CORE005 Guide to Contemporary Philosophy

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Radim Bělohrad, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Radim Brázda, Dr. (lecturer)
Ing. Mgr. Zdeňka Jastrzembská, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. PhDr. Josef Krob, CSc. (lecturer)
PhDr. Josef Petrželka, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Marek Picha, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. PhDr. BcA. Jiří Raclavský, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. PhDr. Daniel Špelda, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Josef Krob, CSc.
Department of Philosophy – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Kateřina Urubková
Supplier department: Department of Philosophy – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Mon 14:00–15:40 B2.23, except Mon 18. 11. to Sun 24. 11.
Prerequisites
!FAKULTA(FF) && TYP_STUDIA(BM) && FORMA(P)
The course is open to students in the full-time Bachelor's and five-year Master's programmes except for the Faculty of Arts of MU.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
The capacity limit for the course is 100 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 90/100, only registered: 7/100, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/100
Course objectives
The course will introduce students to the current state of philosophical disciplines, their main topics, methods and problems. Typically two lectures will be devoted to each discipline, the first will present the general characteristics of the discipline including the basic methods and terminology, the second will be devoted to selected examples illustrating the methods and provide more opportunity for discussion.
Learning outcomes
Having completed the course, students will:
- have gained an overview of basic specializations within philosophy
- be able to explain the basic philosophical methods
- be able to critically assess texts and identify problems affecting the presented disciplines.
Syllabus
  • 1. Philosophy and its place in the cognitive process, basic approaches and possibilities. Expectations and reality. (1 hour)
  • 2. Philosophical methods: speculation, conceptual analysis, thought experiments. (2 hours)
  • 3. Philosophy of science. The problem of induction, the paradox of confirmation, the discussion about the Logic of Scientific Research / Structures of Scientific Revolutions (2 hours)
  • 4. Ethics: general normative theories, bioethics and specific applications (2 hours)
  • 5. Ethics and ontology. (1 hour)
  • 6. Aesthetics. The peculiarity of art, questions of philosophical aesthetics from the Enlightenment to the present, problems and questions in examples and illustrations. (2 hours)
  • 7. Historiography of philosophy and science: the relevance of the knowledge of the past, anachronisms, contextual interpretation, constructivism. Specific examples (2 hours)
  • 8. Philosophical logic. The paradox of the liar and the theory of truth. (1 hour)
  • 9. Long dead philosophers? Or Old Philosophy and Young Science (echoes of Plato's and Aristotle's philosophy in modern science)
Teaching methods
Lectures with presentations, panel discussion, open discussion.
Assessment methods
On-line open book test.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Předmět není určen pro studenty programu Filozofie ani ostatní studenty z Filozofické fakulty MU.
Teacher's information
(Excerpts will be selected from the below list of literature on the basis of the actual content of the lectures. The test will be primarily based on the presentations, lecture recordings and particular selections from the texts if not already specified below)

1. The Role of Philosophy

• Krob, J.: Filosofie a věda. Proměny ontologie. (Dva texty, celkem 18 stran, budou součástí studijních materiálů v pdf.)

2. Philosophical Methods

• Williamson, T. (2020): Philosophical Method: A Very Short Introduction. OUP.

• Turing, A. (1950): Computing Machinery and Intelligence. Mind

3. Philosophy of Science

• Schmidt. M., Taliga, M.: Filozofia prírodných vied. Aleph 2013.

• Fajkus, Břetislav. Filosofie a Metodologie Vědy: Vývoj, Současnost a Perspektivy. Praha: Academia, 2005.

4. Ethics

• Shafer-Landau, R. (2018): Introduction. In: The Fundamentals of Ethics. 4th edition. Oxford University Press, pp. 1–17.

• Kuhse, H., Singer, P. (2009): What is Bioethics? A Historical Introduction. In: A Companion to Bioethics. 2nd edition. Blackwell, pp. 3–12.

• Rachels, J. (2009): Ethical Theory and Bioethics. In: A Companion to Bioethics. 2nd edition. Blackwell, pp. 15–23.

5. Ethics and ontology

• Shoemaker, D. (2009): Introduction. In: Personal identity and Ethics. Broadview press, pp. 1–20.

6. Aesthetics

• Welsch, Wolfgang. Estetické myslenie. Bratislava: Archa, 1993.

• Virilio, Paul. Estetika mizení. Červený Kostelec: Pavel Mervart, 2010.

• Liessmann, Konrad Paul. Universum věcí: K estetice každodennosti. Vyd. 1. Praha: Academia, 2012.

7. Historiography

• Špelda, Daniel. Proměny historiografie vědy. Praha: Filosofia 2009.

• Numbers, Ronald L. (ed.), Galileo Goes to Jail. And Other Myths about Science and Religion, Cambridge, Mass – London: Harvard University Press, 2009.

8. Logic

• Jaroslav Malina, Jan Novotný (eds.) (1996): Kurt Gödel. Brno: Nadace Universitas Masarykiana,Georgetown, Nauma.

• J. Peregrin (ed.) (2006): Logika 20. století: mezi filosofií a matematikou. Výbor textů k moderní logice. Praha: Filosofia.

9. Long dead philosophers? Or Old Philosophy and Young Science

• Platón. Filébos 28d-30d. 5., opr. vyd. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2012.

• Aristotelés. O nebi I 2-4. Bratislava: Pravda, 1986.

The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023.
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