Early Modern Philosophy
Code
711031061
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Filosofia
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Manuel João Matos
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
a) Acquire a basic knowledge of the most important figures in Western philosophical thinking in modern times and of some of their texts.
b) Identify the most significant philosophical issues in modern European thinking and describe them precisely.
c) Acquire a basic ability to place concepts, methodological ideas and doctrinal positions in the historical context to which they belong.
d) Acquire an ability to identify the distinctive features of European philosophy in the modern age from both a methodological and thematic point of view.
e) Acquire an ability to identify and describe the elements representing continuity or rupture in the formulation of philosophical questions and in the suggestions for solving them.
f) Acquire an ability to read and interpret some of the fundamental texts from the modern age.
g) Comprehend the importance of studying modern philosophy for understanding some current philosophical questions.
Prerequisites
None
Subject matter
1.1 The role of doubt in the Descartes’ Meditations: the Cogito as a major philosophical problem.
1.2. The Nature of Ideas and the theory of judgment.
1.3. The existence of God and of the material things: the real distinction between mind and body.
2.1. Locke’s anti-innatist strategy in the Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
2.2 Perception as the base of all thinking.
2.3 About power, substances and identity.
3.1. Leibniz’s Philosophy in the Discourse on Metaphysics and the Monadology.
3.2 The metaphysics of Leibniz by way of his defence of contingency.
3.3. Leibniz on substances and the debate for the world best possible.
4. The pivotal stages of Kant’s argument of the Critique of Pure Reason.
4.1. Transcendental Aesthetic: Space and Time as forms a priori of sensibility.
4.2. Transcendental Analytic: the Analytic of Concepts and the Analytic of Principles.
4.3. Transcendental Dialectic: the third Antinomy of Pure Reason and the foundations of Kant’s moral theory.
Bibliography
KANT, I. (2001). Crítica da Razão Pura. Trad. Manuela Santos, Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 5ª ed.
KANT, I. (2003), Crítica da Razão Prática. Trad. Valério Rodhen. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, edição bilingue.
DESCARTES, R. (2011). Méditations métaphysiques, Paris: GF Flammarion
LEIBNIZ, G. (1902). Discourse on Metaphysics. Correspondence with Arnauld, Monadology. Trad. George Montgomery. LaSalle, IL: Open Court Publishing Company.
LOCKE, J. (2005). Ensaio sobre o Entendimento Humano, 2 vols. Trad. Eduardo Soveral. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2ª ed.
Teaching method
The teaching methods include lectures and practical classes with the same academic weight. Discussion of philosophical texts on the great themes of Modern Philosophy.
Evaluation method
The evaluation consists of frequency (40%); work with oral defense (40%); continuous evaluation and participation in class (20%).