PHV448 History of Progress and Curiosity: Selected Chapters

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2020
Extent and Intensity
0/2. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Daniel Špelda, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Daniel Špelda, Ph.D.
Department of Philosophy – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Philosophy – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Tue 8:00–9:40 A11
Prerequisites
PH1207 Modern Times - IV || PHK1207 Modern Times - IV || PHBD4 History of Philosophy IV
PHBD4 PHK1207 PH1207
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 27 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The lecture course provides an overview of such categories of the early modern thought, which are rarely introduced in detail in the history of philosophy. This is the concept of progress, the concept of theoretical curiosity and the concept of mechanicism. The course presents their origin, history, reasons and consequences of their refusal or enforcement. Attention is centered on works of famous modern philosophers (Bacon, Descartes, Locke) and works of modern scientists (Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton). The lecture course is divided into thirds, each of which deals with one category.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, the student will be able to introduce selected concepts of early modern philosophy; to explain their basic problems; to formulate their assumptions and consequences; to reconstruct and to evaluate their arguments; to show their dependency on context; to characterize their historical conditionality.
Syllabus
  • 1. The Renaissance concept of Nature
  • 2. Mechanism in ontology
  • 3. Mechanism in the theory of sensation
  • 4. Mechanism and hypotheses
  • 5. Condemnation of curiosity in the Classical Antiquity and in the Middle Ages
  • 6. The legitimacy of curiosity in the early modern age
  • 7. The Idea of progress in the Classical Antiquity, in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance
  • 8. The idea of finite progress
  • 9. The idea of infinite progress
Literature
  • ŠPELDA, Daniel, Dagmar PICHOVÁ and Jindřiška SVOBODOVÁ. Bernard de Fontenelle: Rozhovory o mnohosti světů (Bernard de Fontenelle: Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds). 1st ed. Praha - Brno: Togga s. r. o., 2020, 156 pp. Fontes scientiae 5. ISBN 978-80-210-9539-7. info
  • LEDVOŇOVÁ, Markéta, Daniel ŠPELDA, Vladimír ŠTEFL and Jana MALÁ. Galileo Galilei : Prubíř (Galileo Galilei : The Assayer). 1st ed. Praha - Brno: Togga, 2020, 351 pp. Fontes scientiae 3. ISBN 978-80-210-9538-0. info
  • FRANEK, Juraj, Daniel ŠPELDA, Jan NOVOTNÝ, Jindřiška SVOBODOVÁ and Helena DURNOVÁ. Isaac Newton : Matematické principy přírodní filozofie (Isaac Newton : The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy). 1st ed. Praha - Brno: Togga, 2020, 351 pp. Fontes scientiae 1. ISBN 978-80-210-9558-8. info
  • ŠPELDA, Daniel. Člověk a hvězdy v raném novověku : studie k antropologickým souvislostem rozvoje novověké kosmologie. Vydání první. Praha: Togga, spol. s r.o., 2018, 306 stran. ISBN 9788074761485. info
  • ŠPELDA, Daniel. The history of science as the progress of the human spirit: The historiography of astronomy in the eighteenth century. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A. Oxford: Elsevier, 2017, vol. 63, No 1, p. 48-57. ISSN 0039-3681. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2017.05.004. URL info
  • ŠPELDA, Daniel. Vši a Gulliver : Optická relativita v novověku (The louses and Gulliver : The optical relativity in early modern age). Studia Philosophica. Brno: Masarykova Univerzita, 2016, vol. 63, No 1, p. 47-68. ISSN 1803-7445. Digitální knihovna FF MU info
  • ŠPELDA, Daniel. Pravda - dcera času : o původu ideje pokroku poznání. 1. vydání. Červený Kostelec: Pavel Mervart, 2015, 294 stran. ISBN 9788074651939. info
  • The Cambridge companion to early modern philosophy. Edited by Donald Rutherford. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, xv, 421. ISBN 0521822424. info
  • The Cambridge history of science. Edited by Katharine Park - Lorraine Daston. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, xxvii, 865. ISBN 9780521572446. info
  • RÖD, Wolfgang. Novověká filosofie. Translated by Jindřich Karásek. Vyd. 1. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2002, 383 s. ISBN 80-7298-039-4. info
  • The Cambridge history of seventeenth-century philosophy. Edited by Roger Ariew - Alan Gabbey - Daniel Garber - Michael Ayers. First published. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, xvii, 949. ISBN 9780521537209. info
  • BLUMENBERG, Hans. Die Lesbarkeit der Welt. 1. Aufl. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1986, 415 s. ISBN 9783518281925. info
Teaching methods
lectures, reading
Assessment methods
written test in IS
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: kombinovaná forma: 16 hodin/semestr.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2023, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2020, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2020/PHV448