ACU Core Curriculum

Core Curriculum Information

The Core at ACU is made up of three units in your Undergraduate (Bachelor) degree: two University Core Curriculum units (see below) and one Community Engagement unit, which is indicated in your Course Map. While studying Core Curriculum units, you’ll be in classes with students from other disciplines, ensuring different viewpoints and lively debate.

Core units can be taken face-to-face, online, or in intensive mode.

The Core Curriculum is unique to ACU. It will challenge you to see the world from different perspectives and engage with the world in a meaningful and transformative way.

Find out more on the Core Curriculum website.

Core Curriculum Units

Unit 1 (choose one)

Refer to your Course Map for the recommended time to study Core Curriculum Unit 1

Click on the unit to see the description and available offerings

PHIL102 - Theories of Human Nature

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation: This unit involves 150 hours of focused learning, and will be offered in both semester attendance mode, and intensive mode.

This unit, which may be taken as part of ACU’s Core Curriculum, introduces students to philosophical reflection concerning what it is to be a human being. Students examine key concepts, theories and debates relating to a range of important themes in this area, such as the nature of mind and its relation to the body; the basis of personal identity and the ‘self’; the relationship between rationality and emotion; the meaning and extent of personal freedom; the inter-personal nature of being human; the significance of gender & sexuality; considerations about the meaning of life; and the implications of human finitude and mortality. The unit aims to assist students to develop an understanding of key philosophical concepts and theories that allow them to reflect on their beliefs and assumptions, and to engage with the views of others. It also looks to enhance students’ skills in critical reflection on experience, the analysis of arguments, and the formulation and communication of coherent positions of their own.

Click here to view the 2020 Offerings

PHIL104 - Introduction to Ethics

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation: This unit involves 150 hours of focused learning, and will be offered in both semester attendance mode, and intensive mode.

This unit, which may be taken as part of ACU’s Core Curriculum, introduces students to philosophical reflection concerning some fundamental questions in ethics. Students explore a selection of key issues in metaethics concerning the nature of the good, the concept of moral responsibility, and problems in moral psychology concerning freedom, emotion, conscience, and intentions. Theories of normative ethics are also introduced, such as those based on duty, consequences, virtue, and natural law. Finally, students engage in philosophical exploration of practical moral problems drawn from fields such as business and professional ethics, environmental ethics, bioethics, the ethics of war, and/or issues in interpersonal relationships. Through reading some key historical and contemporary texts in moral philosophy, students are encouraged to identify, articulate and think through their own positions concerning the nature and complexities of the moral life, and to engage with the views of others. It also aims to enhance students’ skills in critical reflection on experience, the analysis of arguments, and the formulation and communication of coherent positions of their own.

Click here to view the 2020 Offerings

Unit 2 (choose one)

Refer to your Course Map for the recommended time to study Core Curriculum Unit 2

Click on the unit to see the description and available offerings

UNCC300 - Justice and Change in a Global World

10 cp
Prerequisites UNCC100: Self and Community: Exploring the anatomy of modern society or PHIL102 Theories of Human Nature or PHIL104 Introduction to Ethics.
Incompatible Units UNCC301 Humanity in Catholic History and Culture, UNCC302 Human Dignity in International Context
Teaching Organisation This unit involves 150 hours of focused learning. A range of learning and teaching strategies appropriate to the campus and mode of delivery and its interdisciplinary and team teaching methodology will be utilised. The unit will be offered in face to face, intensive and fully online modes, as well as offshore intensives.

"Interdependence obliges us to think of one world with a common plan".(Pope Francis, Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home p.122)

Pope Francis challenges us to extend our thinking across new ways in which the relationship between self and community can be realised. In achieving a global consensus on the nature of our relationship to each other and the world in which we live, Pope Francis calls for a renewed emphasis on the dignity of the human person as the basis of all action, advocacy and solidarity. Universal fraternity and aspirations for the common good begin with a basic recognition that we need one another. In this unit you should develop your understanding of the dignity of the human person within the context of a global community. You should develop skills that may assist the cooperative efforts of government, business, faith groups, and not-for-profit agencies to achieve a more just and equitable world. On completion of this unit you should have acquired the skills and knowledge to become an active agent for change in an interconnected and interdependent world. This unit is the second of two units which are part of the University Core Curriculum.

Click here to view the 2020 Offerings

PHIL320 - Ethics, Justice and the Good Society

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation: This unit involves 150 hours of focused learning, and will be offered in both semester attendance mode, and intensive mode.

We live in a time of great social, ethical, and political uncertainty. This unit, which may be taken as part of ACU’s Core Curriculum, responds to this context by leading students into an engagement with a range of contemporary philosophical debates and perspectives on the nature of the good society. It provides them with the knowledge and analytical skills to participate constructively in dialogue regarding matters of fundamental social importance. Students engage in careful examination of some key concepts, theories, and debates concerning issues such as the fair distribution of the burdens and benefits of society, the rights and duties of individuals and communities in local and global contexts, and the understanding and implementation of basic freedoms in areas such as speech, religion, and opportunity. In so doing, the meaning and contours of key ideas such as human dignity, social justice, human solidarity and human value are explored. The unit provides students with an opportunity to develop a scholarly and integrated personal account of the good society that draws directly on contemporary moral, social, and political philosophy, including some key themes in Catholic social thought.

Click here to view the 2020 Offerings

Study the Core Curriculum Overseas

Some Core Curriculum units may be offered overseas. The Study Overseas site has general information about the Overseas experience including accommodation, financial support, and example itineraries.

The Student Portal site contains specific information about the overseas options in 2020 with specific dates, costs and application deadlines

Page last updated: 2020-02-10

Short url: https://enrolment-guides.acu.edu.au/2318791

AskACU