PHV448 History of Progress and Curiosity: Selected Chapters

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/2. 4 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
Prerequisites
PHBD4
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15
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 concept of early modern age and its features in history of philosophy
  • 2. The Renaissance concept of Nature
  • 3. Mechanism in ontology
  • 4. Mechanism in the theory of sensation
  • 5. Mechanism and hypotheses
  • 6. Condemnation of curiosity in the Classical Antiquity and in the Middle Ages
  • 7. The legitimacy of curiosity in the early modern age
  • 8. The Idea of progress in the Classical Antiquity, in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance
  • 9. The idea of finite progress
  • 10. The idea of infinite progress
Literature
  • BLUMENBERG, Hans. Die Vollzähligkeit der Sterne. 1. Aufl. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2011, 557 s. ISBN 9783518295311. 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; discussion
Assessment methods
written colloquium on topics discussed
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is taught: every week.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: kombinovaná forma: 16 hodin/semestr.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2020, Spring 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/PHV448