Philosophy of Nature
Code
711031065
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Filosofia
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Marta Mendonça
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
a) Place the Philosophy of Nature in the general context of philosophical knowledge.
b) Identify and precisely describe the main questions dealt with by the Philosophy of Nature.
c) Know directly some of the historically most important texts in the Philosophy of Nature sphere.
d) Study the concepts of nature and natural and place them in the context of the concepts to which they are related as either complements or opposites.
e) Study important Philosophy of Nature issues.
Prerequisites
None.
Subject matter
Complexity and order
The notions of complexity and order have always been the focus of the philosophical reflection on the so-called natural reality. The discussion took very different shapes over time, but the major issues to be resolved were keeping up: what are we talking about when we talk about \"natural order\"? What characterizes this order and what explains it? Why have we the impression of a certain disorder in our experience of nature? How can the explanation of natural order explain also the limits of that order? What is the relationship between the \"order\" and the \"disorder\" of nature, on the one hand, and its complexity, on the other hand? What kind of access can we have to this complexity?
This course will cover how the order and complexity of nature were thought and discussed, pausing to consider the modal status of its laws, processes and objects. Texts of Aristotle, Hume and Darwin will be studied.
Bibliography
ARISTOTLE, The categories, On Interpretation, Prior Analytics. Translated by H. P. Cooke and H. Tredennick, Cambridge-London: Harvard University Press, 1938, reprinted 1996.
, Metaphysics. Translated by H. Tredennick, Cambridge-London: Harvard University Press, 1932-1935, reprinted 1996, 2 vols.
, Physics. Translated by P. Wickstead and F. Cornford, Cambridge-London: Harvard University Press, 1957-1960, 2 vols.
DARWIN, The Works of Charles Darwin. Edited by P. H. Barrett and R. B. Freeman, New York: New York University Press, 1988, 29 vols.
,1964, 1859, On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection, facsimile reprint of 1st edition, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
HUME, The Philosophical Works. Aalen: Scientia Verlag, 1964, 4 vols.
Teaching method
The course has a mixed approach, theoretical and practical, combining a theoretical examination of the topics of the program with the analysis of texts of the philosophers there studied.
Evaluation method
1. Proof of attendance (70%)
2. One written essay, to be presented in class or discussed with the lecturer or another proof of attendance (30%).