very new terminology, I found these challenging at times, which was good. The feedback provided for the expository exercises was adequate but not in-depth. I would have liked a bit more guidance as to how to improve at times. To Monima's credit, she was good at explaining where I went wrong when I asked her directly.

The major assessment task was in essay form. I think this is where the unit differs for those taking it at second year level and those taking it at third year level. If my memory is accurate (which is unlikely), third years were required to use external sources whilst second years were not. I find writing essays much easier when I am using external sources, so I was more than happy to take the unit at third year level. As there doesn't seem to be much of a difference otherwise, I would encourage others to the same. Another benefit of this unit is that, as it can be taken as part of Religious Studies, Philosophy or International Studies, it can nicely fit into numerous course structures. I was flat-out disappointed with my essay mark, and I thought that the feedback was minimal, but this is probably a reflection of my poor head space when I am disappointed by a mark more than a reflection of the unit itself.

The exam was well structured. The sample exam from Week 12 had sixteen questions from throughout the course. Each question was actually a quotation from one of the readings. It was made clear that the exam would be similar; from the sixteen questions, you choose six, and write about those. Similar to the expository exercises, the first half of each response was a summary of the philosophical position of the author(s)/proponent(s), and the second half was your own opinion (or a feigned opinion) on that position. The exam went for two hours, meaning that you had about twenty minutes to write about each quote. In the end, seven of the quotes from the sample exam appeared on the actual exam.
I was very close to not taking this unit, but I'm glad that I did despite my relatively poor performance in the assessment tasks. I figure that if you have the opportunity to learn something entirely new about which you are interested, you may as well take it. I encourage others to do the same. Moreover, this unit has made me think very seriously about further studies in religion and philosophy - something that I have always wanted to pursue, but have never really known where or how to start.

Dr. Monima Chadha. I like Monima; she is casual but at the same time very informative. She clearly knows what she is talking about very well, values students' opinions and input, and is more than happy to discuss any concerns. Her classes were easy to follow - I liked the inclusion of the summary handout per week. This unit has a lot of terminology that may be unfamiliar, so the handout certainly helps in that regard.

Not sure, but a 'sample exam' was provided in Week 12 (which was handy).

4 out of 5 (but only due to minor grievances with the organisation of the unit - the actual content is worthy of 4.5/5 at least)

Yes. However, I tried to access one for revision purposes, and it cut out about halfway through. Further, there is no screen capture because no other materials are used. A handout is provided each week (also available on Moodle), and that's all that you really need.

Nothing but the unit reader, which is essential.

1x two hour seminar per week

Semester 2, 2014.

N/A