Syllabus: Intellectual History of Western Europe



Syllabus | |

|Intellectual History of Western Europe |

|Galina Bityukova |

|The course is concerned with large, difficult, and controversial questions, many of which have been the subject of inquiry and debate since |

|ancient times. Some pertain to what is. (What makes me what I am? How is my mind related to my body? Do all events, including the choices I |

|make, have causes?) Others pertain to what ought to be. (If the choices I make have causes outside me, can they be judged right or wrong? Just|

|what is rightness in an individual choice, or justice in a social institution? What is the relationship between rightness or justice and |

|having good consequences?) Yet others pertain to what is knowable. (How can unperceived causes be legitimately inferred from perceived events?|

|Does all knowledge require inference from perceptual experience? Are there truths that cannot be known at all?) |

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|Different branches of philosophy are distinguished by the kinds of questions they treat: Metaphysics is concerned with what is, ethics and |

|philosophy of value with what ought to be, logic and philosophy of science with what is knowable. Since important contributions have been made|

|since the earliest times, the history of philosophy constitutes a fourth branch of the subject alongside the three just named. What unites the|

|different branches of philosophy is a common commitment to disciplined thinking, even or especially when treating questions whose every aspect|

|is doubtful and disputed. Questions are addressed by appeal to reasoned argument and the evidence of experience, without asking that anyone |

|take anything on authority or on faith. |

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|Course Description and Objectives: |

|This course is aimed to introduce students to the study of Philosophy and enable them to have better understanding of the basic concepts that |

|make up this discipline. The introduction to Philosophy brings the panorama of the key philosophical concepts, philosophers in historical and|

|cultural context. |

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|Semester grade distribution: |

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|1) Midterm Exam: 20% |

|2) Quiz 1: 10% |

|3) Quiz 2: 10% |

|4) Written assignments: 10% |

|5) Participation in class discussions: 10% |

|6) Reflection Paper: 10% |

|7) Final Exam: 30% |

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|Recommended readings: |

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|History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Routledge Classics, 2006 |

|A Short History of Philosophy, Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, Oxford University Press, 1996 |

|Continental Philosophy, A Critical Approach, William R. Schroeder, Blackwell Publishing, 2005 |

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|Lectures, seminars and readings: |

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|Week 1 |

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| Introduction: What is philosophy? The origins of philosophy. |

| The “Miracle” of Greece. Socrates. |

|A Short History of Philosophy, Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 1-17; 43-49 |

|History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Routledge Classics, 2006 |

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|Week 2 |

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|Plato and Aristotle |

|Plato’s theory of knowledge and the immortality of the soul |

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|A Short History of Philosophy, Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 49-68 |

|History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Routledge Classics, 2006 |

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|Week 3 |

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|Plato’s theory of forms and Aristotle’s criticism. |

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|A Short History of Philosophy, Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 49-68 |

|History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Routledge Classics, 2006 |

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|Week 4 |

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|Aristotle. Metaphysics, Ethics, Politics, Logic. |

|A Short History of Philosophy, Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 49-68 |

|History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Routledge Classics, 2006 |

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|Week 5 |

|Catholic philosophy. The existence of God and a new answer to the question of what really exists. |

|Italian Renaissance. The Reformation and Counter-Reformation. |

|A Short History of Philosophy, Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 122-128; 142-148; 154-162 |

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|History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Routledge Classics, 2006 |

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|Week 6 |

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|Science, religion and the meaning of modernism. |

|Modern philosophy: Rationalism and empiricism. Descartes. Francis Bacon. |

|A Short History of Philosophy, Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, Oxford University Press, 1996 |

|History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Routledge Classics, 2006 |

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|Week 7 |

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|Hobbes’s Leviathan. |

|John Locke. The mind as a blank state, theory of abstraction, the unknowability of the real essence of things, and sceptical doubts. Locke’s |

|political philosophy. |

|A Short History of Philosophy, Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, Oxford University Press, 1996 |

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| History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Routledge Classics, 2006 |

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|Week 8 |

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|Hume. |

|The French Enlightenment. |

| A Short History of Philosophy, Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, Oxford University Press, 1996 |

|History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Routledge Classics, 2006 |

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|Week 9 |

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|Immanuel Kant. Problems with Kant’s system |

|Hegel. The Phenomenology of Spirit. Philosophy of history. Politics and ethics. |

|A Short History of Philosophy, Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, Oxford University Press, 1996 |

|History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Routledge Classics, 2006 |

|Continental Philosophy, A Critical Approach, William R. Schroeder, Blackwell Publishing, 2005 |

|Immanuel Kant, What is Enlightenment? |

|Hegel, Phenomenology of Mind |

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|Week 10 |

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|Life philosophy: Schopenhauer, Nietzsche. |

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|Marx. The materialist conception of history. The analysis of capitalism. |

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|A Short History of Philosophy, Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, Oxford University Press, 1996 |

|History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Routledge Classics, 2006 |

|Continental Philosophy, A Critical Approach, William R. Schroeder, Blackwell Publishing, 2005 |

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|Week 11 |

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|Utilitarianism. John Stuart Mill. |

|A Short History of Philosophy, Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen M. Higgins, Oxford University Press, 1996 |

|History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell, Routledge Classics, 2006 |

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|Week 12 |

|Logical Positivism. Thomas Kuhn. Scientific Revolutions. Karl Popper. Critical Rationalism. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Open Society |

|and Its Enemies. |

|Continental Philosophy, A Critical Approach, William R. Schroeder, Blackwell Publishing, 2005 |

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|Week 13 |

|The Rejection of Idealism: A Century of Horrors |

|Continental Philosophy, A Critical Approach, William R. Schroeder, Blackwell Publishing, 2005 |

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|Week 14 |

|Fascism and Totalitarianism in the 20th Century |

|Continental Philosophy, A Critical Approach, William R. Schroeder, Blackwell Publishing, 2005 |

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|Week 15 |

|The Age of Absurdity: "Hell is other people". |

|Continental Philosophy, A Critical Approach, William R. Schroeder, Blackwell Publishing, 2005 |

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|Week 16 |

| Final Exam |

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